My 2001 XJ make an obnoxious vibrating-ish sound when the electric fan kicks on. It's practically vibrating the front of the vehicle, but the fan doesn't appear to be rubbing the shroud at all.

Last night when the fan kicked on, it wouldn't kick back off when the temp dropped below 210 like it normally does. This noise is annoying and embarrassing.

Replace the whole assembly?

Well the electric fan finally disintegrated. So that solves that.

I picked up a new aftermarket fan from NAPA. The plug wasn't compatable with the OEM part so I had to snip the plug off the old unit.

Now the new unit won't kick on. I'm going to try to run the fan directly to the battery to see if it even works tonight.

The joy of American Automobile ownership.

There are 4 mounting points on your fan.2are plastic clips at the bottom and 2 are screws at the top . You broke 1 or more mounts and when your fan comes on it vibrates against the radiator. I had same problem . Easy fix thougRemount or replace fan.

Yes. I've taken this fan out several times before. It finally disintegrated.

As a follow up to anyone who may search this topic after their fan explodes.... my incident blew the 40 amp fuse in the fuse block that's in the engine compartment on the passenger side.

Something to look at when your new fan won't come on after you install it.

How the heck do you get the clips at the bottom detached?

I just removed my fan, just take the two screws from the top and slowly wiggle it up. The two clips at the bottom just fit into slots at the bottom.
It takes patients to get it past everything. These are around $55 on ebay.

Thanks Duncan. Light was failing outside, so I just screwed it back in for tonight. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. The fan blade housing has cracked and the whole thing vibrates when running.