Catastrophic Fan Failure on a 2014

[CutthroatSlam]

Wife was driving her 2014 SR5 to our ranch in Stevensville, Montana and it suffered a total failure or disintegration of the cooling fan north of Idaho Falls. I diagnosed from pictures she texted to me. She got it towed to the Toyota dealer in Idaho Falls and when they inspected, like me, they said they had never seen anything like it.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

They won’t get to the car until tomorrow and it will take a few days to get the parts. She was able to pull the car off the highway and shut down before it overheated. They gave her a rental Camry so she can finish her trip while they order parts.

She has a 2023 ORP at our place in Montana. We bought that because of the miles on the 2014 and I did not want to risk failures like this on her back and forth trips between Montana and Southern California. Felt like we’d relegate the 2014 to local driving during the winter in Montana and off-road activity. Also did not want to deal with a hybrid 6th gen platform.

 

[honda250xtitan]

woah nice!

 

[thatoneguy]

How many miles on the 2014 again?

I like the "inherently reliable" nature of the mechanical fan, but nonetheless anything is possible as the miles add up! At least it didn't puncture any hoses in that area. Did it get to the inside of the hood?

 

[CutthroatSlam]

How many miles on the 2014 again?

I like the "inherently reliable" nature of the mechanical fan, but nonetheless anything is possible as the miles add up! At least it didn't puncture any hoses in that area. Did it get to the inside of the hood?

342K miles. She said it punched up dents in the hood far enough to remove paint. I think you can see a piece of fan over near the power steering reservoir.

Why did all blades grenade and separate? Or did one blade grenade and take out the rest? Did the fan clutch seize? What is the duty cycle rating for the fan? So many questions. Would love to talk to Toyota engineering on this.

 

[MZ2215]

Yeah that's interesting, would like to know what actually failed

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Apparently we are not alone:

My Radiator Fan Exploded Today! | Page 2 | Tacoma World

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Going on the tow rig to Idaho Falls:

 

[02SE]

I've never seen that happen to a Toyota fan. Has the fan ever been taken off for a belt replacement or other maintenance? I'd suspect the fasteners holding it were over/under-torqued, during some past procedure.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

I've never seen that happen to a Toyota fan. Has the fan ever been taken off for a belt replacement or other maintenance? I'd suspect the fasteners holding it were over/under-torqued, during some past procedure.

Never removed. You can remove the fan shroud and get the belt over/around the fan to install it.

https://youtu.be/oW-mLU_DyUU?si=y8lS1vHAqQDoGWh7

 

[02SE]

Never removed. You can remove the fan shroud and get the belt over/around the fan to install it.

https://youtu.be/oW-mLU_DyUU?si=y8lS1vHAqQDoGWh7

Yes, I know that. It was just a theory. There have been far higher mileage Toyotas that use the same style of fan with no failures.

Another theory is that if the clutch were locked-up, it might spin the fan fast enough to cause this. Of course the fan would be making a lot of noise beforehand.

 

[Humble Leader]

curious to know what the outcome of this is as well. how would speed of rotation cause the blades to break apart like that though?

 

[Jeremy556]

My guess is engine mounts allowed the engine to rock enough for the fan to hit the shroud. I replaced my trans mount a couple years ago and my front mounts need to be replaced, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm at similar age/mileage and my mounts are pretty badly cracked, but not broken through fully... yet.

 

[Jetboy]

I've driven through water deep enough to have the fan half submerged. Didn't seem to phase it at all.

If I were to bet on the cause - I'd bet it was a factory failure on torque on the fan clutch or fan assembly. If the fan clutch or bolts came loose it would probably have a failure like that. But the picture looks like the steel ring that is embedded in the plastic fan is still bolted to the fan clutch so it it kinda looks like the plastic just exploded for some reason. Short of having an animal that was in there jump into the fan blade or something weird, it probably has to be a manufacturing defect. It's just surprising how much energy it had. Most of the time you can grab a fan blade with your hand and stop it while the engine is running. The viscous clutch thing isn't usually all that firmly engaged.

FWIW - I've read about a Tacoma that had 2 of them do the same thing on the same truck. The culprit was a fan clutch that was seized engaged and the plastic fan isn't capable of handling the full speed of the water pump shaft. I guess it normally spins a good bit slower even when "engaged". Not sure if that's true, but a possible reason. Kinda matches up with the high level of damage.

Very weird. Glad she was somewhere with cell signal and able to get a tow. Hope Toyota takes care if it for you.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

As I suspected, fan clutch seized causing the fan to break up. It punctured the radiator and sliced a line to the oil cooler. Fortunately I have my wife trained not to drive through things, hoping they get better. She pulled over asap and shut down before losing oil pressure and overheating. Dealer service confirmed no engine damage. I asked them to match Lithia Toyota online parts pricing and I will source the hood and cosmetic engine cover from salvage yards in SoCal.

 

[thatoneguy]

Relatively good outcome. The high mileage beast will live on to fight another day/decade/millenia

 

[Ezlife45]

if a fan clutch seizes the only thing that happens is the fan turns with the pulley.

Clutches were installed to allow the fan to freewheel a little and draw less power.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

if a fan clutch seizes the only thing that happens is the fan turns with the pulley.

Clutches were installed to allow the fan to freewheel a little and draw less power.

Yes but the plastic fan was obviously not designed to turn with the pulley on a continuous basis, or even a infrequent basis over time.

 

[Jetboy]

if a fan clutch seizes the only thing that happens is the fan turns with the pulley.

Clutches were installed to allow the fan to freewheel a little and draw less power.

A lot of fan clutches only spin about 50% of shaft speed when fully "engaged". It may be the problem when it actually locks up is significantly overspeed vs design speeds.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Looking in hindsight, I probably should have picked up on the fan clutch failing. Wife had been complaining about transmission hunting at highway speeds. When it did drop down a gear you would hear the roar of the locked up fan. Internet searches produced tons of complaints about the 4R transmission hunting. It’s my wife’s truck, so I don’t drive it much. When I did drive it down from Montana to SoCal in early September, it only happened a couple times, so I dismissed it as normal.

I have never seen this happen and I work on all sorts of vehicles. Currently own 5 vehicles, including two K2500 Suburban 6.5 diesels, both of which have upgraded water pumps, fan clutches and fans from the early Duramax to enhance cooling. Those fan clutches will come on infrequently, but the fan roars when it does. The fan blades are fiber infused black plastic riveted or bolted to a metal hub. It’s a much more robust build than the Toyota which uses a blade one would expect to see on an electric fan.

So I feel like this is on me and I’m not happy. I drank a bottle of Napa Cabernet with my NY Steak and wild rice last night. Should be pulling a manual transmission from my Honda Accord today, but watching football instead.