If it's hot as balls and the clutch spins freely, it could be a torque limiting fan clutch. They don't have the spring on the front. Thermal ones do. But it should be hard to spin when cold. Getting up to speed and things cool down, I would suspect there's at least PART of the issue will be your fan clutch.
Thermal fan clutches spin easily when cold with little resistance, but when hot, they lock up the clutch. If yours is a thermal type and spins easily by hand when hot, I don't care how old it is, it's a goner. When the car is hot, and you shut it off, the thermal type will spin a maximum of about 1/2 turn and stop. More than that and it's likely toast.
Torque limiting ones are firm when cold, then at a specified RPM (higher) it will "break free". So if it's a torque limiting one and it's easy to spin by hand (because the engine is obviously at 0 rpm with your hand in there), it's a goner.
Everything you describe so far says regardless of the type of clutch you have, it's done. It's not working right in either scenario.
Check out this thread below. It discusses fan clutches and their operation. Maybe it can give you some insight.
Happy Friday everyone I did not pay attention to the orientation of the old thermostat, swapping it for a 180 (Stant) Does it have to put back in a specific way? I know for sure the longer end goes into the block. Tried looking in the book, didn’t see anything on orientation of it, if it...
gbodyforum.com
This is all assuming that your thermostat is operating properly, and the flows are good, topped off, etc. Lord forbid if you got a head gasket leak.
