Honda Radiator Fan Clutch

All of us are familiar with fans, whether they are electric or mechanical. We use them at home, at school, in offices, and in many other places to cool or to refresh ourselves. We also see them in factories, especially those large exhaust fans we would see from afar. Honda vehicles are also equipped with fans, although their function is not to refresh or cool the passengers. Instead, these automotive fans aid the radiator in cooling the vehicle's engine, allowing the engine to function in the proper operating temperature.

Now, the electric fans that we are familiar with are almost often controlled through buttons or remote controls. Honda automotive fans, however, are not controlled by either the driver or the passenger. Instead, these engine fans regulate themselves based on the cooling needs of the engine. How can the fan do this? Through the Honda fan clutch. The Honda fan clutch is a viscous or fluid coupling device connected to the center of your Honda's fan. Its primary function is to regulate the speed of the fan relative to the engine's speed and temperature. As the temperature in the engine area rises, the fan clutch would also engage the fan, causing it to rotate faster. On the other hand, when the temperature falls such that a cooling fan is no longer needed, the clutch would partly disengage the fan, causing it to turn slower.

To engage and disengage the fan, Honda fan clutches makes use of silicone oil. Actually, the rotation of the automotive fan would depend on the torque-carrying capacity of the silicone oil. So the more silicone oil there is in the coupling, the faster would the fan move. But if the opposite is true, the fan would also rotate slower.

There are two types of fan clutches used in the automotive industry today. The first one is made up of a bimetallic strip and a control piston while the other is made up of a bimetallic spring and an opening plate. In either type of fan drive clutch, the bimetallic element is temperature sensitive, expanding each time the temperature rises and contracting when the temperature drops. So as the engine area heats up, the bimetallic strip on the first type would be forced to bend while the bimetallic spring on the second type of clutch will push the opening plate open, allowing the silicone oil to enter the coupling to speed up the fan rotation.

A very important component in the proper performance of the engine fan, and thus in the proper cooling of the vehicle's engine, it is only appropriate that the Honda clutch fan be taken care of properly. If damaged or if the silicone oil is already leaking, you better replace it at once, unless you want your Honda's engine to perform inefficiently because the engine cooling system won’t work well.