When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Thanks for the offer @cvhyatt , but I went with the Hayden severe duty.
@Motorhead1 agreed. I replaced the Auxillary/ a/c fan last week. My radiator is in good, not great shape. Lots of bent fins, and the remnants of bird who's life was cut short... I plucked out all of the debris with a radiator comb.
I do have a very very small coolant leak, and have not been able to find it actively leaking. Coolant level holds steady for days, and then after driving the truck for quite a while it will leak after being parked for an hour or two. It never leaks more than a few mm of coolant level out of the reservoir. The leak is right under the driver's side of the radiator. I am going to borrow an IR gun soon (they're at every restaurant now to take your temperature... thanks corona...) and measure the temp of the radiator top to bottom. I would be a little surprised if it is clogged with as good as my coolant temps are when there is any RPM at all. If I am sitting at idle and the temp goes up from 194 to 195 or 197 I can bring up the revs a little, and it drops back down.
It's completely possible it's one of the lower radiator hoses - the PO of the truck pulled the motor and did HG's and motor mounts before I bought it. So everything has been recently reassembled.
probably that known screw is leaking on top of the rad common thing
@arains44 If you remove the top shroud cover you will see a phillips head screw on each side of the radiator. The drivers side on is the most common cause of leaks, but you also be able to check the small hose connector on the drivers side of the rad as that often leaks too. Be gentle that plastic bit the hose goes on to if what fails
Thanks for the encouragement guys. After I found out the water pump was less than a year old I opted to leave it for now.
Today I installed the Hayden severe duty clutch with doorman fan. Doesn’t get much easier. The most difficult part was sourcing hardware to attach the clutch and the fan!
Took me about 45 minutes total once I assembled the fan and the clutch. My old unit was definitley toast. Still had some life in it, but glad I went ahead and changed it.
I got a good back to back comparison between a still working but weak stock fan clutch, and a new severe duty. First impressions: you can tell right away the severe duty takes a little more effort from the motor. I would not have noticed had I not just driven the truck. A few minutes in and you don’t notice it.
It’s certainly loud, you can tell it’s working. But that also starts to fade as you drive.
As I suspected from what I read, my temps did not change much. But, they are MUCH more consistent. With the old unit, as soon as I came to a stop the temp would creep up from 194 to 196 or 198. Now temps stay stable at 194 for longer, and creep up more slowly.
My temps vary less at speed - highway speeds the temp seems to stay below 194 no matter what. Before I could get closer to 200 up a grade. I haven’t driven much yet, but I can tell a difference.
The main thing is confidence. I know it’s doing it’s job.
When I pulled the shroud I could tell some coolant has leaked from the drivers side small hose on the top. I moved around and tightened I’m the hose clamps. Hopefully that solves the minor coolant leak.
I need to read more on the P1171 & P1174 codes I have. According to my mechanic (Solid reputable guy) the O2’s are all functioning, and the Cats are functioning according to the diagnostics tools. I have been unable to locate an exhaust leak. It’s very possible there is one, but I have read about and examined all the likely culprits and tightened everything.
Can those codes be caused by an exhaust leak? The truck had a leak where the manifold and the Y pipe attached and I’m not 100% confident it’s gone after having it fixed previously. I can still hear a barely audible exhaust leak sound when under load (very familiar with the sound from a couple of Porsche 944’s I had that always had leaky exhausts).
I have read that those codes can be caused by a bad brake booster, or fuel injector O rings. All of which would be letting un-metered air into the system.
I replaced my MAF with a used Bosch MAF. I confident it’s a vacuum leak, MAF issue, exhaust leak, or combo of the three. Fuel mileage is poor - 11mpg’s with mixed highway and city. I can get maybe 13 if I cruise slowly on the highway. 11 is not awful for stop and go around town, but I know I should be able to do better than 13mpgs cruising under 70mph for a full tank...
The motor runs very well. No misfires or skipping, no audible sounds from the engine bay other than the fan, accessory belt, and healthy engine noises.
Last edited by arains44; Jun 17, 2020 at 10:13 PM.
Looks good. I think on initial startup, the clutch will be pretty stiff, especially when it's new. Then, it'll reduce the viscosity and quiet down until the engine bay heats up and then it'll start to lock up again. Generally I've noticed that the intake air temp (proxy for heat in the engine bay) is correlated to how much fan noise I hear (and therefore how much the clutch is locked up).
@boston4 Exactly my experience so far. It was so stiff on initial startup the truck turned over slower on the first couple of cranks. It's back to normal now.
As soon as you hear the fan roar you get a couple of degrees of coolant temp drop. Idle temps have yet to surpass 200 with A/C on in 90+ degree humid Alabama heat.
I do miss the more audible V8 induction noise, but I'm sure I will get over that soon enough.
