fan clutch woes?

I have a cooling problem which (seems to have) started with a busted bypass hose on my 87gt 5 liter. I replaced the hose, refilled coolant and still had the problem so I replaced the thermostat.

The problem continued, and since it only seems to occur under a load, I replaced the fan clutch. The fan would easily spin by hand after I shut the car off right before it was about to overheat. The new fan clutch does the same exact thing! According to what I've read in postings from this group, is that not supposed to happen?

Thanks for your help!

Reply to
stumpt
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The clutch fan relies on a hot radiator to lock up. If the engine is overheating and the radiator is not hot you have different problems. I would suspect the thermostat, but you say you changed it. Drive it so it gets hot and go feel how hot the air is coming out of the radiator. 200 degree air is very hot:)

Al

Reply to
Big Al

Thanks for responding, Al. I thought the very same thing right after I posted. It seems you are correct, the radiator isnt really getting THAT hot, and the coolant in the overflow is almost to the top, it isnt going into the radiator.

I've bought the following hoses to install, but I'm considering doing the water pump anyway: lower radiator hose (I think it's original) and the hose that goes from the overflow to the radiator filler (should there be a hose clamp for this hose?)

Thanks for your time.

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Reply to
stumpt

Now is the time to flush the system and find out what made the crud. Was it brown? You may have a bad head gasket.

Al

Reply to
Big Al

The crud was like a dark grey, reminiscent of the alumaseal I put in a long time ago; it was flushed a year ago

Reply to
stumpt

A few years ago I had a similar problem with my '89 LX. Over time scale precipitates out of the water and deposits at the low points in the cooling system. I found the same crud in the overflow reservoir and the bottom of the radiator. Flushing never fully eliminated the problem and I ended up buying a new radiator. The real test will be when you run the air conditioner on a hot summer day. If it doesn't over heat at that point then you likely solved the problem.

You might have several of the cross cool> The crud was like a dark grey, reminiscent of the alumaseal I put in a

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

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