My 92 dakota has 265150 miles and I have replaced the pump twice. Last unit gave me about 130000 miles before it expired. It gave me a warning about two weeks before it failed with a unmistakable rattle.
This vehicle has been the most dependable vehicle that I have ever owned.

 

Glad your truck held up so well. I hope to get the same long life out of my Dakota too. It's a really good truck and I wil drive it until the wheels fall of of it. That's why I try to take the best care of it that I can.

My truck ran great this morning, no fan clutch roaring noise at all when I left my house to go to work. The used factory fan clutch seems to have freed up some horsepower too, my truck seems to have more power and gets up to speed a little faster now. I hope it helps me get a little more MPG. When I had the Autozone fan clutch on, it used to howl real bad when I left work after sitting in the sun all day. I will see how it does this afternoon but I think it will be fine.

If you need a fan clutch, buy the factory part. Sometimes on certain parts I guess you just have to use a dealer part, whether it's new from the dealer or used from a junk yard.

Jimmy

 

I thought the roaring was normal.

 

Its normal upon first start up.

 

It's normal on first start up on a cold engine, but it's not normal to have the roaring noise form an engaged fan clutch sounding like a jet engine and slowing you down as if you are towing a school bus every time you stop at a red light longer than 30 seconds or sit in a drive thru at Burger King for a minute and then get moving again. Yesterday I went on a trip down the interstate 50 miles to the doctor. I had to wait a couple of minutes at the red light off the exit from the interstate. Doc's office was about a mile from the interstate and my fan clutch howled like a banshee the whole way there, because of the heat.

This new-used fan clutch is worn in and does not howl like that. The factory fan clutch is not near as agressive and sensitive to heat as the aftermarket clutch. Fan clutch is one part I learned the hard way you have to get from Dodge. Or a junk yard, or ebay/online.

Jimmy

 

Or you can go with a electric fan and never have to worry about it robbing power or horrid tank sound

 

One more post here. It was probably 95 to 100 degrees when I left work today, the temperature of the asphalt and heat index were probably a lot hotter than that. Truck started right up and there was absolutely no roaring noise from the fan clutch. Just a smooth and quiet running 3.9. There was no noise from it coming home, either, a 29 mile one way trip, with about 8 red lights and a few stop signs.

I just hope this used fan clutch lasts me a while. If and when it goes bad, I will get a new one at the dealer.

Thanks everybody for your help here.

Jimmy

 

One last update, I have to give credit to Autozone. This morning I took the fan clutch I had bought from them back in February and told the manager how it was locking up in hot weather and all. I told him I didn't expect a refund because it was 6 months old, and asked for a store credit for the 50 bucks the fan clutch had cost, but he gave me a refund in cash anyway. He didn't have to do that, but I am very glad he did. There were a lot of people in the store at the counter at the time, maybe that's why he refunded it, because a refund takes less time than doing a store credit or gift card.

Autozone did me right today, and come to think of it I never really had much problem with them on returns or exchanges anyway. So I really came out ahead by getting the used fan clutch at the junk yard. It is still doing fine, and my truck has a little more power and seems to get a little better MPG now too.

Thanks, Autozone!

Jimmy

 

I changed mine last year. It had 135000 on it.