Sorry for the long post.

Dakota getting hot. here is the history

Late last fall had to fix a heater core that was stopped up.
Took off heater hoses and mixed 1 bottle CLR to gallon of water and poured in heater core.
Then water hose to wash out CLR mix. Then air hose.
Repeat until gallon of CLR was gone.
Reattach heater hoses.
Remove T-stat
Then Prestone Radiator Flush per directions on bottle.
Then flush until all clear. (Just found out about the block drain bolts a week ago)
New T-stat and filled with antifreeze.

No trouble out of heater or truck getting hot until about a month ago. When dash cluster had issues.

Month ago or so got hot. BOILING hot not a bad gauge or sending unit coolant
actually over flows the overflow jug.
I'd say now it's more water than antifreeze.

New 195 T-stat.
New pressure cap 16lbs
2 new clutches got at advance 90 day warrenty . thinking bout MAKING them get a better one for same price 50.00

FYI 10% discounts to Vets.

Was working OK after the 1st clutch fan. Then was a little late for a job and had to make up some time.
Running hard up steep grades then started getting hot. turn on heater again to cool down.
If I stay around 2000 RPM temp will stay about 210. limped home.
Changed clutch (to 2nd one) two weeks later and was OK on trip to another job was cool outside about 78 and stayed about 2000 RPM

Today running late high RPMs again and got hot. was about 90 0utside
I did notice at a red light it was about 240 so I revved engine and could not hear fan.
stopped for gas popped the hood and could feel the fan blow but not like (what I think) it should .

I don't think it is the water pump cause runnin the heater cools down the temp hand.
If it was the water pump not circulating water the heater blower wouldn't cool it down.

Don't think the radiator is stopped up but might be. Brother said the mechanics on the strip job he worked on would pour a box of cascade in the radiator of triple 7's and run them a shift to clean them out.
http://static.commercialmotor.com/bi...-blog/Cat2.JPG

Dude at advance already said he would have to order another fan clutch if this one did not work.

Any ideals? I think it is the POS fan clutch from advance should have got it from Rock but had to have it yesterday.

 

If the heater core was clogged, stands to reason the radiator might be inefficient at the very least. If you end up buying one... see my link below. It's the one I've got and I've already done the research. It will cool your truck better than the skinny ones you get from your local auto parts.




Oh and not to scare you, but with the multiple overheats you might want to think about the head gasket.

 

Not you see the older engines 5.2, 5.9 and 3.9 can take getting overheated a number of times so its ok. Most older simpler engines take overheating well seen some Chevy's like the 350's and 325 get super hot and live on no problem.


I'm thinking you may have a clogged rad or a weak pump you could drop down to a 180 stat and see what happens.

 

I will definitely endorse switching to 180 stat. Also 16 lb cap seems aweful low, I want to say I have a 18-20 on mine? We run a 24 on the dragster.

Sounds to me like you're a good candidate for the mark 8 fan swap.

does your truck have an electric fan in front of the clutch fan? Should be a 14" POS that comes on at 210.

The clutch fan, if working right, should sound like a 787 taking off.

 

Unless it was differnt for the 3.9's the 97 Kota's didnt come with the electric fans.. mine sure didn't..

But sounds like the clutch fan is not kicking in.. I'd take that mess back to Advanced and get my money back.. I got one from there the name brand that starts with a z i think it is they sell.. severe duty (which is cheaper one) and Heavy Duty which is more Factory (maybe IDK?) i forget it was alot lighter than the stocker that came off and it acts alot different than stock clutches as result..

if its up to temps and you dont hear the roar of the fan then thats your issue. As magnent head suggested you might could possibly think about switching to electric; dont even need the Linicon fan you can get away with the liberty fan mounted to your stock shroud like i did with my 5.2L should do you well enough.

This is in the DIY post second post in the fan section in case you loose the link..

