Working on solving overheating

[SierraJoe]

I put a new thermostat in as the old one was opening at around 200?. I have a Dodge 440 engine so I went with the recommendation of a Mr. Gasket (thanks Clipper Joe) 160? thermostat. The back bolt was a pain and after reading past posts, I ordered a distributor wrench to get it off. I had to grind it down a bit to make it fit, but it worked like a charm. Much easier to get the bolt off from inside the cab. I?m been ordering parts through Amazon so it?s a slow process waiting for them to arrive. I?m now working from home, so no big hurry. I?m waiting for the coolant and hoses to arrive. I?m also replacing the clutch fan and had to separate it from the fan while still in the RV. I didn?t have room to pull it out  attached to the fan without removing the radiator. Ended up being pretty easy after spending 45 difficult minutes trying to wiggle it out and deciding another option. Old clutch fan had play in it and I would wiggle it, and had a little grease leaking out of the end of it. Last summer when driving to a local campground, I had to pull over climbing through the mountains when the temperature approached 230?. After searching through the forums,  thermostat and clutch fan seemed the logical things to change out to make the old Clipper run cooler.  I have a three core radiator that is very clean, timing is good and dual headers installed as well as a fairly new carburetor. No smog checks where I live. Another problem is the  power steering pump has a huge leak so I ordered a new seal kit. I think it's the seal on the reservoir. We?ll see how difficult it is to replace the seals as I'm clueless on the process. YouTube will be my friend for this repair. Any suggestions and tips would be appreciated. Hoping to get the family out camping locally this summer if safe.

[Clipper Joe]

Hi SierraJoe,

Been A While Since I Have Been On Web Site.
With The Covid-19, Virus Going On & Everything Shut Down.
Its Great That Clipper Owners, Are Working On There Rigs.
  Sorry To Hear, You Have A Heating Problem, Sounds Like You Have Address
A Lot Of The Problems. Thermostat, The Mr. Gasket Is The One To Use, Lets More Water Flow.
Also, I Found That Dodge In 1977, RV Used A High Output Fan Clutch. Hayden, Makes A Good One,
I Have Found The Four Season One, Worked Great On My Clipper.
   There Is A Simple Test, Use Masting Tan Tape 1? And Tape Fan And The Other End To Fan Shroud.
Start Engine, If Tape Breaks, Clutch Is Good..😊
Timing Very Important,

This Is What I Found After A Few Years Of Fighting Overheating On My Clipper, You Need A Good Flow Of Air Through Radiator, I Also Installed 4 Core Super Duty Rad. This Is Also Important: Since Your Clipper Has A Metal Fuel Filter On Passenger Side At Frame, I Checked One Day & It Was Hot As Hell, Not Warm, Hot! So I Got Insulation, Wrapped It And Also, Made A Small Shield To Cover Filter, From The Heat Coming Of Header Exhaust Pipe & Road Heat. The End Results It Kept My Gas Going To Thermoquad, So Much Cooler. Then Vapor Lock Went Away.

I Have Some Parts Left Over From Sale Of My Clipper ?Wilson?
I Have 2 Fan Clutches, One New & One With A Few Hundred Miles On It.
If You Are Interest In It Please, Send You Contact info To My PM.

Everyone Stay Safe, During These Trying Times,

Clipper Joe
   

[SierraJoe]

