Well got the transmission squeal while accelerating fixed(changed the friction plates) and now the fan clutch is acting up again. When I start the car in the morning, the fan engages for about 20 seconds of driving, then goes off. In the afternoon it never DISengages. It's like an airplane taking off. I finally drove it to the dealer while this was happening and took the tech for a ride. He said the 08's fan clutch changed and it's now controlled by two sensors and a thermostat. I said great, but this isn't normal.

Long story short he is going to look at a similar Expy and see if it does it-I don't care if it does, this is not right!-then replace the fan clutch. It's always something with my ride. Ok, rant over.

 

that sucks man

so the newer Expy has e-fans? I haven't really been under my hood much, but I thought they were the traditional friction clutch fans that were belt driven

 

I am not sure how it works. He said the older ones had a thermostat in the clutch and the 08's and newer have that AND are controlled by two sensors. I think it's still belt driven, just the computer has control over when it kicks on and off.

 

That is retarded

somthing that has worked great for 60+ years and now it needs a sensor?

 

Thats what I thought. The 5.4l has never had a overheating problem. Why mess with what works?

 

they had to add some other little gadget that we have to take back to them and get fixed job security at its finest (I think the car manufacturers are taking lessons from the government)

 

^^^ What he said!

 

It's a nightmare to even do a tune up these days.

 

This is more of an "inconvenience"...in the 70's when Chev built the Cosworth Vega's & V8 Monza's (1980's iirr), you had to pull the engine to change the rear plugs in the Monza and the cosworth engines only lasted about 30,000 miles befor the rings had to be replaced because the block was aluminum and not sleeved- so the cylinder bores wore out!

Heck- I might as well bag on Toyota as well- 1987 Toyota Celica GT Automatic- had to pull the transmission to replace the backup light activation sensor!

 

did you ever get it fixed Berry?

 

Hope you get an answer on that Berry. My 07 will *sometimes* kick the fan into high on startup for about 20 seconds and then it goes back to normal. I only notice it once in awhile though, not all the time so I don't think it's a self-test deal. I'm curious to hear what you find on it if anything.

 

Got a call from the dealer. Still 'working' on it. They are calling the Ford hotline, etc. We will see.

 

Well drove with two techs and the service rep yesterday. Hooked the computer up to my ride and found the fan is spinning at the exact same speed as the engine. The fan is only supposed to go to 1,000rpms max. The computer is telling the fan to not be engaged, but it is. Now they have to upload this info to the Ford hotline and wait for a response. I guess Ford is so strict on their parts replacement the techs are all but handcuffed when it costs Ford money. Anyone can tell the fan clutch is bad! We will see what they say. Rant over.

 

So they have to call corporate to get the ok for a warranty replacement? They can't just order the fan clutch assy. and replace it?

 

Yeah, gotta get the bean counters to ok it. Funny thing is, when they were chasing a chirp while accelerating they replaced it and it turned out not to be the cause of the problem! Frustrating.