I have to retract all the bragging I've done on e-fans. Yesterday I was driving in the big city(Cleveland) 30 miles away from where I live in the country. My truck starts overheating bad, I ended up shutting her down. Ended up having my ranger towed home, cost me 150.00$.I checked it out this morning, and the e-fan isn't workig, cut the wire, and touched it directly to the battery. It kicked on, started wobbling, and smacking the radiator. It had a bent blade, so I put my clutch fan back on. The motor is ok, didn't let it get too hot, radiator seems ok, no leaks yet, cost me a 150.00$ tow bill. I don't know how long it hadn't been working, I supose it was air cooled at highway speed. To top it off, the performance felt the same with the clutch fan. I had the udp, and e-fan put on at the same time, the motor reved faster, but it must of all been in the pully, truck runs the same. The e-fan could have been very costly, luckily it was only a 150.00$, and I don't say that lightly, a 150.00$ can be alot of money to a working man, but it could of been somuch worse. I owe Bob Ayres a public apolgy, he tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen, "SORRY Bob". So in the end, there was no performance gain, and it could of cost me an engine, or radiator, or both. If you have an e-fan, watch it carefully, and if not, don't bother, it's not worth it, you gain nothing, but could loose alot.

 

Wow, that was close. Thanks for the honest feedback. You did the right thing by shutting it down and towing it. A $150 tow bill is better than a blown engine any day of the week.

This is more of an issue than some people may realize. In fact, currently there is a thread entitled "Almost blew my engine today (e-fan)" over at RPS in the General Technical Discussion section that describes something very similar. And I've seen threads on the same subject before, too.

 

"O YEAH", it cost me a day of work also, as I stayed home today to try and fix it. Needless to say, my clutch fan will be staying on. Thanks Bob for the warning, just sorry I didn't listen, I still love my intake though, it makes a neat whooosh sound ha ha. I can laugh now, I sure wasn't yesterday. I'm glad I went to church, or I would of been doing some serious cursing ha ha.

 

Rockledge, I just read that post over at rps, he had the plastic blades, and broke one off. I bought the perma cool with the cheesy thin aluminum blades so it wouldn't break off, it would of been better if it did break off, so it wouldn't smack against the radiator. I have no idea how it got bent, I guess a spider spun a web on it or something. It must of gotten bent, and stopped working at the same time, or I would have heard it, and probobly good-bye radiator. It did bend some fins, but no leaks(knock on wood).

 

E-fans definitely have their role, but I personally have always been wary of them. Several years ago my old '93 Sable had a problem with the Constant Control Relay Module (CCRM) which among other things contains the relay for the cooling fan. Long story short, the fan wasn't turning on when it was supposed to because of the bad CCRM. The relay failure was intermittent, and therefore it was not easy to identify as the root cause at first. I finally did figure it out but only after several near misses regarding supreme overheating. And that's when I started thinking to myself: a simple relay can go bad and literally cause catastrophic engine failure in a matter of moments...!!?? Huh? I don't know about you, but I don't trust automotive relays THAT much!

Unfortunately, both of my current Taurus' have the same e-fan configuration as my old Sable did, and so I essentialy drive them at-risk, as so designed from the factory.

 

[QUOTE=wendell borror]I have to retract all the bragging I've done on e-fans. To top it off, the performance felt the same with the clutch fan. I had the udp, and e-fan put on at the same time, the motor reved faster, but it must of all been in the pully, truck runs the same.

I spent 3 hours tearing apart a wrecked Cavalier to get at a 14" JB efan. Bolts right into a shroud from a 88 Ranger 2.3L. I figure about 1" clearance approx from fins with a 185 degree controller. My stock clutch fan looks ready to blow apart and has no shroud and 3" clearance (2" from "finger guard"). Installed new radiator & all hoses. Is there a big flaw in my engineering? Just basic city use usually 32 miles M-F. Plus I figure it could give me lots of room to check my timing easier & even clearance to tinker with the ram air stuff if I ever port match the intake. CAI would seem to upset my truck as-is. Took a bit of tuning to get that whoosh factor & then misfires a bit. PLENTY strong & rock-steady idle stock for now.
Uh, saw the new posts. But this one appears another slant. Figured on a Hayden control switch, too.

 

Wendell, I am extremely impressed with your honesty for posting this thread!
No apology needed, you will be blessed for this!!

 

A slant? Quite the contrary. The first-hand accounts of near catastrophes posted and referenced in this thread are about as close to raw data as you can get on the subject.

Uh, I'm not sure about "whoosh factors" and such, so I'm gonna leave that whole thing alone.

 

Wendell, i hate to say it, but thats why i wouldnt get an e-fan, just something else to go wrong, and i got enough of that already. anyway, atleast it can be repaired somewhat cheaply(better than a new truck or a rebuild). hey your still walking and talking, so twasnt to bad.

anywhom, i was looking at that kit, would i want the short block or long?

 

Alen. if your heads are good, just go short block.

 

thats what i though, short = less metal= lighter= faster

 

Alan, the term "short block" means the engine block without the heads. "Long block" is the engine block and the heads.

 

ohh, ok, exuse my ignorance.

 

On the E fans, they have a place and some of them work real good for a long time (read all the front wheel drive cars ever built that are still on the road) I run an electric on the ranger but the radiator is in the bed so not much choice there, but it gives me the added benifit of bieng able to shut down the motor and still cool it down (I also have an electric water pump) But what I have listed is specific applications that a belt driven fan will NOT work in. I personally feel and have done this that an electric fan can be a benifit as an addition to the belt driven fan ( please note I am not saying clutch fan, I am saying belt driven for a reason, clutch fans have thier problems too, had one lock up and tear the blades off the fan itself, had another clutch come apart and put the fan through the radiator which cost me $100 tow bill, 3 days without my truck, $250 to have someone come get the stock trailer load of cows and haul them home for me, and another $250 for having the radiator recored.) after the before mentioned instance I then put a electric pusher fan on the front of the radiator infront of the coolers. so I always had a backup, and it was thermostatically controlled so if it started to over heat would kick in. But on a truck like the rangers for a daily driver I don't usually recommend them as the only fan, back up or addition yes sole fan no.

Glad it wasn't too serious wendell, like you said it could have been much worse but it still hurts laying the money out for a tow that shouldn't have happened.

 

Mechanicals can do the same thing. 02 Dodge Cummins broke the shaft just behind the thermal unit on a friends truck. It took out the radiator and a big dent in the underside of the hood. It was a new piece. O'reilly replaced both at no charge. jd