Yep, if the fan clutch is frozen and the fan is turning all the time, you'll have a cool system. It is only supposed to engage when the engine is hotter than what the rad can cool by itself......
Open the hood, with the engine running and watch the fan while you shut it off... it should free wheel for a few seconds before stopping... if it lurches to a stop with the engine, then the clutch is bad.. Conversely, if you can grab the fan (engine shut off) and spin it with no resistance, it has frozen in the "off" position....and won’t engage when needed...


I should explain.. The fan clutch is well, kind of like a gel-pack ... the fan WILL turn all the time, but not at a 1:1 ratio with the engine.. the "gel" allows for slippage that lets the fan rotate much slower than the engine speed in RPMs....when it locks, the fan is turning at the same RPM speed as the engine, and "over-cooling" it.
There is a clock-spring looking piece in there that engages when it gets hot enough and locks the fan to the engine shaft....that is when the fan is designed to "come on" and spin faster, adding additional cooling..... When the gel gets too liquid or leaks out, the fan won’t engage when needed and runs too slow
Make sense? This is a simplistic explanation, but it is the basic idea of how they work...

 

Fan turns just a little bit when the engine is shut off, so I guess that it is ok. I have a few weeks off starting next week, maybe I will change out the heater core and see if that makes it better.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions guys.

 

The fan is only supposed to come on when the temp raises. If the clutch was bad in the fan then it would be on as soon as you started it and take longer to warm the motor up.

You said you could hear the fan come on and then go off meaning that it works, so that isnt a problem.

 

That was on one of my previous trucks that I could hear it (turn off/go off)
This one I can't hear do that. I did shut the truck off today and watched the fan and it turned a few revolutions after the motor stopped, so I am assuming that the clutch part of the fan is ok.

I wonder what would happen if I took the fan completely off and ran it, would be curious as to what effects that would have on the situation.

 

I've done that a lot before. Not a problem to run that way espessially if the outside temps are cool and are going to stay that way. Just keep an eye on the coolant temp.

I found that the truck regulated temps with out a fan easier on an auto equiped truck than a manual one. Probly had to do with the extra trans coolers.