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Brian617
Dodge Dakota
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12/11/2003
19:59:25
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 Subject: Over Heating
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Message:
I have a 97 318 Dakota and I upgraded to an electric fan that is pulling 2200 cfm. The problem I am having is that during the summer months when I run the A/C, the truck starts to overheat. I have also changed the thermostat to a 180. What options do I have instead of changing the radiator?
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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12/12/2003
01:36:23
|  RE: Over Heating
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Lots of things can cause an engine to overheat. Did it overheat before adding the electric fan? How is the fan mounted? What condition is the rest of the cooling system in? What condition is the engine in? What mods have you done?
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Brian617
Dodge Dakota
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12/12/2003
16:46:13
| RE: Over Heating
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The motor was not overheating before the install. The electric fan is mounted in the center of the radiator. The thermostat was changed from a 195 to a 180 when the electric fan was installed. The motor has 90,000 plus miles, but runs great, and the radiator has not been flushed in over a year. No mods except cold air intake were done at the time.
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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12/12/2003
16:56:58
| RE: Over Heating
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could be the waterpump. could be the rad cap. start with the easiest and cheapest. what is the therm for the new fan set @?
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BrianG
Dodge Dakota
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12/12/2003
17:11:49
| RE: Over Heating
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The lower half of your radiator might be all blocked up.... take it to a shop that has one of the lazer temp readers and see if the bottom of the rad is colder than the top.. if it is..... there is your problem
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Flex-a-Lite
Dodge Dakota
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12/12/2003
18:39:08
| RE: Over Heating
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Recomends at least a 2800 cfm, maybe what you are running is too small ?
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Kowalski
Dodge Dakota
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12/13/2003
07:57:36
| RE: Over Heating
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I'd try going back to the stock fan - your upgrade might have been a downgrade ...
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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12/13/2003
09:17:30
| RE: Over Heating
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Well, if it was fine before the install and now it's not, that's where I would start. If the fan is pulling 2200 cfm, I'm guessing that it's about 15" in diameter. Is your shroud designed to pull air from the entire raditor? If you removed the factory shroud and mounted the fan directly to the radiator, then that's the problem. You've decreased your cooling area by about 40-50%. At slow speed that's a real problem. Above 35-40 mph you'll get enough air flow that it won't matter.
The best design is to have a shroud very much like the factory part. And the fan should fill the round hole in the back. That way the air is pulled equally from all parts of the radiator, and then blown out the hole in the back. A high flowing fan will compensate for for some ineficiencies. If the fan blades are not connected at the tips, make sure to space the fan at least 1/4" from the mounting brackets. The blades will flex a little, and if they strike the brackets they will shatter.
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dakula
GenII
12/20/2003
01:20:19
| RE: Over Heating
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If you want to keep the fan which I know you do, definately make sure the shroud is still on the radiator to channel as much air as possible to go through the area the blades cover. The fan is small but you can try adding a switch that will make the fan run at a cooler temp or stay on longer and come on sooner. Do not use the thermostat that mounts in your radiator inlet. the leak is a pain to stop no matter how much teflon you have. Make sure you tie it in with a relay and definately make sure it goes off with the key or you will find yourself jumping your truck off a lot and maybe replaceing a battery. I worked many hours on my Elec. fan system to get them right. Its worth it.
Always Be Closing
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DakToBasics
Dodge Dakota
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12/20/2003
09:32:51
|  RE: Over Heating
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Go back to the 195 degree thormastat if you still have it! If you want to run the electric fan and not purchase a $250 unit that shrouds the whole back of the radiator, you are going to have to give the little fan more time to cool what is in the radiator during each heat exchange cycle. I live in Florida and dropped my stat temperature. On hot days sitting in traffic, the factory fan has trouble cooling it fast enough not to overheat. With a 160 in it, it runs about 195 when sitting still in traffic with the a/c on. It is just heat saturation. You would nead to flow 5000 cfm of air across the radiator to keep it 160 degrees on a 90 degree day! It is all relative to the outside temperature, radiator coor surface area, air flow and air temperature.
What is ultimately happening is your t-stat isn't closing, which is bad! The hot fluid is not staying in the radiator long enough to cool off and then cycle when the t-stat opens again. Believe it or not, it should run cooler standing still with 195 instead of a 180.
Just food for thought!!
