fan clutch question

[Fifty150]

Mark,

Better to have "over-cooling", than "over-heating" right?

I'm in Northern California. We don't get that kind of heat. I suppose if I move to Las Vegas, or Arizona, I should still be okay. Highway driving usually creates sufficient airflow. My biggest worry is over-heating in stop & go traffic.

 

[Lanky]

With the wire that is connected to the A/C which turns the fan on whenever the A/C is on the fan will be on also, even when you are at highway speeds.
I think most oem e-fans have a switch in the a/c high pressure line that also controls the fan speed.
Fifty150, do you have high and low fan speeds or is it just wired to the 2400 cfm side of the fan motor? Did not know if it could be wired both ways or not.

 

[Lanky]

The way I see it with my fan clutch being bad and my plastic fan cracking, now would be a good time to go electric. Fan clutch is going to run $100 to $120, not sure about the fan price. I figure that I am going to be close enough to the $200 price to justify even 1mpg gain. I would like to get 300 miles out of a tank of fuel!

 

[Fifty150]

Fifty150, do you have high and low fan speeds or is it just wired to the 2400 cfm side of the fan motor? Did not know if it could be wired both ways or not.

One of my best friends is from Paducah. I can recall about 10 years ago, when his mom called us with the big news about the new stop light being put up in town. Suffice it to say, it was not exciting enough for me to go back to visit.

The fan is a 2 stage fan. You can hook up two different switches to run it that way. It all depends on what you want to do. You can hook up one switch to turn on the low speed at say 180 or 190, and another switch to turn on high speed at 200 or 210. You can hook the low speed to turn on based on any temp you want, then run a second relay with a manual switch on your dashboard. You don't have to hook up to the A/C at all if you don't want to.

My installation was just to run the fan at high speed.

 

[Fifty150]

If you should decide to go with the same fan that I have, you can always call Derale and ask them to recommend a set-up for the switches and relays.

 

[Maniak]

On the F150 I put a switch inline on the ac wire on the controller. That way you can turn off the fan that was turned on by the ac when your on the freeway. The controller will still turn on the fan when the coolant gets to its normal turn on temp if you forget to hit the switch when you get back in traffic.

Having the electric fan on all the time with the ac when your in town really helps the ac.

~Mark

 

[Fifty150]

Lanky,

Measure the space between your radiator and the water pump stud that the fan clutch mounts to. How much space do you have? If you have 4.5" - 5" or more, then you should think about the Flex-A-Lite 180 Black Magic X-treme. It's a much stronger fan unit and comes with a switch. The FAL 180 pulls 3300 CFM and you can adjust the fan turn-on temperature. I actually bought the FAL, but it didn't fit in my truck, so I had to return it.

5150

 

[Fifty150]

Mark,

Which fan kit do you have for your F-150?

5150

 

[Maniak]

Dont forget the hhr fan. Its enough cfm to cool a 460 motor. Not only that its cheap ($60ish new) and is 4.5 or less thick.
This might help.
http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135721&highlight=hhr

~Mark

 

[Maniak]

Mark,

Which fan kit do you have for your F-150?

5150

Its my friends f150 and the first electric fan I installed (the van was my second).
Its a single speed taurus fan from a 1998 cut down and shoved into the factory shroud. Its controlled by a dakota digital pac-2000 controller.

Here is the thread from the f150 fan install.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219176&highlight=F-150+fan

~Mark

 

[Lanky]

Does derale have a fan controller that will handle a taurus fan or do you need a super relay to handle the amp draw? I heard the draw is pretty high. Also, I think on some taurus fan shrouds that on the inside there is a small ceramic block in the corner of the inside toward the radiator. Is this the temperature sensor to turn the fan on?

 

[Maniak]

Every fan controller I found from Derale has a max of 25 amps or less. Since none of them are soft start controllers, a Taurus fan will pull way too much power on startup.

Startup on the Taurus fan is 60 amps or so.. and then continuous of around 30 amps. (I have youtube video of it)

Even the ones from Hayden can't handle a taurus fan on its own. On both Fan conversions I've done I've used 75 amp Bosch (now Tyco) relays. One conversion is running on a 80 amp breaker and mine is running on a 100 amp breaker. In Southern Az we need the extra amperage rating so it will not trip when used in very hot underhood temps. A fuse may not have the same issues with the hot underhood temps. Just make sure you use big enough wire.

~Mark

 

[Fifty150]

Here is the thread from the f150 fan install.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219176&highlight=F-150+fan

~Mark

Mark,

That install looks good. It's very creative and shows that you can make a lot of things work with a little imagination.

5150

 

[Lanky]

Found a lincoln town car electric fan at u-pull-it lot already sitting out. It is mounted inside the shroud and sits close to the radiator side of the shroud. They only want $20 for it, I may have to look at it harder but the motor itself looks to be pretty thin!

 

[Fifty150]

Lanky,

From what I've seen, your biggest issue is going to be fitment.

Once you figure out which wire is positive, and which one is negative, then all that you have to do is fire it up with 12 volts to make sure that it works. That should be pretty simple. Even if you don't know how to use electrical multi meters and testing equipment, just look for the wiring schematics for the car that it came off of.

Your biggest challenge is getting it in there and mounting it.

The wiring should be pretty simple too. Just follow the directions that come with the switch kit. Be careful though. A lot of OEM fans have a high amp draw, and you want to make sure that the controller you go with will handle the amperage.

I think it is easier (but a little more expensive) to find the aftermarket fan that you want, then contact that fan's manufacturer and have them suggest the switching device to run the fan with. For me, the decision came down to what would fit. I figured that with the fan I chose, there was sufficient CFM. That's another thing to look for. Be sure that whatever fan you choose will put out enough CFM to cool your car. After all, you could just source two Toyota Corolla fans and run them with one on the upper end of your radiator and one on the lower end. But will two 12" fans really do the job?

5150