brian89
New member
I recently had a fan clutch stick on, on my truck, debating on getting an electric fan but is it worth the extra $300-400?
advantage of electric fans
- Thread starter brian89
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jkidd_39
Member
You can't tow heavy on them and reliability is debatable. And they don't flow anywhere near the air of a stock fan set up
02BigD
New member
In 7 or 8 years on the forums, I have a difficult time of ever rembering someone happy with electric fans.
brian89
New member
I don't normally tow heavy, MAYBE once a year, still not worth the extra scratch tho?
strokin'_tatsch
Member
I'm running the Flex-a-lite setup in my truck. Now that I got the temp probe mounted in the upper radiator hose, I like them a lot better.
I got my fans used off a friend of mine. They were 5 or 6 years old when I got them. I had to replace one fan blade that was stripped out, the VSC, and I recently set up the temp probe in the upper radiator hose. Temps stay about the same as they were with the old mechanical fan. I've only pulled 12k with them and they worked just fine. I don't really watch coolant temp, but oil temp on that trip got up to 218* for a little bit cruising at 75mph and once i slowed down to 65mph temps settled in between 210-212*. I pulled some hills on that trip, but no crazy hills that went on and on for miles on end. Just normal Texas hill country rolling hills.. Up hill, then down hill, then back up hill all the time.
I changed the VSC and fan blade when I first got them. I've run them for a year and a half and only changed the temp probe because I suspected they were turning off while cruising down the road with the air moving over the temp probe in the radiator fins. So far I'm very happy with them.
Worth $600? Probably not to most people. I guess it depends on why you're doing them. I did them just to prove once and for all whether they work or not rather than just hearing people say they won't work when they haven't tried them. I went through the trouble to convert my OBS to an SD radiator just to be able to run these fans and I don't regret it one bit. I won't be going back to a mechanical setup for how I use this truck. If I towed 20k, I probably wouldn't try them. I didn't really notice any power difference like some people want to think they'll gain by switching to e-fans, but that doesn't hurt my feelings. It does seem a tiny bit more responsive off idle, but nothing to get excited about. It runs just like it always did when the fan clutch wasn't engaged. My truck did drag down a lot when the fan clutch did engage though, so I don't have to put up with that. It's just like driving any other truck, but there's no fan clutch to engage and drag the engine down a bit. Hope that makes sense and hope it helps your decision.
I got my fans used off a friend of mine. They were 5 or 6 years old when I got them. I had to replace one fan blade that was stripped out, the VSC, and I recently set up the temp probe in the upper radiator hose. Temps stay about the same as they were with the old mechanical fan. I've only pulled 12k with them and they worked just fine. I don't really watch coolant temp, but oil temp on that trip got up to 218* for a little bit cruising at 75mph and once i slowed down to 65mph temps settled in between 210-212*. I pulled some hills on that trip, but no crazy hills that went on and on for miles on end. Just normal Texas hill country rolling hills.. Up hill, then down hill, then back up hill all the time.
I changed the VSC and fan blade when I first got them. I've run them for a year and a half and only changed the temp probe because I suspected they were turning off while cruising down the road with the air moving over the temp probe in the radiator fins. So far I'm very happy with them.
Worth $600? Probably not to most people. I guess it depends on why you're doing them. I did them just to prove once and for all whether they work or not rather than just hearing people say they won't work when they haven't tried them. I went through the trouble to convert my OBS to an SD radiator just to be able to run these fans and I don't regret it one bit. I won't be going back to a mechanical setup for how I use this truck. If I towed 20k, I probably wouldn't try them. I didn't really notice any power difference like some people want to think they'll gain by switching to e-fans, but that doesn't hurt my feelings. It does seem a tiny bit more responsive off idle, but nothing to get excited about. It runs just like it always did when the fan clutch wasn't engaged. My truck did drag down a lot when the fan clutch did engage though, so I don't have to put up with that. It's just like driving any other truck, but there's no fan clutch to engage and drag the engine down a bit. Hope that makes sense and hope it helps your decision.
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Powersmoker
New member
Waste
strokin'_tatsch
Member
Have any of y'all run them? Might be a waste for a truck towing 20k+, not sure, but mine have been great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
I have gone and picked up a truck twice that had them... The truck ran better with the fans removed then with them on and non functioning...
There is not a damn thing wrong with the factory fan.
strokin'_tatsch
Member
Right on. Kinda weird he had to be picked up when the fans failed. When I installed mine and the VSC was bad, I drove it for a few days in the 100* heat with them installed and not working. It didn't overheat at all. I guess some work OK and others don't.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Shaw
New member
For what its worth, Ive been running no fan for a couple years. Ive been meaning to put the fan set up from a Taurus in but havn't ever gotten to it.
Problems I've seen are,
- A/C doesn't work when sitting
- transmission gets a little hot when loaded and going slow. Im guessing this is due to the external cooler not getting air moved thru it. Trany got up to 235ish the other day when I was pulling hay out of the fields. That was 13 5'x5' bales so I was loaded pretty heavy. Once I got moving it dropped back down to 200ish. It was a little over 90 outside and im running a 203 t-stat.
Problems I've seen are,
- A/C doesn't work when sitting
- transmission gets a little hot when loaded and going slow. Im guessing this is due to the external cooler not getting air moved thru it. Trany got up to 235ish the other day when I was pulling hay out of the fields. That was 13 5'x5' bales so I was loaded pretty heavy. Once I got moving it dropped back down to 200ish. It was a little over 90 outside and im running a 203 t-stat.
Lethalthreat7.3
New member
I have an electric fan from a Lexus mounted between the condenser and intercooler. Cost me $40 from the junkyard and a $8 switch to manually control it(cold weather). I still have the stock fan clutch setup for a backup and its only engaged once on a 102* day at 6500ft pulling a loaded car trailer.
Drops coolant temp, A.C runs great at idle and drops egt's about 125*-150*
Drops coolant temp, A.C runs great at idle and drops egt's about 125*-150*
