Fan clutch snapped off water pump !!!

My fan ripped off and snapped by the shaft of the fan clutch? Pulled over my fan was sitting inside of the radiator shroud housing, water pump was leaking because the gasket must of shifted, managed to drive it home before it overheated. What caused this ? Could be the water pump ? Going to change water pump and need to get new fan clutch.... Any ideas ?

What exactly broke? The water pump shaft? Did the fan clutch come off(nuts came off) of the wp? Where is the wp leaking....out the front, where the shaft comes out?
A fan clutch shaft that snaps is usually due to being unbalanced, or not running true(straight). A wp shaft that snaps is the same thing...out of balance fan clutch/fan.

Did it damage the radiator? If not, you really got lucky, all things considered. I've seen fans rip right thru the hood...

The small shaft on the fan clutch, so the base of the fan clutch is still on the pulley. The WP leak is by the left port seems like the gasket shifted when the fan snapped off. The rad seems fine, it did get a little nick on the rad but it did not leak when I drove it home, lucky I was really close. Not sure if it was the WP or fan was off balanced? Going to change the WP and fan clutch. Hopefully the fan is not off balanced?

I would be leery of the fan, myself. If it came loose, and flopped around, chances are it has some damage.
The fan clutch might have been loose internally, and caused the wobble/imbalance that caused it to snap...hard to say.

Thinking of changing the WP just in case. The fan blades seem to be fine, going 45 mph at the time.

Back in '75, I replaced the water pump on my '71 240Z.  Driving home from my brother's place, I heard a bad noise from under the hood.  Pulled over, shut is down and popped the hood.  The water pump shaft had sheared off, and since the fan was pulling air, it "flew" into the radiator.  Had it towed and called Beck Arnley, the water pump brand.  They ended up paying for everything including the tow.  

what is the thought on flex fans, when my clutch fan went bad I installed a flex fan no problems that I have noticed

Personally, I don't like flex fans. I've had too many of them flex themselves thru the hood. I've used both the stainless steel/metal blades, and the fiberglass blades(name brands, not cheapos).....and have had both types fly apart at high rpms....such as on a missed shift. Even without the high rpm runs, they tend to fatigue from the flexing, and eventually just break.
This is just MY experiences with them...lots of folks run flex fans with no problems. Plus....they're noisy as heck! 

"Plus....they're noisy as heck! "

This.

Sounds like a good excuse to go electric!  (Unless you are trying to maintain originality...)




|UPDATED|5/12/2013 4:02:51 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|