WWDiesel wrote:
I respectfully disagree on removing the fan shroud! Removing it will make the mechanical fan a lot less efficient when it is in service at correct speed. It is not that big of a shroud to start with and does not cover much if any of the backside of the radiator.
If your fan clutch is bad, it will not increase the fan speed as it should when the temperature loading starts. With the engine hot, turn engine off and try to spin fan by hand, it should be very hard to turn. If it spins freely, clutch is bad!
As to the 11 blade fan; yes 11 blades will move more volume of air as opposed to a stock 5 blade fan given they are the same diameter IMHO....
The GM 11 blade fan / Hayden HD Clutch I choose does set a little closer to the motor which puts the fan right in line with the end of the shroud which I think makes it a better choice than the Mopar 11 blade fan....
Have you tried the old trick when pulling the grade and it starts heating up to cut off the AC, cut the heater on high (windows down of course) and see if that helps any with the heating up?
Are you running the correct antifreeze? And lastly have you tried adding some Red Line Water Wetter to the coolant to see if that helps any?
What I meant was, remove the fan and shroud at the same time. Run it with no fan or shroud. I cant imagine the fan is providing any additional flow over what is being forced through the grill from the forward movement of the jeep when I am cruising along at 70mph and 2000 rpm. In fact, I suspect it may be a slight restiction if anything. Since I dont do any heavy towing at slow speeds then I cannot see the fan doing much for me anyways since I am never spinning the motor fast enough to get a substantial amount of flow.
Removing the shroud would allow the natural flow of air to be able to flow through the entire area of the radiator and not have to funnel down through the fan opening, which is partially blocked by the fan blades.
geordi wrote:
I have not heard of a single CRD that has opted to use the fan shroud mod and discard the bottom half, having temperature problems. Several members (myself included at the moment) are operating with no engine fan at all, and while I cannot speak for the others, I am monitoring the engine temps on mine and they are not exceeding what the thermostat allows - 203 is the usual temp, even in the heat of South Florida. The electric fan is running because of course I have the AC on, so that probably provides more than enough cooling.
With the need for cooling the strongest when moving and towing, especially on grades, the ability for "uncontrolled" airflow even without a shroud is severely limited. Simply because of the forward motion, there will be a large amount of airflow all moving in the same direction. You are correct that the fan will create a low pressure zone directly behind the radiator though, which will forcibly suction more air through the radiator with or without the shroud - Newton's laws of motion in practice, as the airflow will want to continue in the same direction of motion rather than air behind / above / to the sides of the fan reversing direction to go back through the fan flow again.
I would like to see an overall comparison of fan airflow numbers for the plastic versus metal fan blades, but that is more theoretical than practical at this point. The practical results have been duplicated many times: Whatever your fan and shroud situation, if you are having heating issues while working the engine hard, the most likely solutions are the fan clutch and removing any water restrictions such as a failed thermostat.
I have seen several CRDs with heating issues (and not in the mountains) have those resolved by replacing the crown thermostat with either the factory unit or Jeff's - Apparently the failure mode of the crown is to reduce the outlet opening over time, getting weaker and weaker until failing closed. Not good. There was a brand of thermostat element on the TDI that would do this too, and anyone that replaced the thermostat usually saw their temperature issues gone almost immediately, CRD or TDI.
Are you running no shroud at all, or just not lower half?