Cooling Fan

[Rolf]

Hello Everyone,

  I was motoring to Long Island the other day and I hear a loud bang. I looked out the back and saw something fly from under the back of the car. The car started shaking so I pulled over. I saw antifreeze all over the place. I also saw two large holes in the radiator. One of the fan blades broke off and holed the radiator. This was all on the infamous Cross Bronx. I had the radiator re-cored and called The Classic Center to get a fan. I was told they were nylon now and they had one for my 1966. When it came the hole through the center was smaller and the body of the fan was not as wide as the one that was on the car. Is there an adapter for the nylon blade or maybe I was sent the wrong one?  Thank You and Happy Motoring

[jameshoward]

Hi Rolf,

Sounds painful.

You seem to have a late-ish 230 from your sig block. I'm no expert on correctness, but I think that the earlier fans were all nylon and that they've perhaps sent you the correct part. At some point my 230 engine was replaced and I now have an aluminium fan, with a viscous coupling. Perhaps this was the set up you had before?

It may be that you need to revert to the original state (if you have a coupling, for example) to get the nylon fan to fit. Or, get the later fan and all should be well.

Personally, I'd always keep the metal fan and set up I have now even though not period correct.

There's a lot of info on fans on the site. Do a search, and maybe check out the Wiki.

JH

[jacovdw]

James,

The earlier cars like mine had the metal fan with 4 blades as standard. No viscous coupling.
The current replacement from MB is the nylon 4 blade fan.

AFAIK the viscous coupling was used from the 250SL's onwards.

[Richard Madison]

For those interested in roads, NYC,  and why the Cross Bronx is "infamous" :

The Cross Bronx Expressway is a multi-lane road in the Bronx, a Borough of New York City. It goes East West coming off the George Washington Bridge. The GW Bridge connects the Bronx New York and Fort Lee, New Jersey over the Hudson River. It was given the name "Expressway" as it was intended to be quick way off the GWB and across the Bronx. It did not work out that way.

The CBE is a favorite of truckers on long hauls, convenient for trucks coming from NJ or further west. The CBE comes off the GWB bypassing Manhattan and leads to the New York Thruway and the New England Thruway for destinations East and North of NYC.

"Infamous" because the CBE is nearly always jammed with trucks and cars, one of the slowest and most crowded roads in NYC.  Many Big Apple car drivers try to avoid the CBE, taking other routes. It's not a good place to have fan go bad.

Richard M, NYC

P.S. Trivia: the Bronx is the only NYC Borough (County) that is part of the mainland continent of the USA. The other 4 Boroughs are islands or parts of islands. Luckily, all are solidly attached to the bedrock  

[mdsalemi]

For those interested in roads, NYC,  and why the Cross Bronx is "infamous" :

Let me add the following: infamous because it was one of the largest of Robert Moses' projects in the NYC area, and has been attributed to the decay of the South Bronx.  If there was arguably a division between the North Bronx and South Bronx prior, there was no argument about the physican division after construction.  It has been called the most congested road in the United States.  It is also known, most of it, as Interstate 95 (I-95) which might put it in better context for non New Yorkers.  Do a search for Cross Bronx Expressway and you'll get over 40,000 hits including some of YouTube videos.

For those that don't know Robert Moses, he was Mr. Public Works of NYC who built two World's Fairs (1939, and 1964-1965); most of the parkways, parks, roads, bridges, etc. of the mid 20th century.  What he did then could probably not be done today.  Fascinating character; read the book "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro for a story about him, understanding he isn't painted in the most flattering light.  With all the roads he built, kind of funny that he didn't drive.

I used to live on Long Island, and still have relatives there.  After moving to Boston in the early 70's, I-95 became the route back to NY and always a stint on part of the CBE.  Today my tolerance for this is reduced; the road is worse, and when I have to drive that route, I most often take a ferry to Orient Point or Port Jefferson, and avoid it!

So, when Rolf says "infamous" and Richard says it is nearly always jammed--believe it.  I never got stuck there but always wondered if it was safer on the highway or the streets above...

[al_lieffring]

A warning in the manuals is to never use the metal or plastic fan blades as a handle to turn the crankshaft, the blade will become fatigued and can break off when put under load.

As Rolf found out this will usually happen at the worst possible location. 

[Rolf]

Thank you all for your input. Mercedes did send me the nylon fan but it does not fit. The hole is too small and the depth of the nylon fan is thinner than the depth of the metal fan that was on there. Mercedes Classic is trying to work the issue.

[Shvegel]

20 years ago the Cross Bronx Expressway used to be solid hubcaps down both sides and it wasn't unusual to see a car flipped on it's side with all of it's parts stripped away including the engine.  I once watched a car filled with young men sideswipe a car with a lone driver and continue on without stopping. The lone driver took off after them in what I thought was a futile attempt at bringing them to justice. A few miles later I came across a traffic jam caused by the same lone motorist holding 5 men at bay with a claw hammer.

I used to drive it fairly often on my way to Long Island from points west now I prefer the Lincoln Tunnel, across Manhattan and through the Midtown tunnel.