anyone swap out the mechanical fan for electric ones? if so which ones are good/bad? my fan clutch is gone and for the price of a new one an electric fan seems enticing.

 

There's a bit of discussion about this in the "hypermilers" thread.

Basically you'd need some good fans- you'd probably want to pull around 3000-4000 CFM total. You'd need two good size fans for that. I haven't measured the radiator core, I'm curious as to whether two 16" fans would fit as they'd probably do the job no problem.

 

I was seriously thinking if installing fans...I needed the room to install an intercooler.
They work great for everday driving...BUT, any serious hauling and they do not recommend using thier products [I even phoned and talked to one of the techs]...and isn't that the reason we bought a truck in the first place!

 

Do a search on "Electric Fan" on this site.

A lot of good discussion.

Basically the conclusion usually was that the people who have tried it were not happy with the electric fans.

Usually you will come to the conclusion that all the extra stress on the battery and the alternator is just not worth it.

To truly get as much air flow as the mechanical fan produces you need a lot of amps to drive the large electric fans. If you were to figure the fan draws 1 hp (very liberal estimate) at maximum engine rpm that works out to a amp draw of 62 Amps.

Altough I have not seen any comparision between the efficiency of the fan clutch vs. an electric fan what his would probably tell you is that at the low engine loads the electric fans are more efficient while at the higher engine loads the OEM fan clutch does a better job.

As was said already by someone else an electric fan will work if your truck just runs around empty and does not climb any hill but usually as soon as you start towing, or loading up the box and start climbing hill the engine will overheat as the electric fan will not be able to produce the air you need to cool. Also there will be lots of wear and tear on your altinator.

I think overall the conclusion most people on this site have come to is that the OEM fan clutch while not the most efficient set-up is the best thing overall.


Seb.....

 

There are fans out there that do fine. There are a couple of Flexlite models that will work. They do make kits for newer trucks that are already to go. I have two s-blades 398's and they do fine. They have another model out that pulls more air then those now. I think they run around $230 apiece. When I bought mine they were that high but I think you can get them for around $125 now.

I know two people that installed their kits. One on a chevy and one on a dodge and they were both happy. They work their trucks and both were happy with the fuel saving and the power increase. I would guess an OE fan would pull 10 to 20 HP. Somewhere in there. I know a fan on a road tractor will pull 15 to 20. Yes they have bigger fans but they have allot bigger engines to drive them also. Fans take more power from your engine then any other external component.

One thing is that it would matter what climate you were in. You may only need one of them or both at one time. When it is zero you may not need it at all. They will make an AC system work better at low rpms. You would what to put a fan switch in your AC circuit for that option though. That isn't hard to do.

Electric fans are getting common place now.

 

Oilburners.net

 

I ran twin 16" FlexLite fans for a while.

When the third fan failed in under two years, I went back to the stock fan/clutch setup.

If you want to try it, plan on spending about 300 dollars each for quality fans.
The 100 dollar FlexLite units are not up to the job as a primary fan.

Besides, 2 fans at 100 dollars is more than a fan clutch till you get then installed.

 

yeah i know i can get the clutch cheaper...but.. really the way it is i can tow most stuff as long as i dont lean on the throttle to far. i'm just going to be towing here this weekend 1500 miles...so.. i'll just pull the wire crap out of the clutch and make it solid for the trip. my mechanic buddy told me about doing that.

 

I put electric fans on my trucks for less then $100 bucks each. what year truck are you driving? what you need to do if its an 80's or 90's truck, what you need to do is go to the junkyard and get an electric fan and shroudfrom a 90's crown victoria/ grand marquis, not all of them have electric fans though. go to jegs and get an electric fan wiring kit, its $50 but its very easy to install. all you need to do is mod the shroud somewhat, screw the top side into the rad brace where the vent line is bolted on, the bottom clips on. it's cheap and easy, you can do it in an after noon. the best part is that you don't need to use one of those stupid a$$ rad hose bulbs, its a screw in sensor. pm me for more details and pictures. my "77 ford i used dual 2speed fans from a chrysler. very simple, reliable either way, and you know the oem fans will last, if they do crap out, another one from the pick a part is only $20

 

How come everyone (well almost) says don't use an electric fan(s) on a diesel but it's OK on a gasser?
My 2-IDIs and my Cummins run WAY cooler than any of my gas rigs do. They CONSISTENTLY run cooler too, hardly any variation at all between winter and summer and A/C or not. Even towing it barely moves.
I'm not asking this sarcastically I really want to know why.
One way of looking at it is that the factory clutch fans do such a good job that that's why they run cool.
The other side is my gassers run hotter and an electric is supposedly OK so why not the diesels?
The Cummins engineers say not to use an electric fan(s).
I've always heard there is enough wind velocity and flow at highway speeds that the fan actually is a hinderence to airflow.

 

It ain't no temperature issue, tis a heat flow issue - the IDI diesels makes LOTS more heat than a regular gasser does. I used to have a hopped-up 350 with a small V6 radiator in my '79 C10 Chevy, no shroud either, it never overheated even in stop and go traffic or idling in gear for prolonged times. My diesel on the other hand will easily get hot (not overheat, just get hot) if I have to leave it idling for even 5 minutes on a hot day. A regular aftermarket fan designed for a gasser would not move enough airflow to keep the diesel cool. Two fans may be enough, but tis still a bit risky if towing. Now the good news - Ford already gave us some great OEM fans, the 3.8 V6 Taurus fan pulls like 4200 cfm on its high settings, and then there's the Lincoln Mark VIII beats with 4800 cfm. Two of those, with their shrouds and all, should have no issue keeping a diesel cool, with the A/C running and in a gridlock as well.

Oh yeah, I solved my cooling issue last week - locked the fan to the water pump, some folks just pin the clutch but I was a bit worried about the thing unscrewing itself and flying out due to the inertia when the engine shuts off, so I made some 1/16"-thick steel brackets and used the bolts for the fan blade and those for the water pump - I got 4 brackets there and they are more than sufficient, but I'm adding another one tonight or tomorrow, just to be on the safe side. Truck stays nice and cool now, no matter how long I have it idling in gear with no motion of the wheels.

 

I run dual flex-lite fans on my 7.3 idi and it runs a consist 200-208 on the highway empty. During the winter time i ddnt even run a fan of any sort and it only hit 205 on the highway. i ordered my fans from summit racing, they had universal fan kits tat use dual 14 inch fans (straight blades) tat push or pull 5500CFMS and it comes with a shroud. the only problem i encountered was i had to remove my ram air intakes to fit the shroud brackets because it was so wide. But the whole package fits pretty good and it ony draws 32 AMPS!! it's also a variable speed setup. its self controlled. it runs at 60% capacity then when it reaches a preset temp it runs at 100%. Been good so far with every thing i put it through, but i havent been able to tow anything to heavy yet. the kit said dont tow anything more then 18,000 gvw.....or something like tat.

 

Snowman, just as a reference - we pulled a buddy's fan off completely once, then fired up the truck and took it on the freeway - thing stayed nice and cool all the time, vehicle speed was about 65mph. Once we decided to go back and took the off ramp and slowed down temperature started climbing, but at 25mph it still had enough airflow through the radiator to keep the needle from going past the top end of the "NORMAL" range of the gauge. Freak of nature - maybe, dunno, it was a 6.9 engine in an '80s F350.

 

I was actually wondering what would happen if some one were to try and remove the fan altogether. I can't help but wonder what advantages there might be from a fuel efficiency standpoint.

 

Dunno, if you do try to pull off a stunt like that you better be running empty, with very light throttle, at high speed. So even tho it works, tis practically useless.