Hey everyone,
I have a 1994 Dodge Ram Van B350 and I'm having a weird issue with what seems to be the fan clutch. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on the situation...
So it all started last year when I had the fan clutch seize and I had it replaced with a mechanic. All seemed to be fixed, the noises that I had been hearing for a while had gone away and the fan seemed to be engaging perfectly.
This last July the fan clutch started making a loud clucking/clicking sound when accelerating (45-65 mph) and usually going uphill. When the fan would engage, we would feel it shift and the clicking/clunking would go away. My husband and I decided to replace the fan clutch again with a "Super Heavy Duty" fan clutch and again all seemed to be fixed and the clunking/clicking sound went away.
Yesterday the fan clutch started making this clicking/clunking sound again and it seems to have a hard time engaging. Now the clunking/clicking sound is happening when we're going only 35 mph uphill. We're afraid to push the van too hard when going uphill because the sound becomes more and more intense.
I will slow down to around 30 mph and speed back up again and sometimes I can get the fan clutch to shift and the clicking goes away.
Am I just having bad luck with faulty fan clutches? Do I need to get an OEM fan clutch from a dealership? What on earth is going on that's causing this issue with two different fan clutches?
The van is cooling just fine, however... The transmission runs and shifts beautifully, so I know this big "shift" I feel is that the fan clutch engaging and isn't the transmission shifting.
Anyone have any ideas?

 

Made sure the fan isn't hitting the shroud somewhere. Sagging engine mounts can let the engine settle..... and the fan makes contact with the shroud.

 

The fan isn't hitting the shroud anywhere.
I called Dodge and they don't make OEM fan clutches anymore and said that I just need to do a trial and error with different fan clutches. I have two ordered from Napa and I suppose that I'll try a new one and see how it goes. The Dodge mechanic said that it definitely sounds like the fan clutch from my description, but doesn't know why they're not working properly.

 

Water pump been inspected?

 

The water pump went out two years ago and was replaced. There's no indication that it could be the water pump, but I'm going to have a mechanic put in another fan clutch (a different manufacturer) this coming Wednesday, and I'm going to have him inspect the water pump, as well... I'm very hopeful that this new fan clutch will solve the problem...