I continue to have issues with my DAK running warm, (very close to 3/4 of the temp'. dial on hot days. I'm using a 180 thermostat and 50/50 coolant. One of my questions is... When the fan clutch engages and you can hear the big, "whoosh" of air, is that the only time the fan is rotating at a higher speed thus having a more pronounced cooling effect?? I have noticed that when I hear the fan the temp'. needle starts going down. Shortly after the whoosh of air subsides the temp'. needle starts going up again. In the late fall of '08 I changed to the present 180 thermostat. Later I found out I had put it in backwards. However, as winter was approaching my temp. needle never went over 1/2 of the dial. Even on a 400 mile hunting trip. That following early summer I noticed it was starting to run warmer. After reading on this forum about guys putting their thermosat in backwards I check mine and put it in correctly. Is it possible I could have damaged something during this period even though the temp'. needle was in the middle? Last question, (Sorry). If I go ahead with an e-fan install, it will come on at a set temp/AC use. Can I also control it from the cab and have it turn on /off when I want too? Thanks.

 

Yes when the fan clutch engages that's when it is running at a higher speed. I'm afraid I have no idea for you on why it runs that high, mine never goes above half on a stock thermostat but the Northeast is nowhere near as hot as where you live too.

With the right relay setup you could definitely rig up an electric fan with a switch to let you bypass the controller and force the fan on.

 

Yes, the whoosh is when it is engaged.

You can wire it up just about any way you want. There are a few good tutorials for different options if you search around.

Changing out the thermostat again is pretty cheap. I seem to remember some thermostats being considered junk a few years ago, to go with a Robert Shaw if you wanted a good chance of accuracy. You might consider getting a real aftermarket temp gauge. Not sure about on these trucks, but many are known to act more like an on/off switch than a gauge.

It might be that your clutch for the factory fan has gone/is going bad. It's been known to happen. Sound like a perfect time for a efan to me.

 

You could try doing a 70/30 mix with more water for better heat transfer in hot weather.

 

ok i had the same problem and i tryed everything. I finaly brought it to the shop and they said it was so badly clogged that they nothing happend when they flushed it. I had to get a whole new radiator and they said my water pump was making noise. I didnt replace that yet tho. if your using DEX COOL i would change it to all purpose because dex cool cloggs radiators

 

I've got the same problem newmexicodak! it was 110 degrees here yesterday and my truck started climbing temps again! It usually only gets to about 3/4 when I have a load on it though, then the fan engages and cools it back down. I just do not like have my temps getting that high in the truck. It just makes the fluids wear out that much faster!

I too have a 180 degree t-stat and it didn't seem to help much when it's hot out. It runs cooler on colder days, but not when it's actually hot outside.

Let me know what you find out because I will probably do the same thing you do! I know my coolant/antifreeze is pretty new (b/c the tstat is new) and i am running a 50/50 ratio. If i have to replace the clutch fan, i will probably just do the whole e-fan thing. I hope my radiator isn't clogged though! That would suck!

 

yea i hoped a cooler temp stat would hellp but in the end i still had to replace the rad. Hope it works out for you

 

Hendrix, did the mechanic say what he thought caused the clogging?

 

no but i think it was the dex cool because he told me it does clogg radiators

 

When I drained my radiator to adjust my coolant to 50/50 I looked at the inside of it (what I could see) and it was spotless. So crud isn't the problem. BTW I'm also using water wetter in it.