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OT Since we are talking Dodge, 97 Dakota?

super99

super99

Well-known Member
I have a 97 Dakota, V-6 5 speed. This truck doesn't warm up, winter or summer. I had the cooling system flushed last year, new anti-freeze, thermostat. Since it got cold, I covered the radiator completely with cardboard and it still doesn't get hot enough to make you pull your hand off of the radiator or heater hoses when running. Before I have the cooling system flushed again and new thermostat, I'm wondering about the fan clucth. When you start it up, the fan turns fast with motor speed. I thought that it was supposed to turn slow until the motor got warmed up. I looked at a new unit at Napa, and it turned about as hard as the one on the truck. I watched it run for a while and shut it off, and watched the fan blades, and they started slowly turning backwards. Could the fan clutch be the problem? You can turn the fan by hand, how hard should it turn? When it gets real cold, doesn't matter how long you drive it, it will barely keep the windows defrosted. Temp guage barely goes to 150 or 160 degrees. Hate to spend $$ not needed, but wonder if I should start here instead of flushing and thermostat again. Chris
 
How hot is the the top radiator hose after the engine has been run long enough for the temp to stabilize? You shouldn't be able to hold your hand on there. If its that hot. I think your heater core may be plugged. Hal
 
Drove mine for two winters in the cold,disconnected heater hoses at the engine made water hose adapter flushed heater core good heat after that. ILM
 
Ok, I will buy that the heater core may be plugged, BUT why won't the motor heat up. If the motor doesn't get warm enough, doesn't matter if the core is plugged or not, there is no heat for it to blow into the cab. It has a 195 degree thermostat in it, and the top radiator hose doesn't get hot enough to make you jerk your hand off when you touch it, somethings wrong. Chris
 
Hi Chris,

The oil & bi-metal spring in the fan-clutch has to reach operating temp before they really work right. That's why they will always "grab" for a bit when cold.

Just don't think it has anything to do with your "cold" problem either. 'Bout gotta be a lame thermostat, doesn't it?

Allan
 
If you have access to a scan tool, you can compare your guage temp to the computer temp sensor. You also can use a pair of hose clamp pliers to clamp off the upper radiator hose and see if you can get the engine up to temp and then see if you have good heat in the truck. I have seen plenty of plugged heater cores on Chrysler products. Also those year Dakotas had some blend door problems.
Hope this helps,
 
New means new ,,not always good . Take you T.stat out and check it in boiling water . I bet though ,once you take it out ,you'll find it is stuck open . If your fan clutch bad it will pull air all the time . My shot in the darl at it would be . T.Stat , then fan clutch .
 
There've been about a zillion vehicles built with fans that run all the time- Even if your fan runs all the time, it should still warm up eventually. I'm betting on thermostat.
 
The thermo-viscous-clutch fan shouldn't be running at pulley speed unless the motor is hot. Does it sound like a jet engine when you rev it cold? Bad fan clutch. Like the one in the 90 Cummins dad and I just bought, I can hear the fan over the motor from a half mile under hard accelration, time for a new fan clutch.

There were two reasons they have that set-up. One is that it runs the fan harder as it heats up. Second is that there is a fluid coupling running the fan, and it saps less engine power than having it coupled solid.
 
My 93 dakota did the same thing, Put a hoter thermostat in it that should fix it right up
 
I drove it up the the new showgrounds for a workday today(70 miles 1 way). Wife was at work, so I took her meat thermometer with me( Don't tell her that!), I put it in the defroster vent and ran the fan on medium. Checked it several times, 110 degrees. I got warm about 9 miles before I got there, so I turned off the fan and check it a little later, 140 degrees. So I'm guessing the heater core is plugged. BUT, with the radiator completely covered with cardboard, the temp guage never got above about 160. Guess I'll try a new thermostat and a heater core flush and see if it helps. Thanks, Chris
 
My 99 Dakota has a bad stat too. It never really threw hot air unless I drove it for a half hour. The temp gage only goes up a little ways. Well last summer my neighbor who is a Dodge mechanic fixed my AC evaportor, or something in the dash, when he was testing the truck he said he couldent get it to heat up, must be a bad thermo stat he said, stuck open. I never fixed, because in the summer pulling a 5x8 trailer the temp gets up to 210,or so. J
 
(quoted from post at 17:29:52 12/05/09) I drove it up the the new showgrounds for a workday today(70 miles 1 way). Wife was at work, so I took her meat thermometer with me( Don't tell her that!), I put it in the defroster vent and ran the fan on medium. Checked it several times, 110 degrees. I got warm about 9 miles before I got there, so I turned off the fan and check it a little later, 140 degrees. So I'm guessing the heater core is plugged. BUT, with the radiator completely covered with cardboard, the temp guage never got above about 160. Guess I'll try a new thermostat and a heater core flush and see if it helps. Thanks, Chris
Click to expand...
I'd put another new thermostat in to be sure,then unless you're in Alaska(minus 40 ,etc.)get rid of the cardboard....
The heater core doesn't have to be plugged to mess up,there is a baffle in the end where the hoses are to make sure water flows through it.If this breaks or has a hole in it you will not get much heat either.
 
I put one of those Motor Rad brand fail safe thermostats in once and as soon as the engine got warm enough to open it, it stuck open. Like some of the others have said, change it again or at least pull it out and check it in a pan of hot water with a thermometer.
A properly functioning fan clutch will pull the fan hard for a few minutes on start up, then back off.
 
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