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Sephiroth
Dodge Dakota
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12/20/2003
21:19:22
| RE: Over Heating
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Don't go to a 160deg thermo unless you have gas money! The Dak's stock choke-level is about 170deg according to the local dealership/garage. This means that at 160 you'll be throwing extra fuel to the cylinders to warm up the engine because the OBC thinks your engine is cold. This is a nice power increase, but it increases wear and fuel-consumption. You can always modify the OBC if you have the right tools though.
I'm running a '95 CC 4x4 and I switched to the orange coolant (5yr/50k changes) and dropped to a 180deg thermo. Now I can sit in 100deg weather with my AC blasting and it won't even climb to half temperature (220deg is half?). Now that it is winter, and getting below freezing at night, I initially worried that it'd stay super-cold and always choke or not give me heat, but it warms right up to about 1cm past the second mark on the dash (the one with a line going to the third mark) and sits there, even in freezing rain. I get plenty of heat, and because the engine is running cooler, it seems to run better.
I'd suspect you installed a fan too slow/small to cool your liquid. I'd get a bigger one with at elast 3000cfm to do what you want. If it was me, and the stock suggestion is 2800cfm, I'd get a 3500-4000cfm fan to be safe. I mean you can always adjust what temperature the fan kicks in at, but you need for it to actually cool the liquid when it does.
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Brian617
Dodge Dakota
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12/22/2003
16:45:54
|  RE: Over Heating
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Thanks for all your help. I will try your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks again.
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Gen II Geoff
Dodge Dakota
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12/25/2003
01:49:33
| RE: Over Heating
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Message:
has anyone else tried switching from green (etheylene glycol) to the Mopar orange?
I know you can't go from orange to green but are there any benefits to going the other way around?
I'm having the same problem with my 95 v6->318 it runs at 180 all day so long as the truck is moving but if I sit still even my dual fans (with shroud) can't keep it below 200
Thanks,
Geoff
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SF
Dodge Dakota
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12/25/2003
18:18:31
| RE: Over Heating
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Be sure to check simple things first. The previous owner had w-pump and thermostat changed and it still boiled into overflow on a hot day. Carefully squeeze the upper radiator hose when hot, mine had no pressure. new radiator cap fixed it. cost $7
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SF
Dodge Dakota
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12/25/2003
18:36:20
| RE: Over Heating
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Be sure to check simple things first. The previous owner had w-pump and thermostat changed and it still boiled into overflow on a hot day. Carefully squeeze the upper radiator hose when hot, mine had no pressure. new radiator cap fixed it. cost $7
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Sephiroth
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
00:17:51
| RE: Over Heating
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Did you even read my post, Geoff? I run the orange coolant and it's much cooler than green. I also have a 180deg thermo and I can sit in 100deg weather, Ac blasting, and not even get to 200deg. I don't use Mopar though, it wasn't as cool as the stuff I use now. Check the Prestone out.
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Gen II Geoff
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
00:26:55
| RE: Over Heating
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yeah I read your message. I'm kind of surprised at the results though. I know its supposed to be less corrosive but I didn't know the cooling 'capacity' of it was that much greater.
Geoff
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Boomer
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
10:29:51
| RE: Over Heating
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What do you guys think about Royal Purple's Purplr Ice and Redline's Waterwetter?
I put in the 150 e-fan (2800 cfm), 180 RS t-stat, high flow water pump, and use Redline's product (w/ Preston orange antifreeze.)
Now that it's no more than 50deg outside, then fan runs more than I thought it would, and about 30-45 seconds after I shut the truck off. I still wanted it to cool off the stuff in the rad whiel I wasn't running it. I'm install a manual switch this spring to keep it from running enough to drain the battery. Might run a pusher fan as well for the front of the a/c condenser.
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HSKR
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
11:49:18
| RE: Over Heating
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The water wetter works awsome. I use it in all my vehicles. I had a problem running warm on my '99 R/T with stock clutch fan until I put the Water Wetter in. After the water wetter, it stayed cool just fine. I had also tried the "40 Below" stuff and it actually made the engine run hotter.
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bluebullet
R/T
12/26/2003
20:58:49
| RE: Over Heating
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Message:
Have a hydrocarbon test done , they test the fumes coming out of your rad, you may have a small head gasket leak, they ususally won't even charge you for it, good piece of mind.
4500 lb pig runs 11's
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