Electric auxiliary cooling fan

mrblaine said:
A question I've pondered many times and since we get to deal with all the models, there is no immediately obvious difference in components except for two that are obvious. First is they updated the radiator from a 2 row to a single larger row which then became the standard even for earlier models and stayed the same through 2006. The other is the switch to a different water pump and changes to the engine block to accept it which happened in 2000. The new pump has a plastic impeller and is very reliable and much more so over the older metal impeller style.

None of that is mentioned in the TSB so that shouldn't have much effect.
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What makes the plastic impeller water pump more reliable? I’m not doubting this one bit, I’m just generally curious.
 
Odd I thought plastic impeller pumps were generally something to avoid as they had a tendency to fail if overheated at all. Then again that's probably just more mechanics old wives tales from when the technology was first implemented.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
Drizit said:
Odd I thought plastic impeller pumps were generally something to avoid as they had a tendency to fail if overheated at all. Then again that's probably just more mechanics old wives tales from when the technology was first implemented.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
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Plastic like aluminum is used too generically to be able to attribute any actual properties to the particular compound being described. It is very likely a high strength glass or fiber filled polymer with exceptional wear resistance, high rigidity, good heat resistance, high corrosion resistance, and very light weight. Probably similar to the material they make pistol frames out of, and radiator tanks. We've had many out, we've replaced very few that actually needed it, none due to an impeller issue, and only one due to the seal failing and that was just last week. We used to replace them just because were had it apart and then I started really paying attention to the pumps we removed and regardless of mileage, the innards always looked new. Plus the impeller design is very similar to what the "high performance" companies do to the stock old style impellers to beef them up. It's already done for us just better and cheaper.
 
Interesting, well the next time mine needs replacing I'll look to an oem one then. The part store one in there now will probably be fine for years though. (oem one lost a seal after 100k km or so.)

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
I replaced the water pump in my Dodge Grand Caravan last Saturday. The Mopar water pump had plastic impellers, and I specifically searched for a replacement with metal impellers, because I assumed metal was better since I had a broken plastic impeller on the original pump.
 
zebra12 said:
I replaced the water pump in my Dodge Grand Caravan last Saturday. The Mopar water pump had plastic impellers, and I specifically searched for a replacement with metal impellers, because I assumed metal was better since I had a broken plastic impeller on the original pump.
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I don't have any experience with those. How many miles on it when it went?
 
zebra12 said:
230K. The Grand Caravan is a 2006.

And, what a pita it is to change a waterpump on transverse engine with limited clearance.
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Working on any minivan engine is a pain in the butt. The limited clearance makes everything difficult.
 
Thank you for the information you just saved me time and money. I was thinking about adding a second fan on my 99 TJ it. Now I will just add the hood vent.
 
Firstjeepbuild said:
Thank you for the information you just saved me time and money. I was thinking about adding a second fan on my 99 TJ it. Now I will just add the hood vent.
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A hood vent is as useless for helping the engine run cooler as 4-row radiators or aux electric fans are. The engine will run at its coolest/optimal temperatures with the OE cooling system as designed. Really, and that means with the Mopar OE radiator, not an aftermarket store brand, Mishimoto, etc..
 
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