Last winter i decided to chuck my clutch-engine-driven fan for a flex-lite dual 12 in. electric fan. I was very impressed with the power gains from the swap and considered it the best mod yet. Now it's summer in Southern California and my engine tempurature keeps going higher and higher while loosing more power the hotter it gets. I don't want to put the old mechanical fan back on if I can avoid it, but what else can I do? I've flushed the radiator and added "40 Below" which is supposed to drop water tempuratures. I was considering a combination oil and transmission cooler kit from Summit. Any comments or suggestions? Does anybody make a large capacity radiator for my 89 Bronco with a 351W? Thanks.

 

What percentage of anti-freeze are you running. The more water you use, the better your cooling is going to be. Do your electric fans run all the time, or do you have them set to come on at a certain temp? Is your thermostat good?

 

I'm running about 30 % watter now since i added the "40 Bellow" and I just put in a low-tempurature high performance thermostate last week. The fans are set to automatically come on but i also wired a switch to overide that. It all depends on the weather which is wierd. I'm lost on this.

 

Two things I'd check along with the other suggestions;

1) Check your lower radiator hose, might be weak and collapsing,

2) My 85 had a severe overheating problem, turned out to be the clogged cat. converter.

 

Yeah, I think you should just drive that thing off a cliff and jump out before it goes off! Also, you should pull out you shot gun and blow away the tires while the truck flying off the cliff. Or maybe you could just stick a couple of pieces of dynamite in the cylinders and start the engine and see what happens. That one always helps.

Corban

 

Toss those aftermarket fans, they won't pull enough air to cool whatever radiator you're running. They're designed for supplementary cooling and even that's a real questionable claim. It's hard to beat the mechanical fan and shroud for cooling, but if you're determined to run pure electric, go to a boneyard and find a Taurus electric fan, they're a two speed, or one from a Late model Lincoln VIII. Actually, any original equipment electric fan designed to cool a V6 or V8 will do the job and cost less than the aftermarket jokes.

If you want a comparison, turn your aftermarket fans on and listen to the noise (air movement). Then listen to the electric fan on a newer car/truck. The aftermarket stuff will sound like toy airplane and the original equipment fan like an F-15. The Lincoln fan pulls 5,000cfm.

Take accurate measurements of your radiator to engine clearances, as the electrics come in a multitude of sizes.

Most decent electric fans pull from 30-45amps at peak draw. I mounted a block running directly off the battery and wired in-line fuses to the fan switches on my Bronco for my engine and oil cooler fans to keep that from the regular wiring harness. Use a good toggle switch rated for 50amps as they fry those plastic rocker switches sold by most auto parts stores.

 

A tranny oil cooler probably will help, but georgedavila speaketh the truth!

 

Well thank you all for the help. I think i want to get an engine oil cooler either way, so if it doen't solve my problem, i guess i'll go back to the tried-and-true methood. Thanks again.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Jun-02 AT 05:55 PM (EST)]30% water? I would think in SoCal you should be running 70-80% water, and 20% anti-freeze, and then add the 40 below to that. If you are truly running only 30% water, that could be a big part of your problem!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Jun-02 AT 06:30 PM (EST)]I have to agree with Matt, I run about a 50% mix up here in Salt Lake, and I'm lucky if my guage ever gets above the "N" in normal, even mid July when its over 100 here.

 

oops, i meant 70 % water, 30% coolant. My mistake. I was also told that since it hardly ever freezes in So Cal, running 100% water would work with the 40 below since it acts as a lubricant/ metal protector. I just don't think i want to go to that extreame

 

I installed the largest tranny cooler I could find, think it was for a 8500 lb gvw rating, that I got from Home Mechanic Warehouse. I use the stock mechanical fan and stock fan clutch w/ still works. Also have stock 195 degree thermostat because I don't want to wear out my engine with a cold 180 degree thermostat. Recently had the radiator rodded out and resealed, it's aluminum and somewhat serviceable. By that I mean the crimp tabs on the tanks sometimes leaks. a little tweaking of the tabs solves the problem.

I did install a new GMB water pump, but I think this was a waste as the old Ford pump looked in good shape. It has steel vanes that don't look like they could wear out.
I did this work prior to '98 in relation to the engine swap and other upgrades.

My af mix is 40/60 and I live in SoCal where temps can go to 100 degrees +. It use to overheat before I did the above, but not now. I also added a backflush kit. best $5 bucks spent! I once used an af additive that makes the water wetter, I think that's what ate my lower intake gaskets. So I don't put any of that stuff in there anymore!

I bought an oil cooler and a remote duo oil filter setup, but haven't installed it yet. If anyone knows of a good place to install the duo-oil remote bracket under the hood, I'm all ears! The only place where I've seen them mounted is in the fender well, but I don't want to do that.

The reason for all my efforts is when I make my annual trip up hwy 395 to go hike in the Sierras, I don't want it to boil over going up those long upgrades. I also have much more power / torque to go up those grades and the altitude doesn't matter anymore as I don't have 'speed density' or MAP sensor.


good luck,
Ron

'90EB 351W sportsman block, edlebrock upper/lower intake, gt40 ci heads, 2020 crane cam, msd6a, jba headers, borla catback, tokiko & edelbrk IAS shock, FMS lightning power pkg [30# inj., modif ECU, 80mm maf,air intake system] 190k miles

 

If you've got the E4OD be careful when shopping for a tranny cooler. I've been told by several credible sources that you want to use a stacked plate design like B&M. Do not use any old cooler from your local parts house that looks like a radiator - these generate too much backpressure and can destroy the pump(s) in your E4OD.

I'm no tranny expert.... so if someone is please set me straight!

 

My remote oil filter and trans/engine stacked plate oil coolers are mounted under the hood, picture here:

http://www.geocities.com/marsha89129/

 

http://www.geocities.com/marsha89129/images/engineoilfilter2.jpg