BenK wrote:
I'm older than grit...so most likely experienced more fan clutches than the kid.... ;)
Fan clutch failures generally start to couple less and less
water pump shaft RPM's...till they almost free wheel
Since a failing unit still couples, there is enough air being pulled to take care of low demand...but...as the demand for more air goes up...it can not a accommodate...therefore the coolant can not reject enough BTU's and the engine heats up
Lowest cost component or system first, else tossing money away....till you get to that lower cost thing...
Lol, you're spot on there Ben! But I did grow up in the era of 3 kinds of radiator fans. Thermal clutch, flex fan, or invisible fan (removed).
I understand what you're saying and IMO, it's cheap peace of mind, as is replacing the other common wear parts on an older rig.
The "repaired" radiator leak may also be suspect, I agree.
This could very well be a combination of several "minor" issues stacking on each other under the right conditions.
Interesting note on the 4L60, 2001 vintage, was doing some unofficial testing last night with nothing better to do driving home late at night.
If I floored it at highway speeds and got kickdown to 2nd gear then an automatic upshift to 3rd with the trans manually shifted down to "3", I never felt or saw a lockup reduction in rpms in 3rd gear, but upon shifting to 4th, it would lockup a couple seconds after the shift, dropping another 2-300rpms.
This makes me question if that era of trans 4L60 or 80 does lock the converter in 3rd gear at all.
