Hey All-

When I pull my trailer up a hill at highway speeds in the summer, my truck gets on the verge of overheating (just past the very top line of normal on the gauge) before the fan kicks in. When the fan kicks in it cools off really fast. It never looses coolant, never overheats any other time, just the occasional time when it gets worked hard.

I'm thinking the fan clutch is not quite up to the job, but I don't want a noisy heavy duty fan clutch.

Has anyone added an electric pusher fan to the front of the radiator?

Any suggestions?

-Thanks

2005 Dakota ST Quad Cab, 4.7, 6 speed

 

Are we talking about an electric cooling fan in front of the engine mounted to the radiator housing? Reason I wonder is the following statement: "When the fan kicks in it cools off really fast". This would imply it has an electric fan.

Last time I had ours apart it was a normal engine driven clutch fan.

If it's got a normal clutch fan, probably needs to be replaced as the assembly does wear out in time. Good news is that a replacement clutch isn't that expensive.

If you have an electric cooling fan- I'd be wondering about how it was installed and questions like what temp does the sensor have to hit in order to trigger? Does the electric fan come on when running the air conditioner?

S-

 

Sorry for the late reply.

Naw it's the regular fan clutch type. When i say it kicks in i mean when the fan clutch finally engages.

I'm gonna replace the clutch.

 

No worries. I noted that ours seems to have a personality as well. Usually while on the highway and it's about 70' out- The temp gauge just hovers around the 1/4' mark. Just above the normal starting line area on the gauge. When it was pushing 90's and we had the A/C running- The temp gauge ran dead center in the middle. (About 1/4 higher.)

I've always been amazed at how outside air temp can affect the cooling capacity of any car or truck going 70mph do the highway! (The clutch isn't doing any work at that speed LOL)

Let us know how you make out! But it sure sounds like the clutch is showing its age if it's not kicking 'in' until it's getting into that upper area.

S-

 

Here's the follow up-

I went ahead and replaced the fan clutch and that was definitely the problem. Still warms up on the hills pulling a trailer but temps stay reasonable.