Motorcraft fan clutches from rock auto

[laserjock]

Anyone else who bought a motorcraft fan clutch from rock auto having cooling issues? I’ve never heard what I’ve been told I should hear when the fan locks up and I’ve had water temps over 230. Talking to @tjsea the other day he mentioned that his truck got warm on him and that’s where his came from about when I bought mine. I think they were close outs or something. I’m wondering if maybe they were stored wrong and just aren’t working right??? Is that a thing???

Anyone else having issues with a RA motorcraft clutch?

 

[riphip]

I have not had any problems with mine from RA. Lots of time, from my understanding, discounts are either old stock from participating parts store or is parts store going out of business. Amazon has had good deals on the Motorcraft brand & these come straight from Motorcraft when I have purchased. Filters come from Motorcraft also.
When mine kicks in, I can here fan roar.

 

[Thewespaul]

No issues with them either. I actually had an idit fan clutch on the shop truck, and drilled it out to empty the fluid so it would only free spin. Kept it plenty cool just free spinning when pulling the avion trailer. Pulled the fan off for lighter loads and daily driving.

 

[icanfixall]

These fan clutches are easy to modify so they come in early. Just remove the thermo spring on the front.Then lenghten the spring bend point. I recall typ4 was doing this. The heat from the coolant going thru the radiator causes the spring to heat up. That movement turns the shaft it is connected to. That movement closes an internal valve locking up the fluid clutch.

 

[laserjock]

These fan clutches are easy to modify so they come in early. Just remove the thermo spring on the front.Then lenghten the spring bend point. I recall typ4 was doing this. The heat from the coolant going thru the radiator causes the spring to heat up. That movement turns the shaft it is connected to. That movement closes an internal valve locking up the fluid clutch.

Gary I think that’s absolutely true if it’s working to start with. The only reason I can come up with for it cooling worse at higher rpm is that the weak coupling made it spin less at higher rpm.

I’m really thinking I just got a bad one. It should be locked at 230 water temp. Either the clutch isn’t working or the thermostat isn’t working. Both were new motorcraft. I just want to use my truck to it’s potential and right now I can’t. It’s frustrating.

Sorry I’ll quit ******** now.

 

[Alwaysreadyrob]

Can I tell if my fan clutch is working properly with the engine running ?
It sounds like it has to be running to go through its process. Just asking because my trucks down right now.
Put new R&D Stage 1 injectors and fuel rail system... just waiting to get my turbo back from thewespaul.

 

[Thewespaul]

Gary I think that’s absolutely true if it’s working to start with. The only reason I can come up with for it cooling worse at higher rpm is that the weak coupling made it spin less at higher rpm.

I’m really thinking I just got a bad one. It should be locked at 230 water temp. Either the clutch isn’t working or the thermostat isn’t working. Both were new motorcraft. I just want to use my truck to it’s potential and right now I can’t. It’s frustrating.

Sorry I’ll quit ******** now.

I’ve gotten bad motorcraft thermostats and fan clutches out of the box so you’re probably right about having something not working the way it should. I’ve got a plenty of used good clutches if you want one to play with modifying the spring

 

[ironworker40]

If your truck sits overnight the fan should be locked up when you first start it. You can definitely hear the fan when you start to drive. Mine use to shut off in a block. When I put a new one on it would stay locked up for a mile or more unless I got it over 2000 rpm. I bought mine from U haul it is a Motorcraft.

 

[Thewespaul]

Can I tell if my fan clutch is working properly with the engine running ?
It sounds like it has to be running to go through its process. Just asking because my trucks down right now.
Put new R&D Stage 1 injectors and fuel rail system... just waiting to get my turbo back from thewespaul.

You’ll need the engine running to test it, should have some pics with the new wheels in the turbo this week hopefully

 

[laserjock]

To put this to bed for anyone that missed the FB “discussion”.

6.0 fan may bolt but with it being reverse rotation, the blades are the wrong pitch regardless of h


ow you flip it in one man’s opinion.

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[ifrythings]

To put this to bed for anyone that missed the FB “discussion”.

6.0 fan may bolt but with it being reverse rotation, the blades are the wrong pitch regardless of h


ow you flip it in one man’s opinion.

The 6.4L fan clutch is standard rotation just like the idi is, I made an adapter bushing so it threads on and the idi fan blade bolts right up, simple 12v and ground and the fan turns on whenever you want, draws around 2-4Amp (temperature dependent). At 2k rpm you hear it roar and up around 3k + I’m pretty sure it turns into a prop and starts pulling the truck.

Edit: link to that thread https://www.oilburners.net/threads/fan-clutch-upgrade.82625/

 

[laserjock]

The 6.4L fan clutch is standard rotation just like the idi is, I made an adapter bushing so it threads on and the idi fan blade bolts right up, simple 12v and ground and the fan turns on whenever you want, draws around 2-4Amp (temperature dependent). At 2k rpm you hear it roar and up around 3k + I’m pretty sure it turns into a prop and starts pulling the truck.

Edit: link to that thread https://www.oilburners.net/threads/fan-clutch-upgrade.82625/

I’ve been watching for an update. I’ll have to go look.

 

[ifrythings]

I’ve been watching for an update. I’ll have to go look.

I don’t have any new info yet, truck was down for 4 months fixing an engine vibration issue, at the moment I’m just running the fan off a relay and a switch inside the cab till I finish the controller.

I don’t think a 6.0L fan would work very well on the idi, flipping it around mite put it into the rad or engine being it has a offset center hub compared to the idi fan having a centred hub. Being that you have it there it mite be worth trying just for the heck of it, though that doesn’t help your bad fan clutch. Personally I think the idi fan pulls enough air as long as the clutch is working right.

 

[laserjock]

Agree. The 6.0 fan is most likely a bad choice. Until I could put eyes on it I couldn’t work it out in my head.

I’m exploring options. I didn’t go back through your thread in detail but did you give a wire diagram for the electoviscous clutch?

 

[ifrythings]

Here is the fan wiring diagrams.

This is the plug on the fan,
green is PWM ground side or just relay it to ground to turn on,
Red is key power
Black is ground for the fan speed sensor
White is speed sensor output
Orange is VBPWR (12v regulated supply from PCM)

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This is the engine harness plug side,
Ignore pins 3,4 and 5 as they are for the speed sensor.

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