Hi Kevin,
The inside of a fan clutch is a little like the inside of a torque converter. When you first start your engine, the fan will be in lockup, because the silicone material has all settled to the lowest portion of the housing. after startup, the centrigugal force throws it out to the outside and it is fairly well distributed, 360 degrees. Depending on the air temp passing across the bimetalic coil, it will open and close a valve cage directing the fluid either to the extreme outside (when hot) or to the inner chamber when cold. The outside chamber has little paddles that must rotate through this gel, and this is why there is more resistance to it's turning when hot. A locked up unit is usually what happens when run bone dry. At first, when they go bad, the silicone gel leaks out of the center valve shaft hole. This is when they won't lock up when hot. eventually it just siezes when the chambers have been dry so long they get corrosion in them. LR clutches are pretty expensive and unfortunately, they aren't rebuildable the way, some American, and some Toyotas are. Those are the ones you can take apart. LR clutches are crimped sealed. Of coarse, the American and Jap rebuildables are the cheap ones.
