Possible oil leak near rad fan/bad drive belt or belts??

[thatguybryan]

Hello, I'm pretty much new to this site and I could really use some help/advice.

My problem is that one day my 98 240sx base started making a "whoosh" noise when i would press the accelerator; it sounds just like an 18 wheeler/trash truck/large suv (the way it sounds like it sucks a lot of air in). I didn't think too much of it at first because I thought it wasn't my car.

I was wrong, lol. The noise gets louder as the RPM's go up, and quieter as they go down. I had my brother press the gas a couple of times while I listened to the engine bay and it sounds kinda like it's coming from the radiator fan area.

The sound went away for a couple of weeks. However, it has now returned and everytime I drive/rev my car it makes the noise (I haven't driven it since it started happening). While I was out driving and it was making the noise, I heard a squeak like one of the belts. I investigated further, and if I accelerate hard it squeaks like a b****; it is definitely one of the belts squeaking.

However, I cannot for the life of me 1) figure out how to get the belts off even with the FSM, 2) find any good descriptions (with pictures that is, I found the S13 belt replacement article but it doesn't show the pictures for some reason?? or even red x's??).

I searched this website up and down, google, and even *gasp* zilvia. I cannot find any decent information on how to replace these damn belts, lol. Am I missing something??? Can anyone help me out? I really would prefer to learn how to do this myself if possible to save some cash.

Another thing (if this helps/just for general information), I looked where the big white radiator fan meets with the water pump I think it is? or whatever the fan connects to, and I see maybe a piece of a seal, and what appears to be oil all over the fan and the piece that is connected to it.

Could this be causing the noise? Does anyone know off-hand what this is called? (I'm sure I can find out if I search which is no problem, but if someone happened to know quickly I'd appreciate the help greatly!)

Thanks for any and all help.

Bryan

[i240sx]

check you belts for any oil...oil might get on it when spinning...every easy way to take the belts off...lose the tension pulley, remove the belt from the pulley, without remove the fan put the belt through each fan blade at a time until it is finally out...easier then peeling a banana...ahhaaa

[kouki munster]

The large round piece in the center of the fan is the fan clutch, my guess is that yours has gone bad. Quick way to tell is to take the whole fan and clutch assembly off the water pump pully and put the nuts back on tho hold the water pump pully in place and crank it and see if the noise is gone.

You can actualy run with out the stock belt driven fan, as the electric fan is plenty to keep it cool. I drove my car for a year with out the belt driven fan before I put the sr in.
Modified by Beatupsx at 4:12 AM 7/25/2009

[i240sx]

The large round piece in the center of the fan is the fan clutch, my guess is that yours has gone bad. Quick way to tell is to take the whole fan and clutch assembly off the water pump pully and put the nuts back on tho hold the water pump pully in place and crank it and see if the noise is gone.

You can actualy run with out the stock belt driven fan as the electric fan is plenty to keep it cool. I drove my car for a year with out the belt driven fan before I put the sr in.

so you drove a year without clutch fan or electric fan..don't your car overheat without a fan...you must be god

[kouki munster]

Forgot a comma, my bad.

It still had the stock electric 2 speed fan (s13s have a single speed fan) on it and the fan never ran on high.

And yes I am God.

[i240sx]

i was about to say..no fan=overheat

[thatguybryan]

Thanks a lot for the help, I think my fan clutch is seized though so I'll just replace the belts and the clutch at the same time.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Yeah I say loose the clutch fan and junk yard a Altima fan from a KA24DE altima, then get a cheap fan controller, or wire it off a switch relay setup. Replace the other belts while your in there and really clean up the pulleys.

[thatguybryan]

Okay so I'm going to replace the clutch fan, but what about the belts? Even with the FSM I can't seem to figure out how to replace them lol..

Do I need to loosen the tension adjuster bolt or do I just take off the bolt that holds it all in place? Thanks for all the help.

[YuNg1's_240sx]

Do I need to loosen the tension adjuster bolt or do I just take off the bolt that holds it all in place? Thanks for all the help.

check you belts for any oil...oil might get on it when spinning...every easy way to take the belts off...lose the tension pulley, remove the belt from the pulley, without remove the fan put the belt through each fan blade at a time until it is finally out...easier then peeling a banana...ahhaaa