Of fan clutches and mileage

[Ken226]

I'm running a US Motor Works fan clutch, part #22059, I got it from RockAuto. Excellent quality and is actually made in the USA. So far it's been great, working as it should. I only heard it get loud twice, both times I was towing a car trailer.

Glad to hear that. How long have you been using?

I try to keep a tally of stuff that's actually working.

 

[samsdad02]

Got a used oem from Ebay. found one with 50K miles on it. Night and day difference. No longer sounds like a chinook taking off on cold starts. Behaves opposite of the Hayden Pos, which had fluid leaking from the spring area. Hayden one now sits in the metal scrap pile. Downside is I can hear the stupid exhaust chirp/rattle again. oh well.

 

[bcja]

Just to add there are small stick on “tip indicators” they could use to put the responsibility of keeping it vertical while being shipped would be on the the transportation/storage after they leave manufacture.

We use them while moving house hold goods, for small crated items inside a lift van and I see them for the entire bigger crate, just a cheap way to prove the item remained vertical while being transported.

I don’t know if the fans discussed have to remain upright or not, I would imagine your right as they would use a tip indicater to protect them from improper handling.

you could do all that, but that would add a lot of expense, and require more training and quality control than is reasonable for that supply chain.

I had a look at the one I discarded, and there was a metal seal on the edge, no other seals visible. No goo despite it kicking around a bucket in the back yard waiting to be recycled. Granted it was only in service for a month or two.

After reading the experiences an opinions on this thread, my current opinion is that it is possible that older fan clutches start to leak, maybe around the thermostat, and therefore should be kept on their sides while servicing. It would not surprise me if this was more true with older manufacturing methods and designs.

 

[bcja]

I thought I would recap. Thanks everyone for commenting and adding insight. I was searching for expected MAP values, and this thread came up just below the AI summaries in Google. Maybe that was because I started it and Google was being creepy again, but I think this thread is probably one of the tops on this subject and will be helpful for the next people asking this question.

So after a while of driving, gas mileage has settled to a little over 13 mpg when driving primarily highway with some congestion. It's a bit lower than 13 when primarily city driving, but I hadn't been doing a lot of that. This is still a bit below what I'd expect, but much better than with the last fan.

I did recently replace the coolant temp sensor. That brought the PID reading up to where I expected it to be, but does not seem to have impacted mileage. I did notice LTFTs closer to, or even above, 10% though. Still no CEL light. I will replace the OXS when I get a chance. I have them, just need time when the weather is decent. MAP sensor was 27-28 kPa at idle, so should be ok.

As far as other take-homes:

1) The "severe duty" clutches that predominate the market, and that are almost always specified by retailers, are loud and will kill your gas mileage. They say they just engage more fully at higher temps, but in reality they seem to engage at lower temps as well.

2) If you need to replace your water pump, do consider getting a fan clutch. However, buy it separately and not as a kit. This way you can return a defective clutch independent of the pump. Use anti-seize.

3) Consider switching to an electric fan

4) The MOPAR clutch is expensive, but the safest bet. However, I would have tried the clutch mentioned by @ramman95 had I read his post before shelling out for the MOPAR:

I'm running a US Motor Works fan clutch, part #22059, I got it from RockAuto. Excellent quality and is actually made in the USA. So far it's been great, working as it should. I only heard it get loud twice, both times I was towing a car trailer.