3.6L Radiator Fan Problem?

[Atcer2018]

I didn't see sand until I back flushed the heater core. It seems the heater core trapped most of that stuff. You could probably get a lot out (if any is present) just by draining just the heater core. That way you don't have to drain the whole system again. I used my garden hose to do it but you want to be careful not to apply too much pressure to the core. The hoses come off really easy too.

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Excellent! It’s now my weekend project.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Excellent! It’s now my weekend project.

A note on this...you'll want flush it pretty long time from both the upper and lower core hoses with the garden hose. I then put my funnel on the upper hose and filled it with distilled water to flush out the tap water (you can also use 50/50 if your levels are already good or concentrate if you need to add more coolant). Raise the funnel high to flush and lower it to stop the flow...eazy peazy.

Again, don't try to shoot full pressure residential from the hose, the pressure is too high for the heater core. I used one of the hose head settings on mine that reduced pressure and didn't seat it entirely in the hose to not let the pressure build. Another good tip I came across is you can use a higher setting but just pulse it on and off (don't let the pressure build).

 

[SitKneelBend]

Posting another note for anyone interested. My system was completely flushed and filled with about 20 gallons of distilled water. Assuming no coolant remaining, adding 5 quarts (I think I lost half a quart to a boil over while filling, the radiator and lower hose were empty for this) of concentrated MOPAR coolant brings the coolant concentration to about halfway there on this gauge, but considering this engine has a 14 quart capacity it looks like I'll need to go slow filling it from here to get the right concentration. It's only been driven a few hundred miles since adding concentrate too. I suppose maybe it hasn't fully mixed yet also?

 

[SitKneelBend]

Well dang, I had no idea that Mopar ever had or used an aluminum housing. I have no complaints with the plastic housing although I’ve seen complaints about the plastic crossover tube connected to the housing. Is your crossover tube plastic or aluminum?

Circling back on this, definitely an aluminum thermostat housing but still a plastic coolant crossover on my 2014 Ram 1500 Express. I checked all of my service records and have no record of the throttle body being replaced during any particular service, but to my knowledge MOPAR never made an OEM aluminum thermostat for the 3.6L so I have no idea where it came from...I forgot to snap a picture while the throttle body was off for cleaning but here's the best I could do.

 

[Different Drummer]

Circling back on this, definitely an aluminum thermostat housing but still a plastic coolant crossover on my 2014 Ram 1500 Express. I checked all of my service records and have no record of the throttle body being replaced during any particular service, but to my knowledge MOPAR never made an OEM aluminum thermostat for the 3.6L so I have no idea where it came from...I forgot to snap a picture while the throttle body was off for cleaning but here's the best I could do.

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I am going entirely by memory. Several years ago I was trying to determine the Temp. rating of the coolant thermostat in my 2017 RAM. I went to a dealer and asked the parts people to look up a replacement thermostat in an attempt to get the Temp. rating. They did not list a stand alone thermostat. They did however list a thermostat housing / thermostat as a one unit purchase. The thermostat housing was in fact metal and was labeled as metal in the parts listing. There was some conversation at the time about the thermostat not being removable from the housing thus requiring purchase of the entire "kit". I think this has since been debunked. Perhaps the housing in question here was replaced at a dealer or possibly replaced by someone who purchased it at a dealer.
I believe that I mentioned it in another thread a couple of years ago and posted the part number.

 

[SitKneelBend]

I am going entirely by memory. Several years ago I was trying to determine the Temp. rating of the coolant thermostat in my 2017 RAM. I went to a dealer and asked the parts people to look up a replacement thermostat in an attempt to get the Temp. rating. They did not list a stand alone thermostat. They did however list a thermostat housing / thermostat as a one unit purchase. The thermostat housing was in fact metal and was labeled as metal in the parts listing. There was some conversation at the time about the thermostat not being removable from the housing thus requiring purchase of the entire "kit". I think this has since been debunked. Perhaps the housing in question here was replaced at a dealer or possibly replaced by someone who purchased it at a dealer.
I believe that I mentioned it in another thread a couple of years ago and posted the part number.

Thanks! I'm the original owner so maybe it's something that got slapped on in a service or came from the factory that way? I'm happy to see it there, I added a Dorman Brass bleeder to it since the OEM plastic one didn't survive my coolant flush.

 

[SoFLRam]

HP tuner shows a/c pressure has to be over 1900 kpa for fan to hit high speed

 

[SitKneelBend]

HP tuner shows a/c pressure has to be over 1900 kpa for fan to hit high speed

That's good to know. I "think" any value you see in any tuner is not what is actually read from the truck but is a default setting in the tuner.

 

[SoFLRam]

On the page with fan temp values... There. Is a sub tab. Pwm desired ECT go into the tables. It has ambient air temp and ECT TEMP. Mine where all at 228°F. Change those to 205° F (make sure if it is set on C or F kelvin is also there).

 

[SoFLRam]

That's good to know. I "think" any value you see in any tuner is not what is actually read from the truck but is a default setting in the tuner.

The tuner does either... Read current PCM or opens a file that you have saved to computer. As always, saved a copy of original "read" so you can write that back to PCM if necessary. When you change the original "read" and make changes to write to truck, be sure to save it under a different file name. Ie. 2013 ram 1500 with fan changes

 

[SitKneelBend]

On the page with fan temp values... There. Is a sub tab. Pwm desired ECT go into the tables. It has ambient air temp and ECT TEMP. Mine where all at 228°F. Change those to 205° F (make sure if it is set on C or F kelvin is also there).

Ok, that makes sense as 228 is the only time the fan comes on for all of us without tuners!

 

[SitKneelBend]

In my cooling quest I decided to do a little experiment before adding in Royal Purple Ice to my freshly flushed system. I mixed it with concentrate coolant to see if it has a reaction. It appears I can see the RP Ice in the container (I've kept it in the sun for two weeks in a shiny metal dish to heat it up as much as possible. It looks like it's gelling (cloudy white material settled in the bottom of the first picture and shaken up in the second). Not sure if this counts as a reaction as I think RP ICE is meant to coat metals/plastics/rubbers in the cooling system and without circulating it looks like this.