Cooling fan problem

[pergau]

The car overheated/boiled over on me this morning and I had to stop and call the AA. After 90 minutes a guy got out to me and took a look at the engine.

He eventually decided that the fan had siezed and managed to start it by giving it a good belt with a steel bar. This means that I am back on the road but have to replace the fan.

Questions:
Should both fans kick in or is the second one just for the A/C
If it is just for the AC, could I swap them (the A/C doesn't work)
Where could I get a new or new-ish fan - I'm worried about using one from a scrapped FTO as it would be the same age as the one I'm replacing so do you know any other Mitsi models that would be the same. I'm guessing that the lancer would do
Any other ideas

Thanks

[Myfeckin FTO]

Unusual that it was the fan that caused the overheating - its usually a thermostat or (for a 95-98 FTO) the waterpump.

The fan on the left as you look into the engine is for the a/c only - I took mine out when I removed the a/c (heavy m.f.) In fact if you turned on the a/c when you felt the car overheating the other fan would do pretty much the same job as the fan on the right and would help cool the engine.

Its gas though ! - problems with FTO's come in waves on this forum - a few years ago you'd get a wave of issues with ARB bushes or droplinks - then it was ac/ps and alt belts and tensioners - later it was centre sections of the exhaust - of late it has been alternators and now its water pumps. My water pump gave up the ghost yesterday - changing the water pump and timing belt tomorrow. That will be pretty much the last wearing part (except the alternator) that is left to replace on my car - I reckon my 95 FTO is now about 2 years old on average.

BTW - Check your coolant - If its very low or theres none its likely you have a waterpump problem - very important you resolve this - a very hot engine can do a lot of damage.

[pergau]

Thanks MFFTO, I reckon that I'll try swapping the fans around at the weekend - at least as a temporary measure.

[Daz]

Its gas though ! - problems with FTO's come in waves on this forum - a few years ago you'd get a wave of issues with ARB bushes or droplinks - then it was ac/ps and alt belts and tensioners - later it was centre sections of the exhaust - of late it has been alternators and now its water pumps. My water pump gave up the ghost yesterday - changing the water pump and timing belt tomorrow.

Ah well ya see the FTO is like any machine with moving parts they all have a shelf life thru wear and tear, the car companies know this and in some cases use parts that will have a short life span, (ususlly guaranteed to fail during the year after your warranty finishes ) and others slightly longer, they do this to make money and thats why there are so many companies out there making sporious parts.

Daz...