Thanks for the reply Clipper Joe! I appreciate your offer on the clutch fan but I've already ordered one. Good to hear you recommend the Hayden heavy duty fan as that's the one I ordered. After I cleaned 43 years of oil and dirt off the old clutch fan I saw the original Chrysler part number which confirmed my suspicion that it was the original. Cross referencing the part number showed me the original was heavy duty just like you said. There was quite a bit of grease that had leaked out of the clutch fan over the years. Thanks for the the advice on the fuel filter. I replaced it when I changed out the fuel lines so I know exactly where it is. I plan to follow your instructions and insulate it. I'm hoping after all is done for things to run cooler and no more vapor lock. I'm waiting for the the new power steering pump to drive along with a new high pressure return hose. I'm having a difficult time finding a new pulley as I bent the old one trying to remove it. It is really stuck on the old pump and my removal tool broke trying to remove it! I found a company that makes new pulleys and they listed Summit Racing as one of their vendors. My brother has a restored 1970 Dodge with the 440 and he gets his parts from there. The pulley was not listed on their website, so I gave them a call and they told me not all parts are listed on the website and they should be able to get one from the company and to call them back on Monday. Good prices and helpful staff.

Everyone stay safe and healthy,

Sierra Joe

[rvguy101]

not sure if it helps. as it backfired on me. i did put a electric cooling fan on my old 78. but it blow up the fan motor. but with all the Covid-19 stuff i been geting more stuff done on it. since i been working from home.

[SierraJoe]

I'm also working from home, so I also have more time to work on fixing Clipper issues. I thought about an electric fan, but thought I would start with a new clutch fan and thermostat and go from there. With all the grease that was on the front of the old clutch fan, I bet that's where the majority of my overheating problems originated from. If anyone is interested, the original part number on the clutch fan is Chrysler 3462179 which was a heavy duty fan clutch. I was just talking with Clipper Joe, and he suggested to also check engine timing for overheating. I have a fairly new carburetor and no smog checks as I live in Nevada so I'm thinking the timing has not been retarded for maximum smog results. Thanks Joe for finding a listing for a power steering pulley on eBay, I was going crazy trying to find a replacement. The pulley arrived today and first thing I noticed was that the new pulley is 6 3/4 inches in diameter vs. the old one which is 5 3/4 inches. Clipper Joe agreed that it should be fine and just need a belt a that is a little bigger. The new pulley is off an Old Dodge motor-home of the same era so I wonder if maybe they used two different sizes. Now I'm just waiting for the new power steering pump, clutch fan and high pressure power steering hose to come in. Once I get the pump, I going to have to find someone to press it on the pump for me as I don't want to attempt it after bending the old one and finding how difficult they are to replace.

[SierraJoe]

Turns out the new pulley is the correct diameter. I cleaned the old pulley and pulled off a part number. My Dodge Clipper is a 1977 with a 7.2-liter engine and the old pulley is from a 1985-1987 3.7-liter engine. Looks like some time in the past someone installed the incorrect pulley. When you have a 43 year old Clipper, you're going to have to assume that original spec replacement parts were not always installed.

[SierraJoe]

Here's a link to the late style (1975 and later) Saginaw Power Steering Pumps which use press fit to hold the pulley onto the pump. http://store.440source.com/Power-Steering-Pulley-Late-Saginaw-Press-Fit-New/productinfo/132%2D1004/   I found this site after I received my used pulley off of eBay. Almost half the price of what I paid and they are brand new stamped steel like the original. Looks like a good site to find parts for the Dodge 440 engine. Please share your experience if you buy from this site.

[rvguy101]

yea i buy from them. they are ok. for us it takes a bit to get something from them, but then we all the way in Alaska. as for the grease, https://www.amazon.com/4319PS-Industrial-Strength-Cleaner-Degreaser/dp/B002HU0R4K/ref=sr_1_40?crid=97DN99ICOJMY&dchild=1&keywords=degreaser&qid=1587753840&sprefix=degrease%2Caps%2C292&sr=8-40 i love that stuff. works best if you let it sit over night, & wash it off the next day. did it to my old Clipper looks like new. my is efi, so the carburetor i won't know sorry.

