I attempted to remove and replace the main fan over the weekend but was unable to do so as the turbo to intercooler boost pipe has a clip which one of the main engine harnesses is tied to. It protrudes just enough to get caught on the hub of the primary fan making it pretty much impossible to get out without risking damage to the radiator. Probably no more than 1cm of plastic
As for getting the fan pack off of the radiator it's probably the easiest part of the job. Push the tab on the radiator in and pull up on the pack and it just pops out. There does seem to be a sequence to it as the driver's side wouldn't come out until the passenger side was unclipped.
Video for an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df7k9U5 ... bW92YWw%3D
Workshop manual diagram:
- Radiator clip.PNG (448.43 KiB) Viewed 1428 times
I imagine for those without the 1.8TSi this job would be much easier as it seems they used water to air charge coolers instead of intercoolers for the likes of the CJZD 1.2TSi so no intercooler pipes to get in the way
For the 1.8TSi If you can get the turbo to intercooler pipe off then you won't have any issues. Or if you take the front end off and put the front clip into the service position, but that's a lot of work unless you're taking the front off already.
Steps (For those with left-hand drive polos swap the driver and passenger sides
):
Disconnect the battery or pull the 50A fuse for the fan power(1.8TSi has it in the engine bay fuse box, fuse 18)
Remove airbox and ducting. Lift straight up and make sure all 4 pegs are released. Then rotate to get free of ducting.
Lift car and remove undertray
Disconnect radiator fan connector (left-hand bottom corner if laying under the car)
In the engine bay, disconnect soft boost hose from turbo to intercooler boost pipe, leave connected to the turbo
Underneath disconnect soft boost hose from the other end of the same hard pipe, leave connected to intercooler, or remove for more room.
Cut 5 cable ties holding wiring harnesses to boost pipe from underneath, then in engine bay cut cable tie holding the same harness to the same boost pipe and unhook
Undo 2x T30 screws holding boost pipe to block, one in engine bay, one on the front of the block underneath
Remove the hard boost pipe if possible or maneuver into a position that gives enough clearance (I couldn't
)
Disconnect dogbone/pendulum engine mount. The three bolts holding it to the gearbox were easiest
Hook ratchet strap through the hole at the front of the gearbox and place the other hook into a hole in the subframe near the dogbone/pendulum mount.
Do not wrap over the subframe to avoid damaging the steering rack
Rotate the engine backwards as far as possible. I got 3-4 clicks out of my ratchet before it wouldn't move any further
Unclip radiator fan pack from above. Passenger side first then rest on edge of bumper
Remove fan pack from under the car, avoiding the thermal sensor, coolant hose and damaging the radiator itself
For those wishing to attempt, some observations:
The soft boost hoses are very reluctant to come off, so leave the hard pipe bolted to the block when you try to slip them off and fix the boost pipes back to the block when replacing them
The airbox mounting pegs are very easy to snap. I of course broke one needed to mount the likes of the racing line intake adding £100 to that job
The T30s holding the boost pipe to the block seem quite easy to strip and or cross-thread so be careful
Might just be my car but whenever I moved the fan pack or boost hose near the intercooler I got a face full of s**t
The lower passenger side peg for the fan pack was somewhat blocked by the clip for the lower radiator hose and required some work to get free of
When replacing the fan pack having two people is pretty much required. The bottom pegs need to be lined up first and the top of the driver's side of the pack is somewhat obstructed by the metal frame of the front clip. All pegs need to be lined up at once as there isn't enough movement once one side is clipped in
Only the top pegs have retaining clips
Have some extra long cable ties for fixing the harness back to the boost pipe as the extra length made it much easier to wrap around the harness and pull tight.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but after spending 4 hours on what seemed like an easy enough job and putting it all back together no better off I wasn't in the best of moods.
I'll see if it is possible to remove the boost pipe without removing the radiator hoses, if so will attempt again but it's looking like another job for my mechanic at the moment
Hopefully, this thread helps someone with their fan troubles
. Once the Primary fan and module is replaced I'll report back if that fixed my issue or not.
