Austin.....I don't think Nick mentioned HP. I think he was talking about reliability and not ruining a motor due to the fans failing or failing to turn them on.
Austin.....I don't think Nick mentioned HP. I think he was talking about reliability and not ruining a motor due to the fans failing or failing to turn them on.
Not to mention that when that fan clutch locks up there's enough air drawn to suck a cat through the grill. No electric fan setup moves as much as a good old fan and fan clutch. I think the setup I have is rated at 15000cfm at 2000rpm with the clutch locked. But on the trail when things are slow, an electric fan may make more sense.
this is what i'm getting at, this is for a mostly trial driven vehicle, i like mechanical fans on my DD, but for a slow going trail rig, a fan w/ a clutch won't work as well as an electric, a flex fan works well, but those damn things are sharp as ****, i've cut my hands on them just tryin to tighten bolts on the front of the engine (and no it was not running )Originally posted by AgDieseler
But on the trail when things are slow, an electric fan may make more sense.
electric fans are
they wouldn't cool my truck at all. so i ditched that junk and went with a mechanical fan
I have dual electric 14" Flexalites on my 99-f150 w/a 5.4L with the copper tube into the radiator hose with the variable control module and overide off switch and the overide on switch. It pulls like a sonofa at stop n go traffic. It also does give me a few extra horses that the clutch steals. And I'd have to say it pulls more than my 18" flex fan also from flexalite. But when it comes on, it uses about 3-400 rpm from the alternator. I hate it! And I've had more issues with it draining my battery, wire guage issues (I run at least 10 guage wire everywhere), and simply remembering to turn off the overide off switch (I have it wired into the A/C compressor too. So, on the highway, all I need is the wind to keep the air cool. But in Houston, I'm constantly driving on the highway and city streets. anyway!) I'm always so stressed about making sure switches are in the right position and that the fans are acutally going to come on when the coolant gets hot. I've got 3 fuses I have to maintain.Originally posted by AgDieseler
No electric fan setup moves as much as a good old fan and fan clutch. But on the trail when things are slow, an electric fan may make more sense.
And on the trail, I'd have to say go with a mechanical fan. I guess with small cylinder engines, you may have to worry about mechanical fans robbing horsepower. But I'd rather guarantee my block will stay cool than loosing 15 to 25 hp. Hell, that's what 4 low is for. If anything, have at least a mechanical. If you're worried it's not enough, ADD an electric pusher fan btwn the grill and radiator. The cooler the better. These older trucks and jeeps don't care if the coolant is cooler than normal.
i will always contend that electric fans are the way to go. peope just seem to overcomplicate things with all kinds of switches and relays and a bunch of other unnecessary bull****. if you wire it into the ignition switch you'll never have to worry about whether or not its on. put the bypass switch in the circuit so you CAN turn it off, but dont have to. i guess personally i'd rather have the control over it than rely on a sensor. 15000cfm? who friggin cares? you only need ~2500 to adequately cool a small block. mine pull ~1800 each. and as for overdrawing on the alternator....get a bigger alternator. with all the computer, electronics, stereo and other BS you probably need it anyway. mine's rated @ 144amps. i had it tested and it was putting out just over 200.
Josh, did your jeep seem to have more power after the electric fans?
here is a krusty schematic to illustrate how mine are ran. I run dodge intrepid fans which i think are superior to cli-taurus fans because they are a dual fan set-up with a shroud that fits scout radiators perfectly and are thin, plus the twin set-up allows to set a fan motor on either side of the water pump pulley. I am controlling the ground side of the relay like the factory does and right now the temperature switch I am running is a factory 210 or whatever that is hotter than i would like it to be. If I ever get the scout running again, I will buy a low temp one from jeg's or some place. I use the big round GM relays for everything electrical because they are easy to "obtain" with the connectors from any jy, and are at EVERY parts store, and I can carry one spare for everything, lights, fuel pump, fans, etc...
Last edited by BMFScout; 02-26-2004 at 01:25 AM.
my jeep did seem to have better take off but i dont know for sure if it gave me anymore horses and i had my alterator built up by a place in OKC they made it 150 amps for $50 but i guess that doesnt help since we are in college station.
OK - I searched. Gonna put an electric fan on my truck. Relatively soon, as my fan clutch isn't doing much and it is going to get warm soon. I have a fan already. I have a 135 amp alternator, so that's stayin. I've got wiring, or at least know what and where to get it. Of course, I'm lookin for a good deal, and also dependable.
Somewhere on here or maybe FSB, I saw a link to a guy selling prefab harnesses. Anyone know what I am talking about? Frick? Will? John Brown?
So I know I am going to need a relay or solenoid. I am not real great at reading wiring diagrams, but once I have it in my hands I am ok. I would like the fan to use temp only to turn off and on. Since it is a single, I don't even know that I want it to automatically come on with the AC. Just on at 185ish, and off at 170.
The biggest thing I don't know about is the sensor and fan control box. I know there is debate on where to put the sensors that stick in the radiator, but are there sensors that go in the thermostat housing instead?
I have looked around for good write-ups, and have not found anything great yet, if anyone knows of one, it would be appreciated.
I am sure when I am done with this, I will realize how simple it is, but I am trying to get my bases covered so my truck is not down for more than a saturday.
Seth Stewart '04
2000 Suburban DD
1995 F150 SAS - Needs more work to sell
1998 GMC pickup - sold
2003 Yukon XL - wrecked/motor donor
1975 Scout - TBD
1976 Scout - parts truck
1972 IH 1310 dually - TBD
196? Scout 800 - 302 roller
Use this to wire up your relay.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...53117_-1_11471
Seth, on Mike Mike Knoellers bronco we tried setting up a chip to use the built in eec-iv fan control thats normally disabled on trucks. I don't know how it ended up for him since he had some other problems, but in theory you could do the same and not mess with those fan temp control things. Then you would just run the fan control wire that you would have to add to the harness (not hard, and I think oreillys sells the pins in the helpme section) that grounds the relay that controls the fan.
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