Runnin hot. Fan clutch

[Snowheeler]

Pulling my 00 runner into the garage a few minutes ago I looked down at my scan gauge and noticed I was running at 229 degrees. The numb dash guage was still horizontal though. A couple weeks ago it went into the red as we absent mindedly went up a monster pass with the a/c blasting, so I set the scan gauge for water temp and have noticed higher and higher temps as the days go by. Ambient temp is 90 today.

I'm wondering what the culprit is. I suspect the fan clutch as I never hear the C130-like roar my T100 makes. The thing is still spinning pretty quickly though, and the air blowing is hot, so probably not the thermostat? IIRC the water pump was replaced just before I bought it 5k ago. Anything I'm forgetting? I just want to make sure the fan clutch is the most likely candidate before I shell out the cash for a new one. And speaking of which, should I go OE or is there a better one out there?

 

[40Habits]

These are some of the things I would check.

Radiator Cap
Thermostat
Lower Radiator Hose
Milkshake looking coolant

If you can stop the fan with a rolled up magazine when hot, the clutch is bad.

DISCLAIMER: Not responsible for lost limbs if done wrong!!

 

[Snowheeler]

Rear heater air pocket

Finally have a good theory on what happened here: PO filled the coolant system w/o purging the rear heater. I checked the coolant level before we left and it was completely full (and I never boiled over when it got hot). I had these problems and went ahead and replaced the fan clutch. When it didn't cure the problem I checked the coolant level again and had to add about a pint and presto back down to 193 to 195.

So if you've got a rear heater, slide it up to full hot when you fill the radiator.