4:32 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline
My Jeep's gone electric. Well sort of. Saturday I installed Flex-A-Lite's electric radiator fan on the Jeep. It fit well and included all the necessary parts. I haven't driven it much since I installed it, but it seems to work well. I'll know more this summer.
My reason for switching from the engine driven fan to the electric fan is that my TJ tends to run hot or even overheat when idling with the a/c running during hot weather. Its never run hot when moving though. I figure it's an air flow problem caused by my large transmission cooler and the engine skid plate closing up the bottom of the engine compartment. I think the engine driven fan, at idle, just wasn't able to flow enough air to keep things cool enough. The Flex-A-Lite fan is rated at flowing 3300 cfm so that should help.
4:48 pm
January 7, 2003
Offline I guess you didn't have room to put a pusher fan in the front? It sort of scares me to rely on an electric fan, though I have almost gone that route myself.
I just remember back in the day on my brothers pick up when he ran dual electric fans. You knew when you blew a fuse because than temp would climb quick in city traffic. Then again that was 20 years ago and I am sure things are much improved from then and who was to say he had it wired up correctly.
I have a Black Magic fan sitting here if someone else wants to give it a try. I was going to run it on my EB, but didn't have the room.
5:06 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Howdy" wrote: I guess you didn't have room to put a pusher fan in the front? It sort of scares me to rely on an electric fan, though I have almost gone that route myself.
Adding a pusher fan to the mechanical fan would have been the best solution. But there isn't really any room behind the grill to install a pusher fan. My only option would have been to mount it on the outside of the grill but I don't think I'd like the looks of that.
Thinking of what you said about blowing fuses, the kit came with a 40 amp fuse holder. The instructions mentioned a self resetting circuit breaker though. It might not be a bad idea to replace the fuse with a self resetting circuit breaker.
5:08 pm
I did the same thing in the Land Cruiser. I was very happy with the way it worked, but, reliability was always in the back of my mind. I wired it directly to the battery so it would run on a thermostat to cool things down even after I shut the engine off. It would cycle a bit, but it used to get really hot when I shut the motor off. I also had a switch to turn it off when I was crossing deep water or got annoyed listening to it cycle on and off. 😀
Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
5:14 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: I did the same thing in the Land Cruiser. I was very happy with the way it worked, but, reliability was always in the back of my mind. I wired it directly to the battery so it would run on a thermostat to cool things down even after I shut the engine off. It would cycle a bit, but it used to get really hot when I shut the motor off. I also had a switch to turn it off when I was crossing deep water or got annoyed listening to it cycle on and off. 😀
Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
I ran it straight off the battery too. Now it sounds like Teddi's Honda when she shuts it off. Its kind of funny, sometimes the fan isn't running when I first shut off the engine but after sitting for a minute or two the fan will kick on. I may end up putting a switch inside so I can manually turn off the fan. For now I can just go pull the fuse, but if I replace the fuse with a circuit breaker I won't be able to do that.
5:15 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
The packaging and instructions make a big deal about increasing horsepower and torque. 
5:53 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "FAM" wrote: [quote="Bender"]Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
The packaging and instructions make a big deal about increasing horsepower and torque.
More HP and torque! Should you upgrade the brakes to accomodate the improved performance?
6:02 pm
January 7, 2003
Offline "FAM wrote: It might not be a bad idea to replace the fuse with a self resetting circuit breaker.
I have one I no longer use. I used it for a few months when I put a bigger alternator on the EB and used it just incase I got a big spike going through the system it would trip the breaker. Let me check the AMPS and post a pic and if it looks like you can use it its yours.
6:03 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "BKGM Jeepers" wrote: [quote="FAM"][quote="Bender"]Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
The packaging and instructions make a big deal about increasing horsepower and torque.
More HP and torque! Should you upgrade the brakes to accomodate the improved performance?
Funny you should mention brakes. I've got a new master cylinder sitting on the work bench that needs to be installed.
6:24 pm
January 7, 2003
Offline Forget it. As soon as I sent the last reply I knew there was no way my breaker would have been for 40 amps 🙄
Its a 120 amp breaker.
6:28 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Howdy" wrote: Forget it. As soon as I sent the last reply I knew there was no way my breaker would have been for 40 amps 🙄
Its a 120 amp breaker.
That's a big circuit breaker. 😯
Thanks for the thought though.
9:08 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "FAM" wrote: [quote="BKGM Jeepers"][quote="FAM"][quote="Bender"]Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
The packaging and instructions make a big deal about increasing horsepower and torque.
More HP and torque! Should you upgrade the brakes to accomodate the improved performance?
Funny you should mention brakes. I've got a new master cylinder sitting on the work bench that needs to be installed.
I was only joking. What's up with a new master cylinder? Is it better, or is your current one giving you problems?
9:13 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "BKGM Jeepers" wrote: [quote="FAM"][quote="BKGM Jeepers"][quote="FAM"][quote="Bender"]Think of all the horsepower you gained by ditching your old fan!!!!! 😀
The packaging and instructions make a big deal about increasing horsepower and torque.
More HP and torque! Should you upgrade the brakes to accomodate the improved performance?
Funny you should mention brakes. I've got a new master cylinder sitting on the work bench that needs to be installed.
I was only joking. What's up with a new master cylinder? Is it better, or is your current one giving you problems?
A while back I had that temporary partial brake failure while using a corvette master cylinder. I ended up putting on a one ton Chevy truck master cylinder since I already had it. Vanco has used both on their hydroboost units. I prefer the corvette master cylinder. It's got a little smaller bore which translates into a little softer brake pedal with a little more travel.
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