When my truck reached around 49,000 miles, I had it checked out at the shop and I was informed my water pump and fan needed to be replaced. This is a 2001 Dodge Dakota Sport with the 3.9 liter Magnum engine. Is this a little early for these trucks? It seemed a little early compared to my past experience with other cars. Is this anything to worry about? No one in my family has ever owned Chrysler cars and I didn't think to ask the tech this question at the time.

 

It depends. 49,000 miles but how many years? Was the cooling system ever serviced?

Was it the fan or the fan clutch that needed to be replaced?

 

Looking at the receipts, the cooling system hadn't been serviced before. The fan clutch was replaced that day. The tech said he was getting way too much of a howling noise when truck was running. I knew that usually these trucks do that... it's a loud roaring sound until you get few a couple gears then it fades away. My truck does this now, always has, but it did make the noise for longer periods of time right before I took it in that day...