Thought i'd give the engine a quick degrease as rego was due. Quick spray of some degreaser and grabbed a bucket of warm soapy water, and ran the engine at a fast idle.

Started pouring the soapy water over the motor, focussing on the timing case end, nek minnit, CLACK, CLACK CLACK. The water deformed the plastic radiator blades enough to force them back onto the harmonic balancer and neatly removed most of the fan blades. Teriffic!

So the quick clean up cost me the time and effort to remove the radiator, replace the fan and I chucked on a new water pump whilst I was at it. On the plus side, I used the Miniman quick way to remove and replace the radiator for the first time which works a treat, and I had the long radiator neck replaced with a short one so i can use a standard style recovery radiator cap.

And your fan is clean now too!

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Nick

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=86675

Moral of the story? Don't clean your engine.

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The bitterness of poor quality (or Crappy Workmanship) remains LONG AFTER the Sweet Taste of Low Price is forgotten.

Or break your fan on the driveway and not on the road

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May I suggest, next time you clean the engine don’t leave it running.
I usually Cover the distributor and air cleaner then degreaser on the engine and hose off. It is a great idea if you have an air compressor to blow the water off any electrical connections or wipe dry. If the engine doesn’t start it is usually due to water in the distributor.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

Put a 4 blade steel fan on they work better underwater.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Ahh I remember driving in the pouring rain in Canberra and hearing a sound resembling a herd of bees under the bonnet. Got to Fyshwick and found the old plastic fan gave the radiator a good clean as the blades flexed and brushed against the rad front face. Ran around to Cols on the way home and bought another one...

Hooroo

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Rob Forsyth
Miniot!!

Engine running whilst pouring water over it????

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras