Chipped cooling Fan edges, are they Bad?

what kind of temps are we talking here? from the stock gauge or aftermarket?
does the temp go up right off the bat or only in traffic or only on the highway? what flavor of fan clutch did you use (heavy duty, etc)?

if only in traffic when it is warmer out, i like both ideas. you sound like you are somewhere warm in Cali, so you want the system up to speed. if you dont remember swapping a stat before, it is time (in any case, IMHO). it gets to 110* here in the summer so im kinda anal about cooling. i really like Mr. Gasket 180* stats. fully balanced, bleed hole and opens fully sooner than parts store stats for a couple bucks more. local speed shop should sell them for 10 bucks or so.

i would also get a new fan. the plastic stockers are famous for coming apart, though normally at the hub (cracks). i have a metal fan in now and it cools very well. my plastic one was shot.

BTW, how did the fan get cracked? if it is hitting the shroud or something else, check your motor mounts. if doing mounts, do the trans mount too.
good luck.

I agree with motor mounts being the cause fo the chipped fan blades...

Something else that could be the culprit to the chips in the fan is your underhood insulation. Mine was starting to sag and from opening and closing the hood all the time, eventually the fan shroud started weakening the insulation to the point where it just tore and dropped down into the way of the blades. Needles to say, the tips of the fan were melted and the hub had cracks. I just replaced the fan with a stock FORD plastic one and cleared out the damaged insulation and no problems now. I wasn't even overheating when I had the damaged fan in the car, however, those cracks started growing and I wasn't going to risk needing a new radiator for a $75 fan!

ive got the same problem. my fan is all torn up. but i cant put a new one on because it sits so low in the fan shroud. theres almost no gap in the bottom and like 3 inches in the top. we figured it was the motor mounts, i just havent gotten around to fixing them yet.

Change your T-stat, and flush your cooling system. If the problem still persists, your radiator is probably clogged up. On all of my 5.0's with over 100K miles I have had to change the rad. I had simular problems sitting in traffic the temp gauge would move up, and while driving on the highway at high speeds the temp would go up. If you need to change out your rad, replace it with a 3 row rad instead of the stock 2 row one. Also while you are in there, check all your hoses to make sure they are good.

Mario

I saw you said the resivor was full but did you check the radiator itself? I had a similar problem the resivor said full but the radiator was almost empty.

Stock is I think 195* most people use a 180* degree to be on the safe side. You said a couple of post up though that your needle only moves up to the middle? That isn't very hot. When I was using my stock gauge and a 180* stat. Mine would run about the white line under the middle and then move up to the middle while setting in traffic. That sounds about normal to me.