radiator fan replacement

[flitemedic13]

has anyone replaced the plastic fan with the aluminum one? i was gonna do it, until i looked at how to take it off...is it a pain the the a$$ at all or a headache to get out? once its out is it hard to do the switch? any hints or tips?

[willgetbusa]

has anyone replaced the plastic fan with the aluminum one?  i was gonna do it, until i looked at how to take it off...is it a pain the the a$$ at all or a headache to get out? once its out is it hard to do the switch?    any hints or tips?

if the fan you got is muzzy, it's a very simple job. just follow the instructions that came with the fan word for word.  once you unscrew the the 3 bolts that holds the fan to the radiator, you can slide the fan out and slide the new one in with the new gasket. if you look at the gasket that came with the fan, they already traced a circle where it should be cut so there's no measuring needed.  if you have big hands like me, you might have to loosen the two bolts that hold the radiator so you can tilt the radiator away from the header pipes to give you a little more room.  the bolts are located on top of the radiator.  good luck!



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[MET]

It will be worth a little pain in the butt. You live in AZ. so it is better than a melted fan blade.

[flitemedic13]

gotcha...thanks guys

[Rosco]

Not done it myself, but just for info, whats the benefit of the alum fan?

Cheers
Ross

[flitemedic13]

Not done it myself, but just for info, whats the benefit of the alum fan?

Cheers
Ross

Apparently the stock fan thats in it now is plastic....and if you live in a pretty hot environment and your riding your bike alot, especially with stop and go traffic, the heat can be so great that itll possibly melt your fan- or so ive heard. Its just the aluminum one is more durable and wont melt - thats all from what i understand.

[Turbo-Torch]

Melted fan?  Sounds like an Urban Legend

That's cause for a major engine disaster, wouldn't Suzuki recall something like that, or do these fans melt only after the bikes warranty has expired?

I think it's all about the bling factor.  Nice shiny aluminum...doesn't matter that you can't see it.

I seriously don't understand why so many people are having problems with their cooling systems on stock bikes.
While moving my temp. gauge ALWAYS stays a little below the halfway point.  While stuck in bad traffic it will make it to the halfway point, fan clicks on and brings it right back down.  If it ever deviates from that I'll find out why and REPAIR it.

And please don't bring up the line about AZ or FL heat...it gets just as HOT in other parts of the country and your heat is nothing special

btw this post wasn't aimed at the last poster who I see lives in AZ. Just seems I always read threads about temp gauges soaring and then wanting to use stuff like water wetter or aluminum fan blades to cure a problem.



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[flitemedic13]

no doubt..its prolly all BS...but if infact it is for real i wanna avoid the situation...ive never seen my temp gauge go up above half way either, but then again im not in stop and go traffic....some threads on here talk about fans melting...i dont know if they do or not...just dont wanna be a victim to it if it does.

[flitemedic13]

now that i think about it a little more - if any part of the blade did melt or not even so much as warp a little from the heat it would cause the fan to be out of wack and not spin properly, thus not being able to cool off as efficently...kinda like with a helicopter if 1 blade on the rotor is chipped off or warped it will seriously screw it up or with a dryer when its out of balance with too much laundry on one side and it starts to wobble...same concept.

[Turbo-Torch]

At least with being warped you'd definitely feel and hear the effect before anything major happened.

I had a standard non turbo CX for many years which had a cam driven plastic fan blade. It was a direct bolt to the engine and always ran along with the RPM of the cam.
I went through 2 blades in 12 years. A weird hollow popping noise would come from the front of the engine before the blade was ready to blow up.
As those blades aged they became notorious for getting radial cracks and then blowing apart at high rpm, sometimes taking out the radiator with it if you failed to heed its prior warning.

I guess it's possible something like that could be happening to the older 99 Busa's, but still hard to believe as it's an electric fan that rarely runs.

Time will tell as these bikes get older.

[Juggler]

When you replace the screws, use some medium (blue?) loctite. I didn't the first time, and lost my screws, and wondered what was making that ungodly noise.

[flitemedic13]

When you replace the screws, use some medium (blue?) loctite.  I didn't the first time, and lost my screws, and wondered what was making that ungodly noise.

did they just rattle off when u went riding?

[Juggler]

Actually, over the period of a couple of weeks, I found a couple of tiny screws on the garage floor, looked at them, then threw them away.

When my fan started rattling, and I looked at it, I figured out what they were for.

Now, I see a screw, I keep it!