I am a new owner of a 07 Hemi Ram (35,000 miles). One thing that I noticed is the engine fan pretty much runs all the time. It turns on right after the truck has started (when its cold). Is this normal???

Thanks very much!

 

YES, due to the fan being attached to the water pump and turned by the Engine it turns 100% of the time......unless you replace it with an electric fan set up..by the way welcome to DF

 

Which means you now need to specify which fan you have....is it mounted to the water pump or do you have an electric after market fan behind the radiator?

 

I was almost positive that it was an electric fan, but maybe not? I will pop the hood and check.

 

The factory fan is a clutch-type, which means the fan only spins when its thermostat tells it to. On a cold engine, the fan free-wheels. As the radiator warms, it heats the air passing through. The 'stat on the fan then tells the clutch to grip the water pump shaft tighter, increasing the load on the engine.

OP, you have two fans: one is the cooling fan and one is the A/C compressor fan. It will run anytime the compressor is engaged. If you regularly have the air conditioning or the defroster on, that electric fan (off-center toward the driver's side) will run.

The cooling fan will be directly connected to the water pump. If the clutch has failed, you won't be able to turn the cooling fan when the motor is cold. The clutch can also fail the other way: with the engine warmed up and a nice toasty day, you won't be able to stop the spinning fan with a rolled-up newspaper. Do that carefully, or you may need to inventory your fingers.

 

Is it only the HEMIs that have the clutch fan as well as the electric for the AC? My 4.7 only has the fan attached to the engine. For now anyway...

 

I believe the 4.7s have it too. I've not looked closely at those, but a friend at work used to have one. The front structure looked much like mine does.

Pretty much all vehicles manufactured in the past 30 years have a mechanical clutch-type fan. Vehicles with transverse-mounted engines all have electric fans, since there's no way to mount a mechanical fan without belts and pulleys.

 

The engine cooling fan on my '06 Hemi has always been really aggressive since the truck was new. On cold mornings, the fan clutch will be engaged for the first part of my drive, then after a mile or so, it disengages and it quiets down.

 

^^^ Sounds like a beast too huh? LOL

 

This is normal until the clutch fluid disperses thru the clutch on a cold start-up. Mine does it for about a block or 2 after a cold start.