F-150 fan clutch issue: second act

thomasmnile wrote:
Mosseater, glad you've reached an apparent resolution for the problem with your trusty 'steed'.

Maybe I'm too much of a stodgy old fart, but I've never been one to believe in any of the extended drain, long mileage fluids and lubricants used in today's vehicles. Remember in the olden days of my first car coolant service/change was like 3 years/36000 miles. I still keep to that in the vehicles I own now. Recall my mechanic doing coolant change on my '05 3500 Ram, saying the coolant they installed was extended life, and just needed to be tested and could be 'renewed' with the addition of a bottle of some additive if it tested within the manufacturer's parameters. My response, no thanks I'll see you in three years. Shoot, I even get the power steering fluid and brake fluid purged and changed. Truck cost me lot o' money, want it to have a long life.

Amen to that! Now if we could just convince PA to stop using salt on the roads in the winter. Rust never sleeps.

Mosseater, glad you've reached an apparent resolution for the problem with your trusty 'steed'.

Maybe I'm too much of a stodgy old fart, but I've never been one to believe in any of the extended drain, long mileage fluids and lubricants used in today's vehicles. Remember in the olden days of my first car coolant service/change was like 3 years/36000 miles. I still keep to that in the vehicles I own now. Recall my mechanic doing coolant change on my '05 3500 Ram, saying the coolant they installed was extended life, and just needed to be tested and could be 'renewed' with the addition of a bottle of some additive if it tested within the manufacturer's parameters. My response, no thanks I'll see you in three years. Shoot, I even get the power steering fluid and brake fluid purged and changed. Truck cost me lot o' money, want it to have a long life.

Am a gearhead, wrench and boy racer...keep mine a looooong time and dislike having
to redo stuff...breaking down out there somewhere...heck even in town...

So, pay attention/learn/etc in order to 'forget' about it for a while...knowing
maintenance is the key to my ownership and satisfaction out my vehicles...

Why am so interested in your situation...as you are now into the embryonic stages
of my type of ownership...and trying to help you through this ordeal...
and avoid a repeat out in the boonies...

You already found out that the dealer said your usage (as with most here) is
NOT normal and into the "severe usage"...therefore the "severe duty" maintenance
schedule

On this...not the typical 5yr/100K mile coolant life, but reduced 3yr/???miles
of a severe duty cycle...closer to my own schedule of every 2 years

Along with that, OATs (GM) and HOATs (all the others) has a nastiness when going
past service life cycle date and getting O2 into the system...factored
by high heat cycling and sustained high temps

So, you should be good to go for another 3yr/xx miles....*IF*....they cleansed
the *WHOLE* coolant system (anywhere coolant touches).

yes, keep an eye on it and have that IR gun handy...and safe travels & good luck!!!!

smkettner wrote:

mosseater wrote:
I got the truck back yesterday, with the new radiator and bypass valve. The service manager had the tank off and ready to show me when I got there. It had quite a bit of brown goo coating things inside, including the trans cooling coil. I have serious doubt, though, that is was enough to prevent a large amount of heat transfer, so I'm betting that 20 minutes into our trip up the Turnpike on Fri., the fan WILL be kicking on again. Unless that bypass valve was FUBAR, I think the problem will still exist. We shall see.

Whatever was in the radiator there must be double that in the engine.
Did you switch to the standard green sauce or stick with the OEM goo?

Don't know what mine came with but glad to have old school Prestone in mine since the first flush many years ago.

Great to hear you have it working :B

They put the OEM back in as far as I know. There wasn't a lot of discussion about it, so assuming the put in what Ford dealers put in. I appreciate the responses, but just don't have the time to make a hobby out of it. Just want it over after a while. Reeeeally get old. The repair is good for a year, and I'm willing to bet they will consider longer a period if necessity makes me push the issue, given my customer status at this point. I didn't like paying the money, but am glad they seem to have resolved it. It would have been VERY disappointing to have to return and say it wasn't right. THAT would have been a new hobby, for sure.

mosseater wrote:
I got the truck back yesterday, with the new radiator and bypass valve. The service manager had the tank off and ready to show me when I got there. It had quite a bit of brown goo coating things inside, including the trans cooling coil. I have serious doubt, though, that is was enough to prevent a large amount of heat transfer, so I'm betting that 20 minutes into our trip up the Turnpike on Fri., the fan WILL be kicking on again. Unless that bypass valve was FUBAR, I think the problem will still exist. We shall see.

Whatever was in the radiator there must be double that in the engine.
Did you switch to the standard green sauce or stick with the OEM goo?

Don't know what mine came with but glad to have old school Prestone in mine since the first flush many years ago.

Great to hear you have it working :B

Thanks for following up with the resolution. I was starting to believe it would end like so many do...either with no response or with a new truck.

Mad Props for seeing this through.


Thanks!

Jeremiah

shadows4 wrote:
Awesome news Steve!!! Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you, but I bet you won't be having any more issues. Good luck, John

Thanks much! I hope you're right and I don't have any problems for a while. I've put some money into this truck and I can't help but feel it's not the usual scenario for this model. Just got unlucky, I guess. Still love the truck despite it's downfalls.

Good discussion on this thread. Thanks to all who contributed, most notably, BenK with his knowledge and insights.

Awesome news Steve!!! Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you, but I bet you won't be having any more issues. Good luck, John

News from the front:

Towed 2 hours up the Turnpike and 2 hours back, and not one hint of fan running. Ambient temps were mid 90's both ways and there are a couple of screamer hills for my truck to maintain 60 ish mph. No fault alarms, no nothin'. As of now, I'm considering it fixed. Towing to Slippery Rock this weekend, 4hrs both ways and don't expect any different results than last trip.

The only part that wonders me is whether the bypass valve or the radiator were the main culprit. After the long and tedious road to repair, not sure I care too much either way at this point, as long as it stays "fixed".

BenK wrote:
I flush all of mine every 2 years and have switched all to American Green,
except for the 2000 Minivan

I did not read your entire post, but my philosophy is that the owner's manual should be followed. I have put several hundred thousand miles on my last 3 GM vehicles using Deathcool changed at the prescribed schedule listed in the owner's manuals and have had no issues at all. Same goes for my last 2 Fords using the orange/red Ford long life coolant (Ford-death-cool???), changed at the prescribed schedule listed in the owners manuals, again no problems with a lot of towing miles. I know some people switch to other types, but I prefer to follow what the manufacturer's instructions say.