3rd Gen Ford Explorer V8 Under-Drive Pulley and Electric Fan Installation | Page 3 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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3rd Gen Ford Explorer V8 Under-Drive Pulley and Electric Fan Installation

Maybe it was smaller? I never looked to see what it was to be honest, its just whatever came with the controller. And it melted down. I looked at all the wires, no burn marks, nothing. Alright, well im going to buy a breaker like you did and find a way to wire it into the system. I have a friend whos a little more advanced with the wiring systems than i am. Im going to see if he could point me in the direction as to how it should be integrated into my already wired system. You put one to ground and one to the power supply correct? if so im going to cut those two wires and splice the breaker into it. Should that be sufficient. I have a 3000 mile road trip coming up in October.. Dont want my car catching fire or having some kind of catastrophic failure.
 



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Daniel - good tip on modding the fan. Going to check that out; if my replacement engine fires tomorrow, this is going in as well.
 






Maybe it was smaller? I never looked to see what it was to be honest, its just whatever came with the controller. And it melted down. I looked at all the wires, no burn marks, nothing. Alright, well im going to buy a breaker like you did and find a way to wire it into the system. I have a friend whos a little more advanced with the wiring systems than i am. Im going to see if he could point me in the direction as to how it should be integrated into my already wired system. You put one to ground and one to the power supply correct? if so im going to cut those two wires and splice the breaker into it. Should that be sufficient. I have a 3000 mile road trip coming up in October.. Dont want my car catching fire or having some kind of catastrophic failure.

Your missing the point here...what he is trying to tell you is that the fuse is the weak link, that is its purpose. A smaller fuse will just blow easier, too large of a fuse and other things may melt first if there is a problem
 






Daniel - good tip on modding the fan. Going to check that out; if my replacement engine fires tomorrow, this is going in as well.

Yeah, it gave me a a little more room to play with. But you cant just put it up against the radiator. I went to Lowes and got some of foam pipe insulation material. The grey stuff and cut it into 4 small pieces(5inches each, its 96 cents for a 6ft piece) and put them around the edgings of the shroud that comes in contact with the radiator to give it that little tiny space it needed. If you dont do that then, when the fan goes to full speed and pulls forward a little bit fan blades will scrap on the radiator.


and Doug, no i understood. I just like clarifying things before i do them.
 






Also JoshMcMadMac, have you had any problems with the fan since you installed it just as melted or shorted wires? I installed the cb as you did and i noticed a delay in the turn on time now. The fan used to start the second i turned the key, but now its delayed. The cb must be doing its job. I used a 50 amp one as opposed to your 40 amp. Orileys had it for 3 dollars as to autozones 12 dollars.
 






Also JoshMcMadMac, have you had any problems with the fan since you installed it just as melted or shorted wires? I installed the cb as you did and i noticed a delay in the turn on time now. The fan used to start the second i turned the key, but now its delayed. The cb must be doing its job. I used a 50 amp one as opposed to your 40 amp. Orileys had it for 3 dollars as to autozones 12 dollars.

I have never had any issues running Mark VIII or Taurus fans on any of the several vehicles I have used them on. The circuit breaker should not have any impact on the starting of the fan, or when it starts in correlation to your key.
 






Weird, maybe its just me over thinking everything. i tend to do that when i do things to my car at first.. Afraid it may backfire and end up causing me more money. And thats good to hear that it didnt because i used all the same parts as you did, i just added a relay for extra. Also fast question, do you know for sure what what the peak amperage is on start up. I was researching it and one site said it pulls up to 100amps at peak. Sounds a little much but then a second site said it pulls up to 47 at its peak for a split second and around normal operation pulls about a 39 constant. Id check it myself but i dont have a multimeter at the moment and am broke until pay day.
 






Josh - I have the fan cycling with the A/C, but can't get it to come on based on temperature/via the adjustment screw. Thoughts?
 






Fixed. The probe was too high and deep in the radiator. I moved it down about an inch and it's set so the tip just pokes out the other side. Works great.
 






I put mine about half an inch or maybe more away from the radiator out hose line. Works pretty good. I believe i have mine set to 195
 






What t-stat you running DanielJ? I thought 195 was the opening temp for the stock t-stat (well mine is). You should consider setting the controller about 5-10f over the t-stat opening temp.
 






T-stat? maybe i misread what the temps. Ill check the setting its at tomorrow and make sure. I do believe we put it at 195, if so ill move it to about 205 then.
 






Did my first daytime drive around town today (stoplights, drive-thru, etc). Fan seems to be working alright, though I suspect the motor might be on its way out. It sounds like a hair dryer on low speed (I was expecting a hair dryer at high speed). But the temperature is rock solid; it's mid-90's around here right now.

It also seems to be slow to start; I expected it to spin up faster. Anyone who has the Mark VIII fan, I'd appreciate your feedback.
 






Did my first daytime drive around town today (stoplights, drive-thru, etc). Fan seems to be working alright, though I suspect the motor might be on its way out. It sounds like a hair dryer on low speed (I was expecting a hair dryer at high speed). But the temperature is rock solid; it's mid-90's around here right now.

It also seems to be slow to start; I expected it to spin up faster. Anyone who has the Mark VIII fan, I'd appreciate your feedback.



Mine didnt have the option for high and low speed on the fan i got. The year i got it out of when i googled it and looked up the diagrams said it had one speed and a ground. But the fan doesnt sounds like a blow dryer. It makes a low hum and a steady whine and stays constant. Its just loud enough to where i can hear it at idle but not when driving. Did you grease up the bearings and blow the motor on the fan out before you installed it? When i get the relay replaced and working ill record a clip of what it sounds like. But it definitively shouldnt sound like a blow dryer. Also as for the slow start up you have to remember its pulling alot of amperage and depending on the controller your using or how it starts up it might be because the spike it has to get to turn over.
 






What you described is what I have, so it sounds like it's fine. I think I just expected it to be louder. I did clean it up but didn't disassemble the motor.
 






Thats not a blow dryer then. lol to me it sounds like a lazer sound effect powering up. But if its a steady low whine then it should be fine.
 






http://www.hollisterroad.com/products.asp?pg=2

a nice relay set up/fan controller for the Mark fans.. More reliable than the others id say and costs the same. They have actual documentation about its workings and that it has been designed strictly for the Mark fans. Ill leave this here for curious others that come across this thread..
 






Another tid bit for future modders who want to do this. My fan died on me this last week, the motor crapped and it nearly caught fire. Anyways I was talking to the makers of the fan controller i posted above and they said if you want a fan that pulls the same CFM as the Mark 8 fan but is considerably quieter and more reliable than it to go with a fan out of a fire-bird or a cougar. Same power usage and pulls the same just doesnt have as loud of a noise on high and are a bit more reliable. He said that they are used alot with the older cobras because of the reliability. Not docking the mark 8, i just got a crappy one i guess. Just a little bit of information figured id post for the future people who wish to do this.
 






I think that's the model i ended up with. It's been handling the 105-110 degree heat just fine.
 



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I think that's the model i ended up with. It's been handling the 105-110 degree heat just fine.

Model what? Its been in the 100-110's here and my mark fan pooped out. So i ordered that controller i posted and am taking the other fan back to the junkyard in exchange for the fan out of a cougar or firebird.
 






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