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Radiator fan noise

4K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  moore_716 
#1 ·
It's hard to describe the noise this thing is making. It's not a ticking noise or a grinding noise like a bearing rub / shaft alignment issue. It's more like the radiator fan sounds like the blower out of a NASCAR wind tunnel.

If anybody has been around a high horsepower tractor with a viscous fan, my truck's cooling fan sounds like one of those when their engine is hot and the viscous fan drive kicks in to maximum speed. Except, I don't believe this has that kind of cooling fan drive, I think it's a straight drive off the crankshaft (it's definitely not electric).

It's not noticeable below 1500 RPM, between 1500 RPM and 2000 RPM it's noticeable but tolerable. Anything above 2000 RPM and you can hardly hear the radio in the cab. It also just suddenly happened today. I haven't noticed anything remotely like it before today.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
You will have a viscous fan clutch, and when they are engaged cause the fan to really howl. From the description you gave, it sounds to me like the fan clutch has gone faulty and locked up. See if you can spin the fan by hand with a cool or cold engine, there will be some resistance but not much. If it's very hard to spin, or won't spin at all, you need a new fan clutch assy. Also, you'll need a big wrench and pulley holding tool to get the fan off as they're threaded onto the water pump shaft. Let me know what you find out. By the way, napaonline.com lists them for about $76.00
 
#4 ·
:jester:Thanks there bwdakrt! At least I had one person agree with me today!:banana2:
 
#5 ·
you could always just remove the clutch fan completely. gives you a few more ponies and a few more mpg. i live in georgia and have had no problems at all with it overheating. if im sittin still for a while, the needle moves up and then i hear the factory electric fan kick on and the needle immediately moves back down. the factory electric fans are more than enough to keep our trucks cool. just my $.02
 
#6 ·
The electric fans started in 00, he doesn't have one.

As noted, it's your fan. I've never had any luck with new ones, seems like they never loosen up...put a new one on my dad's 5.9 Ram and it just howls and howls, takes several minutes of driving to get it to let go. Not only is it annoying, it sucks gas and really slows warm up in the winter months.

I recommend an electric fan. Do some research, there are some nice units out there that won't break the bank.
 
#7 ·
Mine did the same thing last year. It took me forever to figure out was was happening. I had the electric fan so I just left it off. If you cn do this it's worth the added horsepower and throttle response especially if you have a V6.
Mike
 
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