spinedocab

Greetings to all,

I am new here, and have been lurking for a while. You all have a nice forum group here, and I am pleased to become a part of it.

I recently acquired a SR5 4x4 pickup with a 3VZE/5-speed/auto locking hubs. It seems to be a great truck, and I am enjoying it. I don't drive it a lot, but it's great when I do use it.

I am a pretty competent wrench and have been playing with my Saabs, BMW's, Honda's, Audi's, Plymouth mini vans, and others for years.

I have come upon a question about the fan clutch on my truck. Now that it is a little warmer, or maybe coincidentally, I notice that I can hear the fan whining/roaring a lot when I don't think it should be. It always seemed to be pretty locked up on starting the truck, either cold or warm engine but would stop/quiet down after a few seconds. Lately, however, I notice the fan roaring even after driving steadily for quite a while. Temperature gauge appears to stay in the normal region and the motor runs normally with no driveability issues (other than it's normal sort of sluggish power availability). Once in a while I notice a little "surging" in the power delivery, but that may just be an old oxygen sensor.

Anyway, is there a surefire way to test the fan clutch and see if it is bad? This has to be adversely affecting gas mileage, and the sound is annoying.

thank you for any ideas you can give me.
Andrew.