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Hey all,

Long time reader, first post!

Anyways lets dive straight into the issues.

1. I'm getting an intermittent squeal on the '91 Brumby (EA81). It seems to come and go, but usually when the A/C is on, or when the water temp gets a bit high -> drivers side (booster?) cooling fan? I've noticed after having a poke around that the fan does not spin freely anymore so it needs replacing anyway, but has anyone had this issue? Is it the fan causing the noise? The damn thing wont do it when I'm looking at it!

2. Regarding the radiator fans (2x electric btw) which direction are most peoples fans pointing? Blowing on the radiator from engine side, or sucking air through from grille? The reason I ask is because when I was having a look I noticed that I have one of each. In other words, the passenger side is blowing onto the radiator, the drivers side is sucking through from front and blowing onto the engine. Now, this ute spent a lot of its early life on a farm, with work being done by a local garage, well known for making mistakes. So does that sound right to anyone?

Cheers in advance!

With that booster cooling fan - you say it does not spin freely. It is normal with that fan that if you spin it manually it will stop very quickly, whereas the slimline electric one will spin for an eternity before it stops. It is simply a difference between the two fans.

Sounds to me like the passenger side slimline fan has been miswired, both fans should be pulling air through the radiator "onto the engine" as you describe. Otherwise if you are travelling at speed the fan is useless due to all the air heading the other way.

Cheers phantomD.

Its interesting to me that the fan will not spin freely even under normal conditions, I assumed when I saw that, that the bearings were buggered and that it might be the cause of the horrible squeal. I'm just going to have to keep trying to catch the squeal when I am looking at the engine.

And I'm glad you think the passenger side fan is mis-wired, because it didnt make logical sense to me, to blow into the flow of air. Will have a look at that tonight.

When that fan squeals again, tap the shroud surronding it and it should stop, just a noise they make wen they're on their way out.

subarooster wrote:When that fan squeals again, tap the shroud surronding it and it should stop, just a noise they make wen they're on their way out.

That or it could be a loose AC fan belt. Check your belt tensions and tighten any that are rather loose

If the fan is on the way out and you want to swap it - a touring wagon of the same shape - commonly known as an MY will fit straight in.

Welcome to the forum

Cheers

Bennie

@subarooster: Thanks I reckon I'll try to force it to happen when I'm at home one day and see if that does the trick. But USUALLY it happens when I'm in the middle of traffic. Everyone looks, expecting the Brumby of love to explode.

@El Freddo: I don't think its the AC fan belt, that was certainly the first thing I went to. They are relatively new belts, with little slack in them. But another thing I thought of was maybe the idler pulley? If that was a bit worn it might get a bit of a wobble up when the engine is idling under load? Wobble at ~700rpm would probably make a fair racket? Regardless, I need to catch the noise as it happens, not after pulling over and having it stop.

I reckon I will take a trip down to UPullIt one weekend and look for a tourer. There's a reasonable selection of subarus from that era in my local, see what i can see in terms of spares.

Cheers all!