How do I know if the clutch on the cooling fan is working properly? I changed my coolant the other day and could (carefully) stop the fan from spinning at idle.

thanks

Jamie

 

After you count your fingers you might want to think about how fast the fan is turning at cruise. Also, are you overheating? If not it's working.

 

Now I know why my "06" has a **** horn alarm in reverse if the door is open!

 

 

When your engine is hot at thermostat temp (I think 195*), TURN OFF your engine and try to turn the fan blades. If they do not turn, then your fan clutch is working properly. If you can turn them with little effort, then your fan clutch is toast. It's not full proof. I've seen them in jeeps where they were hard to turn when hot, yet still did not spin sufficiently to cool the engine when running. They typically last 5-10 years. I've never heard of one less than 5 years old not work properly.

 

The ones on 3rd generation trucks are also controled by the ECM.May not work correctly key off.

 

listen for the roar when the a/c is on or you pull a hill with a load.

 

I can spin it pretty freely with your test.
I've never heard the fan "kick in" since I've owned the truck.
Truck overheats to 202-204* when climbing inclined hills or just heavy acceleration on/off interstates.

I think I should have it checked
Jamie

 

CAUTION!!! that plastic blade will cut the living #%^* out of your hand. Even with the engine off.

...and if you had the a/c on..... You would have been holding the fan, the a/c clutch would have kicked in, the high psi transducer would have sent an input to the ECM. ECM sees a/c psi and would have sent voltage to the fan clutch. Clutch would have engaged and you would have had a totally different experience to post about.

 

....and the ECM is able to "duty cycle" the clutch so it won't necessarily roar like the old ones. By design the ecm can control the amount of engagement depending on engine temp and a/c psi.

 

OK I will,

Still "in search of" as to why my truck goes 2-4 degrees over with heavy accelleration. It didn't do it for the first 50K miles??

Jamie