Top 5 Engine Cooling Mistakes3

Adam Johnson . September 29, 2021 . Department .

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Want to keep your truck running cool? Check out these top 5 engine-cooling mistakes and how to avoid them!

1. Using a belt-driven fan without a fan shroud. The fan will pull air over and under the radiator instead of through it, creating a run-hot or overheating condition at idle and slow speeds where the cooling system relies on the fan to pull air through the radiator.
2. A radiator cap that is damage or too low of a pressure rating. Most people underestimate the importance of a radiator cap in the cooling system. Raising the pressure in the system raises the boiling point, keeping the system from boiling at lower temperatures. While old cars used an 11- or 16-psi cap, newer systems often use 20-psi or higher. Use the right one for your application and make sure the seal is not damaged, which would actually make it a 0-psi cap.
3. Electric fan running backwards. This one frustrates people because it is a simple mistake to make. Electric fans are built as either pushers or pullers. Some are reversible; they can be used as either pushers or pullers, but must be converted from one to the other. If you put a pusher behind the radiator, it will be running the opposite direction that should, trying to push air into the back of the radiator instead of pulling air through it.
4. Wiring the fan controller to constant 12-volts. Most electric-fan controllers have two sets of positive connections. One goes directly to the battery to provide maximum amperage to the fan, and the other goes to a 12-volt source that is turned on and off with the ignition key. If you connect both to a constant 12-volt source, the electric fan will continue to turn on and off after the truck is turned off. Heat travels through the coolant from hot (the engine) to cool (the radiator) when the engine is off. The fan will come on with the raise in temperature and run until it cools the radiator. This can drain your battery without the engine running.
5.  Using an auxiliary electric fan as the primary fan. Auxiliary fans are typically electric smaller fans with a limited shroud designed to be used as a pusher mounted to the front of a radiator. In this use, they add more airflow when needed, usually when a belt-driven fan is used as the primary cooling fan. But some people try to use these as the primary fan even though they don’t have the higher airflow or full-shroud, both of which make a huge difference in cooling. Electric fans for primary cooling are usually larger, more powerful, and have a shroud that coves at least 70 percent of the radiator core surface.

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