My guess is my pulley and/or fan belt needs replacing, but here is the situation. As I accerlate and reach a between 70-75mph, I get a load noise/vibration up front under the hood. When I accerlate beyond 75, it all smooths out and quiets down. At slower sppeds around town, I get some "funky" feeling up front and the acceleration seems a wee bit sluggish.

Question, Can someone walk me thorugh replacing my fan belt on a 96 351 Auto ps/pb engine? Thanks.

 

Look for a fan belt routing sticker under the hood. If not there draw one. This is not a time to let your ego think you can remember. See if the fan is touching the fan shroud.

If you don't have a huge screwdriver or stethescope use a steel rod and put one end CAREFULLY near bearings while the engine is running and the other end to your ear.

Put a wrench on the tensioner and release the pressure enough to slip the belt off.

Again, check every bearing, water pump and fan clutch. If fan clutch has 90K miles on it replace it.

Install new belt.

Pull the codes KOEO, CM and KOER and do a tune up with copper plugs if you have not done so. Good wires, cap and rotor, air filter etc.

Poor acceleration may not be related to the noise. Put a socket on the crankshaft bolt holding the hormonic balancer. I THINK it is 15/16. Rock the crank back and forth until the chain tries to turn the cam to feel how much slack is in the timing chain set. On mine the pulley moved 3/8" and I decided to replace the timing set. Once inside the slack was no where near where Hayes suggested replacement but I went ahead with it and it improved acceleration.

 

I did replace the spark plugs and what a diff. One of the old plugs basically fell apart as I was trying to unscrew it out.

I can only guess that my fan clutch has more than 90k, but you really you feel this is an important step to take?

 

From what I have read on a fan clutch manufacturer's site the clutch slippage gradually increases with mileage even though it may not have total failure until later on. With your vibration concerns I suspected bearing failure on either the fan clutch or water pump. My fan clutch still worked but I replaced it with a Super Duty version and it made a huge difference with the A/C in Texas Summers even though it roars like a garbage truck when it fully engages.

You can decide if it is important. We can spend a lot of money getting parts like new. They are all like me as I get older. Everything still works but, not like it used to. For example, reading codes and getting 111 no problem, replacing ECT, ACT, TPS and Oxygen sensor made a HUGE difference. The oxygen sensor may have had 180K and the suggestion is to replace at 90K even though it was not bad enough to trigger a code. ECT and ACT did not trip a code and did not read correctly at different over temps. TPS is a wear item so I just replaced it. None could be considered really important as the engine was running fair. When gas was $4/gallon I was doing all I could to improve mileage and it runs almost like new at 182K. My wife and children have unsuccessfully tried to convince me that this is the time to buy a replacement vehicle. I plan to keep my Bronco as long as possible and thus it is really important to me to try to correct anything I find not up to specs. which may not be the case with you.

 

Yes, I had a 1995 Bronco and I just went in and replaced all of those things you mentioned and it really smoothed out the ride, even though there not any error codes showing. I had not thought about replacing the fan and H2O pump. I guess I will do what I was thought about doing and replacing all of those little items including the O2 sensors. My Bronco runs strong and does not burn a bit of oil. Yes, it looks dated to the new cars of today, but it is paid for and who cares if the latest Armada gets 1 more MPG than I get. Can never justify the expense of a car payment of around $600 a month.

Can you link that super duty fan clutch? Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, I had a 1995 Bronco and I just went in and replaced all of those things you mentioned and it really smoothed out the ride, even though there not any error codes showing. I had not thought about replacing the fan and H2O pump. I guess I will do what I was thought about doing and replacing all of those little items including the O2 sensors. My Bronco runs strong and does not burn a bit of oil. Yes, it looks dated to the new cars of today, but it is paid for and who cares if the latest Armada gets 1 more MPG than I get. Can never justify the expense of a car payment of around $600 a month.

Can you link that super duty fan clutch? Thanks for your help.

 

HAYDEN, INC. - Thermal Fan Clutch Severe Duty came from O'Reilly but other stores handle it also. Remember, it is noisy and will stir up a dust cloud. If max air flow when needed is not your choice back down to Heavy Duty. One member said he looked like Pig Pen off roading and stepped down to a milder fan clutch. I personally like all the A/C I can get even with the fan roar.