Changed the oil today in my 2008 H3 with 119,600 miles and took a longer look at the front because I've been hearing what could be described as a repeated "thunking" noise at idle. I grabbed a quick video right before I wrapped up for the day and posted it on YouTube. I searched a bit and saw a lot of previous responses mention the water pump going out but I'm not sure. How much play should there be in the fan clutch? Should there be as much wobbling as I am seeing? I had the belt off a few weeks back when I replaced the fuel injectors but I didn't feel or notice anything in the tensioner or anything else up there. It was 2:30 in the morning, though, so definitely could have overlooked something. Video link to the wobble captured today is below:

 

Replace as a pair.
Been there done that.
Mine the water pump got replaced then went back and I had to replace the clutch fan because it was crap.

 

When those go it almost always is when you are not prepared to do a repair........... like on the side of the road in 90F heat and coolant leaking from the toasted water pump.

Get the parts, do it while you can with all the tools at hand and you can plan for it. My guess is it will be leaking coolant soon then just puke and maybe trash your Serpentine Belt as well.

Good luck.

 

Appreciate the responses. I've got a water pump and fan clutch ordered and will likely be replacing this weekend before it leaves me stranded one day in the blistering Kansas heat. Saw a number of older posts that detail how to properly flush the coolant and refill so I'll follow those steps and provide any updates, if needed.

 

Reach over the radiator, use left & right hand to rotate fan blades forward close to pulley back & forth. Then use left and right pointer finger and stick them behind the pulley close to the block and wiggle same. I checked mine and both have very slight movement @92k miles. If either has excessive movement, change asap.

 

Just an FYI.... there is NO reason to "burp" an H3 when refilling (yeah those vids out there are complete BS).

When all done, use 50/50 coolant/distilled water. Fill the radiator to the top, fill the expansion tank to the "full when cold line" & put the cap back on it. Turn on the heat and start the truck and let it run for a short bit adding 50/50 coolant/water to the radiator to the top, then put the radiator cap back on. Wait until the truck gets to full temp. You likely should see some bubbles entering the coolant tank from the bottom (it is burping itself), then shut it down and let it cool. It will pull in coolant from the tank to the system if it is still low. If the coolant tank is then low, add Coolant to the tank full line, start and let it heat back up. Once cool, check the tank level is at the full line. Repeat if necessary.

You do not need any BS burping devices from Amazon or where ever. I have done this with I5s and Alphas many times.

 

Thanks again for the replies. Got the fan clutch and water pump replaced last weekend and the noise at idle is completely gone. Sounds much smoother now. I also followed the ridge demon video that I believe @hummerz posted at some point in a past thread detailing how to separate the radiator from the AC condenser to clean up the buildup that can't be seen from the front. And yes Doc, I followed your procedures for refilling the coolant and all seems well with the temps.

All in all, wasn't a difficult replacement and gave me the chance to do some other maintenance to the area that otherwise gets neglected a bit due to the fan and shroud taking up so much space. Definitely wouldn't say it is a quick process since I flushed the coolant system twice with distilled water. Just takes forever to flush, fill, warm engine to operating temp and run, let it cool down, and then repeat the process all over again. Worth it in the end, though. Wish I could have done the Efan conversion from PCMofNC but I'll have to save that for another day.

 

Nice work!

Usually what I do when stuff is apart, inspecting and cleaning. Makes the job take longer than straight forward R&R, but might as well while you are in there.