454 fan clutch

[paulrtaylor]

I just bought a 1995 Itasca with 60,000 miles on it. Everything looks like new and everything inside and out works. The only thing I am not sure about is the fan clutch. I flushed the radiator, put on new hoses and a new thermostat as a precaution. When I took it for drive up hill the temps stay around 200 -210 until I put the pedal down and it goes into 3rd gear. Then the temps start climbing up. I found that when it is in 4th gear you can hear the fan clutch kick in and the temps move down rapidly, but when in 3rd gear the fan clutch never kicks in. Is this right? It seems to me climbing a hill in 3rd gear is when you need the clutch the most and if it would kick in third gear I would be fine. Let me know what all of think about this. Any help will be appreciated.

[mfire1339]

Change the clutch you will see and hear the difference.

Mike

[paulrtaylor]

Thanks for the reply. It confirms what I thought

[Gary111]

I have repalced the fan clutch several times with Car Quest clutch> It always needed repalced after about 6 months. Finally put in a GM clutch and never had to replace it yet. It is quiter too.

[paulrtaylor]

Thanks for your input, I will be buy one from GM as well. I trust thier parts to work better. Do the old ones come easy or should I have someelse do the job? It seems to only have one bolt holding it on but I am not sure about pulling it off. Thanks again for the reply

[mfire1339]

mine was 1985 model with 4 bolts not hard to change out, but bought at kragen with lifetime warr. So every other year they gave me a new one. worked for me.

Mike

[Clay L]

My last coach was a 1995 P30 with a 454 and the service manual had a procedure for checking the fan clutch. They said to measure the temp of the AIR coming out of the radiator. I used a metal meat thermometer. I had to drill a small hole in the plastic shroud around the fan so I could get the thermometer between the fan and the radiator.
They said to block the radiator with cardboard and run the engine at about 2000 RPM to get the engine to heat up.
The fan will spin before it's fully engaged, but it's obvious when it engages because of the noise.
It should engage at an air temp between 165'F and 195'F. If it doesn't it should be replaced.

[Gary111]

If you have any mechanical ability at all it should not be too hard. About an hour to do the job. I took off the dog house put a blanket over the motor so I could lay over the top and changed it out. Can't remember how many bolts, I think four.

[paulrtaylor]

Thanks for the reply. I orderd the clutch today and will put it on tomorrow. After looking into the model year more I do believe it is the one with the four bolts. The later models had one bolt in the middle that required a special wrench set to get off. I am looking forward to getting this in 100% condition for memorial day trip with the family. Thanks for all the help