down side to runnin fanless in the winter

[**ICEMAN**]

getting stuck in a 10 mile backup on the interstate!

i knew as soon as i got mixed up in the backup what was going to happen. temp rose slowly and kinda hung around 200 for a while but the slower the traffic got(maybe 50 yards every 5 min. at times,,up hill) the more it kept creeping up. just a hair before the "red" line and i was starting to worry. i rolled the windows down and turned the heat on full blast and the temp went down to 200 and stayed there until the wreck was cleared and then right back down to normal once i started moving. glad i was the one driving ole blue '94 today and not the better half

i've ran it fanless in the winters for the past few years and never ran into a situation like this.

anyway,,fan is back on for the rest of this year!

 

[Whitmore]

close call Ice

Her in Wyo I run fanless and with Lund cold front on, I can even use the defrost or a/c cycle but I have to be movin above 30mph, towed a 7k load over south pass at christmas time and did have to pull 2 of the cold fronts off to keep temps down but other than that its ok, also I do monitor air horn temps on my A piller mount ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... watch em close. . Kevin

 

[**ICEMAN**]

now that i think about it ,,

with the warm winter we've had i should have installed the winter grille gaurds i got from ericbu this year instead going fanless.

 

[Shovelhead]

The last few days when it was sooooo cold( 30+ highs), I've been running Eric's winter fronts AND my cardboard to get the engine temp guage to pass the first line.

 

[Deezul1]

Good post, I may throw the fan under the back seat just in case

 

[JohnE]

I've put the needle straight up (maybe 200°F), but never to the redline. Bad traffic flow to me is hitting both traffic lights RED on the way to or from work. I haven't been in a true traffic backup since leaving Seattle and I don't miss them either. Smart thinking on running the auxilliary radiator. Hope those gasser fumes didn't get you!



I've been dreading putting the fan back on come spring and listening to air instead of Cummins. Maybe scavenging an electric fan pack from a junk yard? Hopefully, I will find an electric Horton fan clutch in the bone yard and solve the problem permanently.



-John

 

[PRout]

Remove the fan?



What in the He!! were you guys thinkin?

 

[Whitmore]

Deezel1

I think I read somewhere that you should not lay fan flat, I cant remember why but I do remember the quote, I always store mine in the vert position for the 8 months a year that its off, maybe it says it right on the fan, I will look today.



Shortshift, do a search on fanless, it is well worth it ,many members have proven its worth ..... Kevin

 

[illflem]

Kevin, it might have been me who posted about keeping the fan upright. Haynes manual is the only place I've seen that recommends it. They say that the vicious drive oil can leak out if laid flat. I store my fan upright now but laid it flat for previous winters, never saw any oil leak out. I think Haynes' statement may be a blanket one that applies to other fans but not ours. I dread putting the fan back on come May, truck is so quiet without it.

 

[Cooker]

My only complaint w/o the fan is that sometimes the truck will get a little too warm if I leave it running and run into the store for a minute, and she got a little warm when I pulled a buddy out of the ditch earlier this year (had to work a little bit to get him out).



I have aquired an electric fan setup the draws 5200cfm of air that I plan on installing when the weather warms up. I hope that will be adequate.



I bought it from "RustyJC" I think is his handle. He had it on a V10/auto in Texas and said it was fine. The only time it wasn't adequate was pulling the big 5er in stop and go traffic. I am hoping that a cooler climate, and a cooler motor in general will allow me to use this fan w/o any problems.

 

[TxDieselKid]

no cold, think about it, we're in Texas....

Originally posted by Deezul 1

Good post, I may throw the fan under the back seat just in case

I don't think it gets cold enough here in Texas to do this. The weather is to speratic, hot this week, cool this week, real cold this one day, 90* the next day, and so on.



Am I right?



Andrew

 

[Deezul1]

TXdieselkid

I have had it off for about 5 months now with no problem, cant do it much past april though.





Illflem

I dont think it hurts them much to lay flat, thats the way they are boxed and stored at the parts houses.

 

[Whitmore]

Illflem and Deezle1

I just looked at my fan in the garage ( it sure looked lonely like it wanted to go around ) and it says right on the front to store this side down. (front)



So that means to me that Dodge / Cummins ment for us to store them in cold months ... ... ... Kevin

 

[jtisdale]

Originally posted by illflem

I dread putting the fan back on come May, truck is so quiet without it.

The ONLY time my fan runs, is when I first start the truck for the day. It runs for about 30 sec. after I take off. After that, it quiets down, and I never hear it again. I have never even heard it run while pulling a trailer. Is that common with all you guys too?

 

[Cooker]

jtisdale,



No offense, but until you have the fan off you will never realize how much noise it makes, even not fully engaged. I didn't believe it either until I removed mine, it really does make a considerable amount of noise.

 

[Hammer]

Sounds a little close for me Ice,,I've often thought as I read posts on running fanless what someone would do when they entertained a problem like this(traffic jam),,To me it would seem better off to run a good set of winter guards rather than taking a chance of a meltdown due to not moving when fanless,,Certainly easier to remover guards to cool her off,than to reinstall a fan by the road... ... .

 

[**ICEMAN**]

with 230 being the red line and i was just a hair under that till i cranked the heater up i dont feel that there was any damage done. do you??

like i stated before,,if the better half would have had it in the same situation she would have never noticed the temp rising and it could have been costly

but then again the ole 12v is tough and it might have pulled through it with out any scars.



** i've also read that when the fan clutch engages it robs you of 20 + or so hp.

any truth to that??



~~all this just because i cant find a t-stat that will let the engine run over 160 deg

 

[illflem]

The fan supposedly takes 22 hp when locked up.



jtisdale, it's very possible that your fan has never locked up, mine have only done it a handful of times even while towing. When your fan does lock you will definitely know it, it really roars. Even when unlocked it still spins and adds quite a bit of noise.

 

[mwilson]

Iceman, my father who has worked on just about every diesel engine known to man has always maintained that if the engine does not lose the coolant, they will stand a lot of heat for a short period of time. The loss of coolant does not allow the hot insides to dissipate the heat and things start to move and twist. I removed my fan in December and have not had any problems. Sitting in traffic will heat transmission faster than engine on mine.