Vacuum Leak or Bad fan clutch?

[FreshVibes]

Hey guys!

I've been doing some searching on my current issues with my 99' touring. While driving, my car seems to sound like an airplane. I've was told that it's a vacuum leak and I am getting the car into a shop next weekend to do the smoke machine test to possibly source it out. The CCV on this car has been changed once before, not saying it's not possible that it's gone bad again, but I wanted to get some insight on my current situation from you guys before hand to possibly pinpoint what exactly is the culprit before I do take it to the shop and could possibly just get it done myself. The other day, did the soap/water spray bottle test. Sprayed around the possible areas for a vacuum leak and had no symptoms of the car getting a rough idle or any bubbling from the soap. Got a little curious tonight and was searching up some vacuum leak videos on YT and came across a bad fan clutch video. In the video, when the car was revved, the fan would increase speed with increased rpm. The sound of rushing air sounded exactly like mine which is why I'm kind of 50/50 on whether I have a vacuum leak or bad fan clutch. A symptom I have is when the car is revved, massive amounts of air was blown from underneath the car, it literally blew away leaves from under the car and you can feel it at your feet when standing in front of the car. Also, when the car is revved and the rpm drops back to normal, there is a little roughness in the idle and the rpm will drop a little under 800 but it'll quickly go back to normal which to me would be more of a vacuum leak related issue. Sooo ya! Definitely want to get the issue fixed ASAP! Not too mechanically inclined, trying to learn as much as I can with this car! Hopefully ya'll can help me out!

Thanks in advance.

- James

Here's a little photo for the funsies

[jclausen]

Fan clutch I removed my roof rails too

[juststeve]

If the competent repair facility diagnoses a bad clutch fan and advises replacement..
Do have them replace the plastic fan blade at the same time.

Spending the extra $20 now will be cheaper than shopping for a replacement hood... when the old fan blade explodes.

[Poolman]

Nice car. Where did you purchase the spoiler for the hatch?

[FreshVibes]

Fan clutch I removed my roof rails too

If the competent repair facility diagnoses a bad clutch fan and advises replacement..
Do have them replace the plastic fan blade at the same time.

Spending the extra $20 now will be cheaper than shopping for a replacement hood... when the old fan blade explodes.

Did some fan clutch testing today. There's no play in the fan, plenty of resistance when trying to spin it on my own when the car is off and did the paper test to see if I could stop the fan while it was spinning, didn't stop. When revving, the fan does speed up as the rpms raise. Isn't that a symptom of a bad fan clutch or do I have it wrong? Thanks for the replies, guys!

Nice car. Where did you purchase the spoiler for the hatch?

PO told me it was from a Poland company on eBay lol, but this was a years ago, sadly. The fitment on it was terrible from what I was told.