[SierraJoe]

I finally put everything back together yesterday and today. For the power steering pulley I went to O'Reilly's and borrowed the pump pulley install tool and made sure it was pressed on the same distance as the old one. I had a hard time getting the new clutch fan on. It was fairly easy mounting it to the fan but difficult getting it bolted on to the water pump. I started the engine and no leaks anywhere! I could hear the clutch fan engage (a sound I never heard before) and the engine temperature never went above 165?. It used to run around 210?. Only problem now is when I rev the engine it makes a squealing sound. I disconnected the belt that goes to the fan and power steering and no squeal. I switched the belt with the shorter old belt and the squeal was still there but sounded different.The pulleys look like they are lined up straight with each other. I'm wondering if the fan blades are hitting the crankshaft pulley. The fan blades spin so close to the pulley, they almost look like they are touching. I don't remember how close they were before I pulled the clutch out. I'm not even sure if that is the noise I am hearing. I'm going to try different tensions on the belt and see if that helps.

[rvguy101]

best way to find out if they to close, can you fit your hand in froth of it. & the squeal could be the belt. due to you having disconnected. but yes can happen that it don't go pass 165, a new fan clutch & thermostat can help that. my don't go pass 165 now days.

[SierraJoe]

I took a couple of days off before looking at the squealing issue again. With a clear mind I now think it's belt noise. No noise at idle but the noise starts at different RPM's depending on the how tight I have the belt. This time I  readjusted the belt to the correct tightness, started it up and when I revved up the engine, it started  squealing again. I let it run at that RPM for about 15 seconds and it faded away. When I rev the engine up to a higher RPM I can still hear a little squealing but not near as loud. It's definitely not the fan hitting metal, I just naturally assumed the worst case scenario.  I'm wondering if the re-manufactured pulley I replaced on the power steering pump could be allowing the belt to slip. The pulley was sandblasted and repainted. Perhaps painting the pulley created a slick surface that allows the belt to slip and the slipping will decrease with time as the paint wears off the grove.

[SierraJoe]

The sound is almost gone now. Once I rev the engine up when it's cold, the noise goes away fairly quickly. My bet is still on the painted pulley. A new problem popped up during all of this, the coolant reserve tank was leaking after I had cleaned it. It has a crack by the lower attachment hole on the tank. It looks like someone had put silicone on it in the past. I thought that I would replace it with a new one, but as far as I could tell, no one makes a replacement. I saw a used one on eBay, but they wanted over $50.00 for it. I'm not going to pay that much for 43 year old plastic that might be in worst shape than mine. I was laughing at one seller that was selling an original new plastic cap for the tank for $40.00. I've been looking for the radio bezel for my Clipper, and there is one on eBay for $135 plus $15.90 for shipping. I've followed the listing for almost a year to see if he lowers the price. I've had to learn to be creative on fixing some of the obsolete parts. I decided to fix my coolant tank myself. The tank is in pretty good shape other than the crack, so I did a repair. I filled the crack with J-B Weld Super Weld glue, than after it dried, I used J-B Weld WaterWeld which is a epoxy putty that has a temperature rating of 300 degrees. I put the tank back in, filled it with the correct level of coolant, and so far so good.

[SierraJoe]

Old coolant recovery tank is too far gone. After 3 repairs I gave up as new leaks kept showing up. I went with a universal tank from Auto Zone and modified it a bit to fit where the washer fluid reservoir was. I kind of like it mounted there as I have more air flow on the top of the radiator now that the old tank is gone. Let the engine run for about 15 minutes this afternoon and the temperature hovered around 165 degrees. 

[SierraJoe]

Here's a shot of the new tank mounted.

[Clipper Joe]

Hi Joe,
Good To See you Had To Retro A Radiator Coolant Recovery Tank.
What I Used On Mine, Was A Marine Sealant. Made By 3M, I?ll Try & Snap A Pict.
So Don?t Throw Old Tank Out.
Works Great, I Also Used It On My Generac Oil Recovery Tank.
It Held 1 Quart Ot 30 Wt Oil.

You Installed New Tank By Window, Water Recovery Unit.
Did You Keep It In Same Place?

Glad To See, When They Open Camping, You Will Be Ready. 

Clipper Joe