F250 Fails at Ike Gauntlet

Powerdude wrote:
That happened to my mother-in-law with her Toyota Tacoma. Truck had about 100k miles on it.

Fan clutch and fan separated from the shaft, chewed through the radiator, caused loss of coolant.

Unfortunately, she drove it for about 10 minutes like that listening to a book on tape.

After paying 2 grand to fix the radiator/fan assembly, they found out that she burned the rings on two cylinders.

Could happen to any brand really. Tons of stories like that.

Seriously thinking about switching my truck to two electric fans.

I feel ya, but trust me - I manage the service floor of a hot rod restoration shop, and while I'll typically suggest e-fan upgrades to some older cars (low HP, smaller vehicles, street driven) - I really don't look at e-fans the same way I used to.

I got a 4-core aluminum radiator for a customer with a '70 Buick GSX w/ 455, nice aluminum shroud, and a high-flow SPAL 16" fan, and the thing was still incapable of keeping the motor cool on a hot day with AC on if you were moving slowly at low revs.

Threw the clutch fan back in with an HD/truck clutch and it's been perfect ever since.

I've also seen truck fans MAX OUT (ironically a Ford F350) totally locked up and I was still watching the temp gauge increase.

I THOUGHT the fan would blow up, but it seemed like the engine would before the fan did - barely crested the hill as the temp almost hit red.

When those clutch fans (full) lock up, there's just nothing else that will flow that amount of air.