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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Now that our 87 octane is $3.00 I am looking for mileage increasing mods! I know quite a few 2nd gen Ligntning guys are doing this for increased power and mileage.
Does anyone have any mileage calculations before and after a fan mod?
I don’t think you would see much improvement, and if you did I would think it would hardly be worth the effort the clutch fans are fairly efficient and when you look at the surface aria they cover, they probably cool better than electric ones.
Fuel economy and 5.0Ltr V8 are 2 words’ that don’t mix.
I average 15.6mpg with the stock fan 99% backroads and town driving. If I try a little I see 16mpg, the 4406 helps a lot and my soon to come lockout hubs will get about 1 more mpg.
Right after my 4406 swap I left the front driveshaft off and I was getting 17mpg.
I swapped the clutch fan on my 5.4 2V Expedition for dual electric fans. No noticeable increase in mileage.
I swapped because it seemed I couldn’t find a clutch that would survive climbing I-70 from Dillon to Eisenhower Tunnel. Killed 2 doing that climb on 2 separate occasions.
Your not going to gain any horsepower from the fan period. It's does not increase the hp rather at most allows the engine to use its available hp to the wheels vs losing some spinning the fan. However you need a strong battery and alternator to support to extra load your going to create. Also when the electric fan is on your still going to see some engine load going to the alternator just not as much normally. The real pro to electric fans is they can spin at full speed at idle vs a clutch fan has to use engine rpm. So better cooling at idle and better ac at lights if you have a good enough fan to keep up. On the hiway though your not really going to see much change if your cooling system is working properly as neither fan should be on really unless there's a big hill or other external load. Or your wanting the option to manually operate the fan to kill all load to launch better at the track or somthing along that line or to protect the fan through deep water crossing so its not a blender under the hood.
I've debated performing this mod for a long time. I even went as far as designing brackets to mount the infamous Contour fan assembly to the Explorer radiator. I've still not done it to my Mountaineer. I have retrofitted the Contour fans to numerous other vehicles, though, including an '89 5.0L Mustang and my '79 Bronco with a hopped up 400. In both cases, I have the fans controlled by the stock EEC and set to turn on at different temperatures. I also added a condenser fan behind the grille on both vehicles which turns on with the AC - one of the Contour fans also turns on in this case. The main issue is that it's just a royal PITA. It definitely frees up some power and allows the engine to rev more freely and quickly. I think if you were able to electrify the water pump at the same time, then you'd really feel the improvement in power. The additional load on the alternator from the extra amperage draw from an electric water pump and e-fans is negligible in comparison to driving a mechanical water pump and fan.
