Had a random thing happen today. Went to start the jeep and heard a hell a noise. Opened the hood and it looks like the fan was eating on the metal trans line. I shut the engine off before it made a hole. Why the heck would this happen? Just drove it last night.

 

Not that it helps you but pretty sure that is an AC line.
First guess is something moved.
Not really sure what though.
Looked at my '00 and the mechanical fan is pretty far away from the 2 AC lines so.....
You can spin the mechanical fan by hand.
So it is what is hitting that line?

 

Not really sure what would’ve moved while sitting in my garage over night. I do have a transfer case drop, which is why I put this in the modded forum. That would tilt the fan back a little right? Has not been a problem for almost a year.

 

Check your motor mounts. And the transmission mount.

 

Something(s) moved.

1. Motor mount failure, shifting, settling of motor..... Mounts are on both sides of engine block, and one near back of tranny, check them for being torn, or collapsed mounts. Oil soaked or soft rubber is a sign that they have collapsed. Are the bolts secured? When these fail engine can shift forward, down, up, back, and/or to either side.

2. Nicked tube moved closer to fan....... is it secure, is what it is secured to secured? Secure tube out of way. Also be suspect that maybe prior owner, or mechanic might have reinstalled and secured the nicked pipe INCORRECTLY, maybe 1/16 th of an inch away from the fan at the time, no problem, until years later a motor mount settles 1/16 th of an inch and wack wack wack. So make sure the nicked pipe is indeed mounted were is should be. Sometime a clamp flipped over wrongly can seem right, yet shift something over a good deal, so examine the mounts closely. Is there another way that they can be installed that will move the nicked pipe further away from fan?

3. Fan or fan clutch failure..... Blade bent, loose blade, hub/clutch bearing failing. Does fan have excessive free play, are all blades sound? Replace as needed.

4. Yes, the work you did years ago on the tranfercase height might be partially to blame, that might have cause the fan to shift closer to the nicked pipe, really close, but not hitting at the time, then a motor mount settled a tiny bit more and that pushed it over the edge. wack, wack, wack. Use a jack to see how that height change tilts motor, see if it reduces clearances to the "To Close for Comfort" amount.

5. I can't think of number five, smarter minds probably will.

Lettuce know what you find! *

Good job in shutting her down in time before the nicked pipe was cut open. You are in tune with your Jeep, The two of you are in sync in the greater cosmos of life force, You and Jeep,. Cherish that bond between Man and Jeep.

Good Luck!

* I know, it belongs in a salad, but it sure sounds correct to me.

 

Hahah. That last statement is true. I have owned this xj for 20 years, so yes, every noise makes my heart jump.

The engine and trans mounts do not look broken. Trans mount looks like it could be getting a little soft. I did find my rear most exhaust mount broke, most likely in the last day or two. Could that have caused enough weight/leverage to tilt the fan back a little more?

 

There is a good sized gouge out of my AC line now. Is there any way to repair/beef it up so it doesnt rupture under pressure. My AC currently works well and would hate to lose it at the beginning of summer.

 

Well, carefully jacked the exhaust back into position and sure enough it gave me about 1/4" more clearance between the fan and the AC line.

 

replacement pipe can be bent into the shape, and installed. If it leaks, the ac will stop blowing cold, if so turn it off, open a window. Get her fixed asap if she does leak so moisture laden air and crud does not have time to do damage via the breach in the pipe. ACs can be damaged over time if left open. more stuff to clean, longer pump down times, moisture is notoriuosly difficult to evacuate from a system, it is one of the last molecules to be vacuum pumped out as it tends to cling to surfaces. O2, N2, those get pumped out fast, dont linger long, but H2O, you got to pump a long time to remove. Spectrum analysis of pumped gasses proves this.
Thus if it starts to leak, get it asap fixed If you get it fixed before it leaks, then your Freon can be recycled, which can save you money perhaps towards your refill if using R12.

So question is... How bad are the nicks? paper thin pipe remaining? What do you figure they designed thickness verses rupture thickness is? factor of two, five, ten?
How much of the depression in the pipe is nicks, verses dents? That blade was like being beat with a hammer, lots of blunt force, so denting of a thin wall pipe maybe expected. Dents are no problem unless very deep.
It may well be just fine. Fire her up, get on freeway and turn the AC on full, if it holds now, it holds. leave it be. But no harm doing a search for an original pipe ready to go in case it leaks later, or needs to be vented for any other reason, it maybe a long lead time item, I Dunno.

You got to drive it to test it. so deal with that after the cause of the fan hitting the pipe is rectified.

If it works, but that ugly nick, that gruesom gash really bothers you, (It'd give me nightmayors) get a rag and with the rag wipe off all the grease from the Ujoints, gather a big blob of used grease, if your Ujoints are dry, well then... they are telling you they need lubing, so grease them! Use the grease expelled, or simply open a can of new grease, it is up to you. The point being, you need a blob of grease.

Now with that blob of grease, the blob of grease on the rag, use an old rag, as grease is hard to wash out, a paper towel will work too. Anyway, back on subject, take that rag, or paper towel, take with the blob, the blob of grease, take it and smear it over the nicked and dented region of the pipe. Use the rag, or paper towel to feather the grease over to the undamaged area of the pipe. You have now thus very cleverly might I add, effectivily hidden the dented or nicked pipe from view.

Now, hidden from view, you wont be reminded of the tragic event every single time you look under the hood. Golly, just thinking about that damaged pipe makes me cringe to think about it, and I was not even there, much less the guy that turned the key that set off the tragic destructive chain of events that led to the heart wrenching plight of the pipe. I can imagine the scream it made, I just cant shake that thought. Your guilt must be deep man. Dont trip on it, its not your fault, or at least likely not your fault.



Out of sight, out of mind, grease it.

Once out of mind, the universal cosmos life force will restore once again both Man and Jeep happy, and cool again.

Good Luck

 

The nicks don't appear to be that bad in the pic..But if it bothers you, clean the line off.. Run a scotch pad over it to clean the corrosion off.. And mix up some J B Weld epoxy and smooth it over...Done..

 

I was just going to suggest exactly that, and you beat me to it.

Knock that off!

 

Yeah, the epoxy coating will protect the bared metal from corrosion, upon magnification, the image of the damage appears to show dents in addition to the nicks, that can make the damage appear to be deeper nicks than they really are. If it is not a leaker now, just run it. slap some rustoleum paint on it, then slip a split loom wire sleeve over it, viola! all hidden!

 

If it works it works, but sounds to me like the motor mounts and transmission mounts have gone soft and have started to sag. If jacking the exhaust back into position did the trick, the exhaust is supporting some of that weight, which it shouldnt be. It could last for quite a while, who knows. Keep an eye on things.