There has been a squeeling/ grinding noise developing from my front end '96 4.0, so i just changed my serpentine belt with no improvement.

(by torchlight) I inspected the area the noise seems to be coming from, and I noticed the belt & pulley that mounts the Viscous Coupler was wobbling a bit, so it would seem thats the problem

I have to fix it right away in the morning

This version does not seem to be part of the water pump, no hoses go to it

is below Power steering pump and above A/C compressor (RHD vehicle)

It seems to be mounted by a bracket to the block




Any insights into this job here, is there a bearing in behind there ?

Fan blades dont wobble when tried by hand, its the pulley the belt runs on

I have a new radiator to put in, and in the meanwhile I will most likely have to swap VC out of my spare parts '96, as its a breakdown situation, keep me on the road

I will order a new one, once I have removed and identified the faulty part

'96 4.0 Sport 350k+
'96 Limited 263k (spare, unreg)
'96 Sport 335k (got smashed, farmtruck)
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Isn't funny, the more straight forward and yes/no the answer should be...the less likely you are going to get a quick response. Looking at old posts I found this on NAXJA. It seems there is a bearing pressed into the A/C compressor bracket:

Fan bearing - replace? [Archive] - NAXJA Forums -::- North American XJ Association

Thanks for that info !

This is a bit of a mongrel of a job

I am not even 100% sure it is the problem, but I put a screwdriver-as-stethoscope on it, and 99% sure.

Got the one out of the spare '96 first, took me 2 hours +, its hard to find all the bolts, and the PS, and A/C mounts need to be moved
One absurdly long bolt going into the side of the block is the cause of most of the problems

Tommorow I will swap this part into my daily driver, and install a new radiator I have here, as it had a sealed pinhole

I really hope this fixes it

At my leisure I will endeavour to replace the bearings in the old housing, it seems that it is possible according to the NAXJA thread

I will also check if a new RHD drive part is available, but it seems unlikely

Here's a video to show you how to change the bearing .

FWIW, the RHD brackets are just about impossible to find.

Back on the road,

It was the VC housing bearing.

Its an "integral shaft water pump bearing" which is pressed into an alloy housing, the VC pulley runs on the shaft

When I removed the noisy unit, it has noticeable wobble, and shiny flakes came out, hopefully distintegrated bearing, and it hasnt turned in the housing

my spare '96 is now disabled until I replace this part

The bearing itself appears not to be readily available in Australia

Perusing Ebay, after looking at the NAXJA thread, avoid the Omix-Ada bearing like the plauge and instead install the NGK 885586

I see it here (although it doesnt specifically say "NGK"...(but does use there part number)

885586 Integral Shaft Water Pump Bearing | eBay

About $US50 landed in Australia

A lot of places, including Amazon, show it as "out-of-stock"

I cant find it on Rock Auto...any other suggestions ?

This part will put you off the road, and cause carnage and hassle if it lets go !

It didnt give me much warning, I could detect some sound for about 2 weeks of local driving, checked it out but could observe nothing,
then a few days ago, heard a bit of a noise and brief engine hiccup, checked again, nothing

The other day, it started screeching sometimes, I was right outside my mates who is a mechanic, and he thought it was just a belt slipping

then nearly all the time next day. I reckon it would not have lasted another 100 more miles

I will extract the bearing from the housing to see if its repairable

Have just recalled I have a spare '96 engine I bought for about $200 of a gent, just for things like this

a couple of sensors, alternators, or some other failed part that can be very difficult to find, and it pays for itself

I think the RHD '96 may have a housing that is different to other years, making the situation even more complicated

Will have to put a new bearing in there, as the used one has over 200k miles

Thanks for the update. And glad to see of your success.
You'll find the bearing assembly.

Check that, it seems to be NSK not NGK. The 885586 seems readily available. There seems to be an alternate part number 665325 for some models as well, not so available. I'd go with the part number of the piece you removed.

my bad, yes NSK

trouble is a lot of places wont ship OS, (or the item is out of stock)

At least the source I linked has the parts and ships OS for reasonable cost

The official distributor of NSK bearings in Australia, Motion Industries, allege they have no computer listing for that part number, but allege they will ring me back "in a few days"

will pull the old one before I order the new part

will go look at that used engine I have, been meaning to pull the plugs and copperslip them, its a '96, so hopefully that part hasnt been ratted

an update on this job, with a few tips, and this job is almost certainly in your future if you keep your XJ long enough

I had to order the parts from Ebay, from USA, but when it arrived, it seemed they had in fact sourced the part in Australia (where I am)

885586 Integral Shaft Water Pump Bearing

I think it fits Fords of some type, and the shaft was about 3/4" longer on both ends

you must cut the front end of the shaft as it fits into a recess on the VC, and I also trimmed the rear, although this is not strictly necessary on my RHD

you should pause and cool the shaft during the cutting process, as you dont want to cook the sealed bearing lubrication

It helps to have a press to do this job, but you can manage without

You must follow the correct method of pressing things or the bearing could be damaged

I also had to relieve the inner ID of the VC hub support by ~.002", as it is a tight interference fit on the shaft, I just hand filed it out and measured with digital vernier

You must also tidy up the front cut, or the VC will be very hard to fit over the cut shaft

In addition, its imperative you take the measurement shown in this pic before removing the old item, or you will have no way to determine how far to press the VC hub carrier on to the new shaft, and that carries the belt pulley, so the belt will not run true. If you push it to far on, the studs will collide with the bracket, so there are several things to take into account.

In fact, I strongly recommend you cut the bearing shafts to within 1/16" longer than original



It all went back together (into my spare XJ), but when I tried to add coolant, none could be added, and I falsely assumed i had added some earlier, but it was an airlock

My temp went into the red within a couple of minutes, and I ended up releasing the top hose completely, and that was the only way I could get the rad to accept coolant