Electric fan upgrade?

[1987cp]

electric fan makes changing the water pump on a 302 infinitely easier... no futzing with the fan bolts before you can get the fan/shroud out of the way. I an seriously considering this.

True, it should make service much more convenient. It certainly looks a lot friendlier, at least with my tiny 3.0L fan in there (see attached).

I haven't noticed any performance or economy difference from the fan and the big radiator ended overheating issues. The fan might have some marginal advantage. Only noticeable difference on these very hot days is when I stop it doesn't and is loud enough so passersby in the supermarket parking lot eye it as if its going to blow up.

Donald McCaig

My wife remarked yesterday "Your car sounds like it's getting ready to take off!" She was around mini airplanes like Aeroncas when she was younger, which I've never been, so possibly the sound is similar?

[sly]

Are they that bad? I have no idea what is actually involved in yanking the fan out.

yes... you need a box-end wrench and cannot use a ratcheting one because there's not enough room. You have to leave the belt on until you get the bolts off and if you have a fan shroud with sharp edges, you gets something (towel, old t-shirt) over it or you cut the hell out of your arms. It took me about 3 hours total time just screwing with the fan bolts (1.5 hours to get it off... same to put it back on). Changing the pump, even removing all the accessories after the fan was out of the way took about 3 hours total. so yeah... just getting rid of the mechanical fan makes servicing anything around the water pump twice as easy if not more so.

[Glen]

I run mine on low, not as loud that way. It holds the temp. between 195 - 200 all the time. Never used a switch, just let the temp. sensor run the thing.

[1990LTD]

aw yeah, found a taurus 3.0 fan - the motor is even out of the car so the fan will be easier to get at. 25 bucks! i'm gonna grab it and install it when i pull everything apart for the HO swap.

[1990LTD]

since I've never even seen the fan yet - How does one know the high/low setting wiring? It's probably written right on the damn thing for all I know.

[1987cp]

You do know that the 3.8L fan is larger, right? I'd probably have held out if I'd realized that to start with (or been smart enough to look up the pics of each on RockAuto that I later posted in WAYWO). Check my pics - the 3.0 fan really is quite small, though Scott says he's seen it work well, at least in conjunction with a Town Car fan shroud that I have no interest in adding.

There are three power leads. Ground on one side, high on the other side, low in the middle. It's pretty obvious, and easy to test in your driveway with test leads and a spare battery. The only trick (on the Taurus fan, anyway) is to make sure the low-speed circuit is shut off when high-speed engages, and that can be done by utilizing the normally-closed (center) position on a SPDT (single-pole-double-throw) relay.

OR, invest in a good variable speed controller like those from DCC and just wire that to the high speed side (check my thread on SBFtech, a good handful of guys strongly recommending some sort of variable controller whether DCC or Flex-A-Lite).

[1990LTD]

Don't think it'll work out well without the fan shroud? I also have no interest in adding it; tracking down a certain town car for it and the stuff to go with it

[FatNasty]

If there happens to be a mark viii in your local junkyard, or even certain years of cougars or t-birds (mid 90's), grab the fan out of that. Way bigger, and moves a ton of air. If not, taurus fan is still good. If you have a temp gauge, and pay attention to it, i'd recommend a manual switch over those flex-a-lite controllers. I had one, and within a couple months, my car got hot, melted the controller into a pool of plastic (and it was properly wired), and severely overheated my engine ultimately causing a head gasket leak and killing it..... I was on a date while driving into the city of course. I don't like those controllers which probe into the radiator either since they don't measure the actual engine temp, just the radiator temp. Need to take a pic of my melted to hell-piece of shit controller for your viewing pleasure....

[1990LTD]

when it gets wired it's going to be on a toggle switch on my dash. thanks man.

