Back in Havasu

We arrived back in Havasu today but now without mishaps. We were traveling through the California Desert when my cooling fan decided to suck the fan shroud in, chew it up and spit it out. Suddenly we heard a WAM then a high speed buzz and had no idea what it was. I immediately pulled over, took a quick glance at all the gauges (which were normal) and shut it down. I first thought I threw a belt because my AC compressor has been making an odd sound lately. I thought it froze up and threw the belt. On first inspection I noticed the belt was still there and in good shape. I looked around and was at a loss. Then I started it up again and gave it a few revs of the accelerator. That’s when I noticed the fan sucking in the shroud, which on closer inspection was missing a few chunks.

So I assessed the situation and found if I drill a hole in what’s left of the shroud I could tie wrap it out of the way. Back on the road for a test run proved it wasn’t completely secured so I found a safer place to pull over and shimmied under again with drill and tie wraps in hand. Back on the road and no more shroud eating fan. However not all was well. Since the shroud was munched the fan was sucking air around the shroud instead of through the radiator so it ran a bit hotter than normal. I kept an eye on it for the next 3 hours and managed to get back to the resort in Havasu. Fortunately the pieces of shroud didn’t punch through the radiator or AC condenser so it looks like no major damage was done. I will probably replace the shroud myself but I still need to take it into the shop because the front wheel oil seal is leaking again…for the third time. I will have them check out the air conditioner while it’s there too.