I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota with the 3.9 V6 and a 5 speed manual, 124,000 miles on it. Occaisonally the viscous fan clutch will make a roaring noise when the engine is cold, the noise is present for about the first 1/4 mile then clears up.

Today when I went on a 100 mile round trip I was about 10 miles from home and the roaring noise just appeared out of nowhere and the truck seemed to lose a fair amount of power. It wasn't overheating, oil pressure was fine too. When going uphill in 5th gear at 1500 RPM when I gave it gas the RPM and speed increased so I don't think it's the clutch.

At home the roaring noise is present with the truck sitting still in the garage when I operate the throttle manually. The fan was very hard to turn when I first got home and is still very hard to turn now, 3 hours later. I know if you spin the fan and it spins freely the fan clutch is bad. But I have also heard and read if the fan is really hard to move at all that is also a sign the fan clutch is bad. There is no movement or play at all in the water pump shaft, none that I can detect.

I think I have a bad fan clutch, and I appreciate any help you can offer. I can't really find a lot on the hard to turn fan symptom online.

Thanks for any help here.

Jimmy

 

Got it fixed this morning, fan clutch was definitely the problem. The old one was so locked up I couldn't even turn the nut once I got it removed from the water pump shaft. The Autozone rental tool helped too but the wrenches in it didn't fit the nut and I had to rig some bolts in the holes on the water pump pulley and hold them with the spanner wrench to loosen the old one and get the new one tightened down. Test drive was fine and engine is back to normal now. I bought the Torqflo brand clutch and it is as quiet as the original clutch was (before it locked up, that is) I was a little worried it might be louder.

 

U dont even need it if you have a stock electric fan. Thats the first thing i take off my truck when i buy them. Is the fan shroud and Clutch Fan, less drag on the water pump, and you also pick up a few more horses.

I just use a 1.5foot pry bar, monkey wrench and a hammer and the clutch fan pops right off..

 

Fans are cool!

 

In your sig what does it say on the intercooler?