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...fan-setup.html

 

@ Dodgevity

I was afraid of blowin' a head gasket as well. When it got that hot I was still enroute so I backed out of the peddle.
I kept checkin on the oil and see no sign of coolant in it. Not seein any steam out the tail pipe.
Heater core was clogged because PO put stop leak in. Found that out when I changed the heater hoses.
PO had a splice in one hose and it was leaking.

Although now with that said he may have poured in the stop leak because there was a head gasket leak. Who knows?

@ 98DAKAZ

Yes this engine is tough as nails. I was thinking about a clogged radiator as well.
I was also thinkin about a weak pump, but it is not leakin, new pump put on about 5 year ago.
Belt is worn but still in good shape. Can a water pump get weak?
The old T-stat was 180 when I got the new one I didn't even check the temp until I was home.

@ magnethead

The old cap was 16lbs. When I asked for a new on parts guy got it and was 16lbs also.
No electric fan. Just engine coolant rad and AC condenser. No electric fan of any kind.

As far as putting on a efan I was thinking about that a few years back. I got 2 two position fans (high low)
from a ford taurus and was thinking about mounting them some way. just to get more HP.
Then a while back I seen you post
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...at-hurt-4.html
And that looks good. Thanks for the schematic.
I wanted to have a factory looking mount / fan shroud that covered the entire radiator then supported the fan.
To let the fan pull the air through the entire radiator.
May just have to use zip ties, mount one efan in front of the AC condenser as a pusher on a toggle switch for now.


Thanks all for the comments and let you guys know what happens.
I think I'll flush everything out GOOD. Make (we'll see how that goes) advance get a better quality clutch. They can pay the a shop the labor if a shop has to change warranty parts. (per brother he worked at a auto parts about 5 years ago) So I see what they will do for me.
Then zip tie one of those efans and see how that works

 

I might suggest you take the radiator off, bring it to a radiator shop, and have them flush it and flow test it. Stop leak can clog it too.

You shouldn't need an electric fan. If the clutch fan isn't working get another. Maybe even a used one from the boneyard - Mopar.

The truck is 17 years old and didn't need an electric fan when new. Fix the problem not treat the symptom.

 

@ jondakotaguy

You must have posted while I was replying. Any way, I like your setup.
Was checking out the link you gave but haven't went all the way through it yet.
Looks good and that is what I want to get more MPG and HP.


@ 00DakDan

Yes Sir you are correct about FIXIN' the problem.
Just got finished troubleshooting network issues for a Super8 hotel.
Their fix was powercycle everything. (treating the symptom)
Took me 2 visits (about 4 hours each),but found (packet sniffin) and corrected the problem.
There had been at least 3 other guys out that finally gave up,
because they could not fix it.
At least 2 others that didn't want anything to do with it.
So you are right "Fix the problem not treat the symptom."

I stopped and talked to my mechanic yesterday.
Not a ASE part changes but a mechanics. Father and son team.
Was told that 9 time out of 10 is going to be the rad core stopped up
since I did all the stuff I did already.
I guess the Prestone flush I did last year didn't work or something.
Anyway, they said to empty all antifreeze flush with water a few times.
Put in a cup of Iron Out and fill with water. Run a few days. Empty and repeat
two or three times and then fill with antifreeze. I'll try that.

I cannot fit the Taurus fan in front of AC condenser as a pusher.
Not enough clearance for the hood. I do want the Efan but right now I want it reliable.
After I'm sure that the stock setup will keep the Dakota cool then I make changes.
Don't want to sound negative, but been reading the Efan customizations
and seems some have had mixed results.

If I make sure the stock setup is fixed then I'll mod away.

Will keep you guys posted.

 

the lincoln/taurus fan replaces the clutch fan as a puller. I would suggest gettin it from rockauto though, the motor on my junkyard unit burned out after 1.5 years.

 

Worst case, if the iron out doesn't work try a radiator shop. They can even take it apart and rod it if they have too. Not sure of the cost vs. China junk nowadays.

Good luck.