replace fan clutch because of a noise?
From : mac
Q: getting ready to haul my skinny ass to fl next month then to dennys in a couple of months and it hit me. this car that i bought that has put a smile on my face every time i drive it has one big friggin shortcoming. no damn spare tire!!!!! not even a cheater! not even a jack or lug wrench!! it took you this long to notice nah to really get my head around what im doing. i can just picture myself at 0300 in the middle of nowhere with a tire down. yup they give you this can of tire goo and a small compressor. but if the hole is a shade larger than a brad or is a tear it isnt going to work. so i can either depend on aaa and pray that they have the ability to fix the tire if it is repairable. if the tire is junk i have to find a place that has one in stock. anyway after a puncture it looses its speed rating so it should be replaced. or spend about $800.00+ for a tire wheel and small budda jack and toss in a torque wrench breaker bar and socket. this will eat up about 80% of the trunk. with the stuff that the wife has me taking utilizing all of the space in the trunk im surprised i can get in the car. im surprized you can fit in the car anyway..... bfg i knew that had to follow.vbg anyways back to the tire. not much else that you can do that you havent already said. ive only had one flat tire in my life so i guess id take my chances. maybe you can find one of those little donut spares that wont take up so much space. the problem is that they made it so it stops real well. nothing will clear the front calipers. going to bite the bullet and go to the dealer in the morning and see what kind of a price i can get gotta get the sensor too i suppose. in a way it makes since cause where will i find a new wheel and tire in a hurry if i need to. ill be stuck in east hucklebuck for a week while the corner gas station orders it at top dollar. roy denny this isnt good. done venting! .
Replies:
From : greg o
already got it replaced $250 on my truck which has about 90k miles but whats haunting me is should you replace things like that just because they make a squealing/screeching/.... noise if it was screeching and making funny noises i would change it without question. ever see what happens when fan clutch fails catastrophically! i saw one come apart and take out the radiator and water pump! as for the roar it is normal. i think they do it until the clutch warms up a bit. greg .
From : leroy
on 11 mar 2007 132209 -0700 mac oct30ax@yahoo.com wrote already got it replaced $250 on my truck which has about 90k miles but whats haunting me is should you replace things like that just because they make a squealing/screeching/.... noise at the time i just listened to the mechanic who said i should replace it because bad things can happen if it dies... and he said it couldnt be fixed because its a sealed part. the noise wasnt so loud as to really annoy me but it was fairly noisy. but who knows if a noise like that is really a predictor of failure...is it like a 3- fold risk of breaking down within a year or what it seemed to definitely be the fan clutch making the noise since when he twirled it around with his hand with the engine off it made the noise . now that its fixed the truck has a new feature that ive read about...other people seem to have this problem.....the first mile of driving at under 30 mph has that roaring sound....and the truck never did this before....but from what ive read thats not really a mechanical problem just a feature of some of the cooling fans. p.s. i also replaced the serp. belt after only about 12-13000 miles but 3 years because it looked a little bit glazed and some people said it looked almost already to replace. . your roaring fan clutch is working as designed. never was sure why they designed em that way. serpintine belt .. myglazed belt has 210k miles on it. i carry a spare just in case. leroy .
From : leythos
on sun 11 mar 2007 132209 -0700 mac wrote now that its fixed the truck has a new feature that ive read about...other people seem to have this problem.....the first mile of driving at under 30 mph has that roaring sound....and the truck never did this before....but from what ive read thats not really a mechanical problem just a feature of some of the cooling fans. i also drove mine for 90+k miles and had to replace the fan clutch and now anytime its under 1500 rpm starting out it makes that jet noise. the chap that replaced it for me replaced that clutch with another and it does the same - its like it doesnt kick out in time. it takes longer to kick out when cold. -- leythos spam999free@rrohio.com remove 999 for proper email address .
From : nunya
already got it replaced $250 on my truck which has about 90k miles but whats haunting me is should you replace things like that just because they make a squealing/screeching/.... noise at the time i just listened to the mechanic who said i should replace it because bad things can happen if it dies... and he said it couldnt be fixed because its a sealed part. the noise wasnt so loud as to really annoy me but it was fairly noisy. but who knows if a noise like that is really a predictor of failure...is it like a 3- fold risk of breaking down within a year or what it seemed to definitely be the fan clutch making the noise since when he twirled it around with his hand with the engine off it made the noise . now that its fixed the truck has a new feature that ive read about...other people seem to have this problem.....the first mile of driving at under 30 mph has that roaring sound....and the truck never did this before....but from what ive read thats not really a mechanical problem just a feature of some of the cooling fans. p.s. i also replaced the serp. belt after only about 12-13000 miles but 3 years because it looked a little bit glazed and some people said it looked almost already to replace. . i currently have four dodge trucks on the road. two dakotas and two full size rams. all have seen at least one fan clutch. the low speed roar is quite normal. that means it is doing its job and bowing air like crazy. my personal work truck is a 97 ram 4x4 w/360 and has 260k miles. it is on it 4th fan clutch. this truck runs almost all day during the summer. i go from job to job and am usually out of the truck for 10 to 20 minutes then back in. rather than having to let the a/c have to start the cooling process over and over. i wanna be cool when i am driving i just let the thing idle while i am out of it. many days it will run all day in the georgia hot sun alternating from idling 20 minutes at a time to driving for about the same. that is tough on the fan clutch but replacing it is better than the truck overheating or me. michael .
From : mac
ok i agree the roaring is normal. so during those 90000 miles when the first/original fan clutch never did that it obviously was abnormal the whole time. i wonder if thats at all related to a cause of the squeaking noise it developed which led me to replace it and now i have the normal roaring. .
From : nunya
ok i agree the roaring is normal. so during those 90000 miles when the first/original fan clutch never did that it obviously was abnormal the whole time. i wonder if thats at all related to a cause of the squeaking noise it developed which led me to replace it and now i have the normal roaring. the fan clutch is a high wear item. grab ahold of the blades every once in a while and see if there is any wiggle. if so it is a sure sign of clutch wear or waterpump wear. when it starts squeking just go ahead and replace it. very cheap insurance that keeps your truck from overheating. michael .
From : leythos
on tue 13 mar 2007 063054 -0700 mac wrote ok i agree the roaring is normal. so during those 90000 miles when the first/original fan clutch never did that it obviously was abnormal the whole time. i wonder if thats at all related to a cause of the squeaking noise it developed which led me to replace it and now i have the normal roaring. the first 5 years i drove my truck it never made that sound - was new from the dealer so i cant believe that the roar is normal. i can believe that weve come to accept the roar as dodge is not doing anything to correct it but i cant accept that its normal for a properly designed fan system. -- leythos spam999free@rrohio.com remove 999 for proper email address .