[1987cp]

If there happens to be a mark viii in your local junkyard, or even certain years of cougars or t-birds (mid 90's), grab the fan out of that. Way bigger, and moves a ton of air. If not, taurus fan is still good. If you have a temp gauge, and pay attention to it, i'd recommend a manual switch over those flex-a-lite controllers. I had one, and within a couple months, my car got hot, melted the controller into a pool of plastic (and it was properly wired), and severely overheated my engine ultimately causing a head gasket leak and killing it..... I was on a date while driving into the city of course. I don't like those controllers which probe into the radiator either since they don't measure the actual engine temp, just the radiator temp. Need to take a pic of my melted to hell-piece of shit controller for your viewing pleasure....

What particular controller are you speaking of?


And I read an interesting post or two from a guy on a Jeep forum who actually prefers the radiator probe, since it monitors whether the radiator is doing its job adequately rather than how hot the engine is. As it sits, mine runs for a few minutes on low after shutdown, and the engine bay is nice and cool once it's time to start up again.

Incidentally, the $130-$175 variable controllers from DCC also use radiator probes:

Mounting the temperature sensor

Figure 1a shows the Delta temperature probe. Its low mass, high friction housing and high flex multi strand wiring loom provide a fast response time and convenient mounting, requiring no retaining mechanism. Simply insert the probe between the radiator fins and the mounting is complete. Unlike other control systems, the DCC fan control operates most accurately when the temperature is indicated downstream from the cooling fan.

[1990LTD]

nuts to that! 6-7x the price of the fan for a controller. a bigass relay, a switch, and some wire will probably set me back another 25 so 50 all told for the parts. probably works great, though. would be hassle-free not having to turn it on once you turned the motor over

[1987cp]

Well, like I said, the Compressor Works 733653 (though it said "Torqflo" on the packaging) adjustable thermal switch I'm using now controls only one speed at a cost of $18 US. My goal for the initial stage was to keep costs down so that I can better manage getting a real controller at some point in the future. Total investment at this point is around $70, including $25 for the big Windstar fuse box.

I think I may need to upgrade the relays, though ... the F0AB-14B192-AA (4259B4) wired for SPDT seems to have quit relaying. No biggie, I'm sure the one I'm using for the horn is rated higher. :p

[FatNasty]

What particular controller are you speaking of?

It was this pile of crap here

[1987cp]

Total investment at this point is around $70, including $25 for the big Windstar fuse box.

To this add $7 for a new relay..... reason being ....

I think I may need to upgrade the relays, though ... the F0AB-14B192-AA (4259B4) wired for SPDT seems to have quit relaying. No biggie, I'm sure the one I'm using for the horn is rated higher. :p

Turns out the stock Windstar relays are all rated for 20A on the NC terminal and 30A on the NO. In my case, I found that I already had a 30/40 SPDT being underutilized as a lousy horn relay, so I grabbed that to switch my high speed and bought a 40A SPST to switch the whole thing on and off.

It was this pile of crap here

Interesting. More motivation to avoid Hayden products, I suppose. Good thing the guys on that other site set my sights on the DCC controller instead ... it costs more, but replacing dead controllers would eat up a chunk of the same money anyway.

[Glen]

Why are you guys making this so hard? All I did was get a fan from the junk yard, cut the wire before the plug (6"). That way I can just unplug the fan and replace it if I have to. I used 2 "L" brackets to hold the top of the fan in place, the bottom fit in the brackets on the rad. I used the Compressor Works 733653 controller (1 wire in, 1 wire out), put the radiator probe as close to the top hose as I could. It stays in place never falls out or moves. The relay I use is the one Ford used for the A/C cut out, it works fine. The fuse box is a cheapy from Auto Zone ($6), holds all the fuses I need for the fan and headlights. I wired it to run on LOW speed, it comes on at 200-205 goes off at 190-195. Doesn't sound like a airplane. The car has never over heated (even when the A/C worked) and it has been in the high 90's. I don't have a switch inside the car, never needed it. The whole thing uses 5 feet of wire, 5 self tapping screws, 1 fuse, 1 relay, and cost about $40.00. Nothing to it!