Hi guys, all of you have been very helpful in the past and I want to thank you all. My problem this time is that I think my clutch fan needs to be replaced... I have ordered the parts and a replacement fan. The question I have is:

Do I need any special tool to remove the fan and clutch fan? Thank you all once again for your time and help

Do a search, once you see how its done its incredibly easy. there is a hole in the back of the pulley hub and a groove in the housing. line them up, put a strong pin in there to hold position, put a cheater on your front Allen wrench and its off. My special tool was an allen wrench with the short arm ground down shorter, long arm taped to a long screwdriver. Now it takes longer to R&R the fan shroud than the clutch

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Hanno
'79 6.9 Sold (after 27 years)
'83 280SL, 5 spd.
'94 E320 Sdn. 5 spd conversion
'02 E320 Sdn.(on loan to mom!)
'87 300E (5 spd. conversion) Sold
'05 E500 Wagon

Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and look in the hardware section for their small radius steel rods. I got one that was about 1/4 or 3/16 inch diameter. Take it back to your house and use a pair of Vise Grips to bend the end about 1/2 inch from the end. Use this end in the slot to keep the pulley from moving. This is the cheapest way to make this tool.

thank you guys.. listen.. I took a look under the hood this weekend because I been hearing this clicking and noise, which has been getting progressively louder of the last week. It looks like the fan blades have been striking one of the pulleys and have been ground and chipped to the point to where I need to replace the fan.. now I am not sure if the clutch fans is really bad or if I am having a problem with the pulley.. does any one know why this could be happening? What would cause the fan blade to hit the pulleys? only thing I can think of is the pulley has become lose over time but that does not make since with my logic... Has any one ever had this problem? Thank you which again for you all of your help and advise

Bad motor mounts?

bad motor mounts? That does not make sense, can you please elaborate? if the mounts are bad how can that cause the fan blades to hit the pulleys? Both the fan blades and pulleys are attached to the motor which is stationary.. I am confused..

MARINE_V, it's possible the fan blade is contacting the black distributor cover. If you fail to engage the vertical slot the cover protrudes forward and contacts the fan, or the retainer piece broke off due to old age and the cover is contacting the fan blade. If the motor mounts were bad it's likely the fan would be contacting the radiator shroud.

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Fred Hoelzle

Most likely the fan bearing is bad, the replacement part comes complete with the bracket. Look at Fastlane > cooling system > Fan Clutch Bearing Brkt

With the belt off you can feel it there is free play in the bearing (it should be tight).

Rob

WOW.. this sounds like it is going to cost an arm and a leg! LOL

So far it looks like I will need to replace the fan blades, Clutch fan, Fan Clutch Bearing Brkt, or who knows it could be one of the pulleys that is messed up. There has to be a way of testing to find the real problem. I am concerned that I will replace the fan blade and clutch fan, and serpentine belt and find that the problem persists and in turn the new part will be damaged once more. This is so frustrating.. Thank you all once again for all your help... these are some pictures of the damage. I will add that I did replace the radiator about 1 week before this problem started. I wonder if it is related.







Note that the belt looks fared and needs to be replaced not sure what is causing that to wear like that but logic would say it is one of the pulleys rubbing on it.

MARINE_V, loosen the drive belt tensioner and remove the drive belt to you can inspect the pulleys. It should be obvious if one of them is loose/misaligned. It's also possible that you didn't seat the new radiator properly and the fan is hitting the radiator shroud. Check the radial clearance between the tips of the fan blades and the radiator shroud.

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Fred Hoelzle

Ferdman, thanks for the feed back..

Yes I thought it could have been some thing I did wrong.. but I checked the clearance and it was not hitting the fan shrawed. But to be on the safe side I ordered and got yesturday a replacement shrowed from Mercedesshop.com... I will install it with new belt and fan when it gets here.

If you look at the pictures you will see the blades are being chipped off on the side nearest to the motor or pulleys. It is my belief that it is a pulley striking the fan. I am going to remove and replace the belt are there any diagrams on how to replace the belt out there or on this site? It has to be something wrong with the pulley system... I have also ordered a replacement clutch fan pulley bracket thingy! LOL just to be on the safe side.. once again thank you for all your help

Rob Pruijt-
You where right, it was the Clutch bearing brkt... When I tried to inspect the car by disassembling it, it was at that time that I found the clutch bearing brkt was completely wore out.... After 3 hours of installing a new clutch fan, clutch bearing brkt, bearing brkt pulley, fan, fan shroud, and belt the car runs great... I am very grateful to all of you for your help and input.. thank very much. Now for the next project! LOL