Gen1 radiator fan broken - cheaper replacement from USA than UK

[EnterTheBiscuit]

So I was due to tour Scotland on 14th September with my 2011 S10 and I'd recently bought an extra drybag and fitted AltRider crash bars. All set! It's been a trouble-free gem of a bike since I bought it in Dec 2015 and, despite leaving it out in all weathers 24x7x365 it's aged decently. Then, one week before departure I was riding around Cambridge with my brother when, stopped at traffic lights, I noticed the engine coolant temp light was on. Then I realised the radiator fan wasn't working. It later came on once but then died permanently. Below about 25-30mph you need the fan, and that's ignoring any clutch work or stop-start traffic, including any slow-speed stuff that Scotland might have thrown up. So I went by car instead. Anyhoo... a replacement from Yamaha UK was going to be £550 quid excluding labour!!! for a fan and its bracket - really!??? Yamaha EU didn't have any in stock and neither did anyone else. Except for some USA and Japan listings. In the end I bought one from Partzilla.com for $214 plus shipping plus any import tax. It arrived yesterday and has cost me only £285 total for the part. I am amazed at the difference in price, and also at the fact that the fan failed at all. Anyone else had this? The bike has never been dropped (while I've owned it) and it's never even "hiccupped" in this regard at all. Just weird timing. Is this a common problem for a Gen1 after a number of years?

 

[bimota]

i know a few in the uk that have broken the fan for any reason have bought second hand working fans off ebay from a fjr

rob

 

[EnterTheBiscuit]

i know a few in the uk that have broken the fan for any reason have bought second hand working fans off ebay from a fjr

rob

Thanks - yeah I did consider the used segment but there were only two when I looked and I couldn't trust that they hadn't been dropped. And given the relative price difference it was a tough call but I didn't want to risk an Ebay run-around with faulty items. The fan is vulnerable to side drops - if it was front-mounted I would probably have bought a used one (although obviously a front rad wouldn't need a fan).

 

[bimota]

my gen 1 is 7 yrs old 27000 miles no issue with fan crash damage issues obviously but not a common fault that i,ve heard of

rob

 

[EnterTheBiscuit]

Just for interest's sake the part number is 23P-12405-01-00 (the last "NN" is the colour code but this part has no colour option so it's always 00 for this part). My local Yamaha main dealer told me that actually the 01 was replaced by the 02 (i.e. 23P-12405-02-00) so they thought maybe Yamaha found a problem and quietly fixed it with the 02 version? They said it was compatible with Gen1 and 2, so I got an 02 version to be on the safe side.

 

[Saint rob]

Too late for you now, but I have a spare FJR fan you could of had. I needed one 18 months ago and didn't fancy paying for a new one, I couldn't find a used one in the UK and ended up buying a pair of FJR ones from the USA for £48 delivered.