What is the radiator fan motor assembly?

This past week has been quite an education in auto mechanics. A huge shout out to Dad for pushing me to find out the "real" story and not just accept what the mechanics say and get "taken". After speaking with Chris and an independent auto mechanic, it became clear that I myself had to go and look at the damage and ascertain what I could. During my lunch break today, I went down to the dealership and took a look at the car. By the way, I was all worried about storing the car at the dealership was taking up space, well, not an issue. They park all the cars to be serviced on their huge roof, so the car is sitting there, one of over 50 cars to be worked on. It made me feel better about taking my time on this issue.

I opened up the hood and quickly saw that behind the radiator (on the passenger and driver side of the radiator) there were two side-by-side plastic fans, which are powered by an electric motor. Oh, how about some pictures, shall we?

There is the plastic fan, with the round electric motor. The two are bolted (4 bolts total although you only see two in this picture) to the shroud, which is those gray things going off to the left and right.

The picture above shows us what a properly mounted fan motor assembly should look like. This is the fan on the drivers side. Going over to the passenger side, here's what we see.

Uh oh.....no bolts to be seen.

Another look, and again, no bolts

So, being the deductive thinker that I am (you Geometry students, if you are reading this should know what I'm doing) looked around to see what this unbolted fan motor assembly might do. Well, first, gravity took over and the assembly, when properly mounted and centered spins the fan, blows air and touches nothing. With no bolts to keep it in place the fan motor assembly simply slumped down and...

The radiator fan grinding right onto the bottom of the radiator shroud. Notice how the fan carved into the shroud cover.

In addition, the fan motor assembly also pitched forward and began to grind against the radiator itself.

Fan grinding on radiator.

It was this action that led to the sequence of events that caused the overheating of the radiator and potentially blowing the head gaskets. Well, it looks like I'm going to work with Subaru of America to try and invoke the warranty because it appears that when the mechanic in Indiana reassembled the radiator, he probably did something here to cause the bolts to be loose and eventually undo themselves. We'll see where we go from here.....

Separated at birth?

More Car Drama....if you can stand it!!

Denial is an UGLY thing!! A couple of weeks ago, I turned on the air-conditioning in the Subaru Outback Wagon and there was this low grumbling sound. A sound that even I knew was not within the range of normal. Then the grumbling sound starting occurring when I slowed to a stop and was probably always there even though I didn't hear it when the car was travelling at high speeds. Then, last week, I began to notice a marked decrease in the amount of "pep" in the car when I stepped on the accelerator. On Monday evening, things came to a head. I drove home and parked the car and there was smoke coming from the front of the engine through the grill. It stopped quickly, leading me to believe that I could drive to school on Tuesday and then drop the car off at the dealership in downtown Oakland afterschool.

The best laid plans.........go awry. On Tuesday morning, I drove across the Bay Bridge and all of the six miles I drive on I-580 and as I exited off the freeway, all the lights on the dashboard come on, nothing happens when I step on the accelerator (DEJA VU??) and there is smoke coming out of the engine again. I immediately pull over and call AAA to come and tow me to the dealership.

When the tow truck driver offloaded the car, Chris Oliva, my customer service rep, got in the car and it started as well as drove fine. So, that put to rest my worries that the newly rebuilt engine was what was at issue. During my wait for the tow truck, I called Subaru of America and was informed that the rebuilt engine, because it was done at a dealership, had a one year warranty. Since it has only been three months since I was in Indiana, I am well within the timeframe of the warranty.

Later in the afternoon, I got the news from Chris that things were pretty serious. In short, the radiator fan came off (whether it broke or came off is an important fact as will be discussed later) and punctured the radiator, causing a coolant leak, which in turn caused the engine to overheat. This is indisputable. There are questions, however, about whether or not the overheating of the engine caused the head gaskets to have warped. If so, these would need to be replaced as well, which means mucho dinero. Chris believe, however, that because the head gaskets are new and the fact that I didn't drive the car a great deal while it was overheated, the head gaskets should be fine or close enough to what they need to be that some adjustments to them can be made to bring them back to specifications.

The car has been sitting at the dealership since Tuesday morning. Chris faxed me the dealerships estimate for parts and labor and it seemed to be way too high. Therefore, I have started to check around with some recommended auto mechanics to see whether or not what the dealership says is making sense and then, if they can do the work, provide me with an estimate of their own.

There is now a new wrinkle in this saga. My father has his equivalent of a "deep throat" in Seattle. This person, Candy, works at a place that specializes in Subaru repairs and she is therefore incredibly knowledgeable about the cars and how Subaru the company works. In talking with Candy, my Dad uncovered the radiator fan either "fell off" or "broke off" issue. Why? When the dealership in Indiana rebuilt the engine block, they most likely removed the radiator assembly to get to the engine block itself. Upon completion of the engine block rebuild, they would have reassembled and put in the radiator. If the radiator fan "fell off", it is possible that there might have been dealer error and therefore I am not responsible for the repairs, I would be covered under the warranty. However, if the fan "broke off", well, it looks more like an act of fate and I'll be looking at some pretty hefty repair costs. Ahhh, what will I find behind curtain number two.....

On a lighter note, since I have no wheels of my own, I have rented a car. I made a reservation with Enterprise for an economy car. When I arrived at the airport rental kiosk, they informed me that they were out of economy cars and I was upgraded, free of charge, to one of their small trucks, in this case the Chevrolet Colorado. You all know that I am one of the people least likely to ever drive a truck, so chuckle every time you see a truck in the next week and think that the person driving it could be me!!