Well the boss called in sick today and we are open 8am-9pm so I came home before dinner and picked up the Mav. Took her back to work with the electric fan and hardware in the trunk. Worked on it from 6-8:30 and shes all done and running. It fit and works better than I expected. Fan is out of a 06 Jeep Liberty. Perfect width and height for the stock rad. Took some trimming with the cut off wheel that I did a while back as a rough fit. Finished a bit of trimming and made the mounts. Just had to open up the factory holes on the fan to line up with the factory rad. Used some AC aluminum line for the mounts. It lined up great with the rad. Just added 4 speed clips to the factory rad holes and used the bits off AC tube as spacers. The controller is from Carquest. Fully adjustable with a fin sensor. The adjustment is very accurate. I have it set to come on at 198 and at idle it drops down to 187 and turns off in about 45 seconds. Current draw is about 21 amps with a very quick on spike up to about 41 on start up. The start up spike is about half a second if that, so it doesnt bother the 30 amp in line fuse. The alternator seems to keep up with the draw fairly well. With the headlights and blower on the voltage drops to around 12.6 at idle when the fan comes on. Not bad but it will get the alternator upgrade eventually when I stumble upon one. Also want to install the serp. belt and pulleys at the same time. I may turn up the on temp a few degrees. I have an LED to install in line so I know when the fan comes on while driving. I think it will help me tune the fan a bit. Finished off the night with a nice big burn out across the back of the dealership after the customers left. Our staff wanted to see what it could do. Most of them have no idea how quick these little cars can be, they think a 5.7 Hemi car is a rocket. I'm really happy I finally got this done. Its been drving me crazy looking at that flex fan. Pics to come later tonight. I need to eat my pizza and flop in the pool for a bit. Long day but a good one. Heres a few quick pics. Still have to clean it up a bit but i can do that here at home. Going to paint that shiny hardware black and tidy the wiring at the controller a bit with loom.
really nice. sure is close to the water pump shaft. too bad the salvage yards are full of libertys like they are with tauruses. i found that running a fuse just under the amparge spike level doesnt work very long. the spikes fatigue the fuse and eventually it will give up the ghost.
Good to know. Was wondering about that one. I'll up the fuse. Just checked the factory wiring diagram and the Liberty uses a 40a fuse so I'll do the same. Have about an inch or so to the water pump. Its a pretty beefy fan. Moves an awful lot of air. Your right not many junk Libertys kicking around. I got this one from work. I've been measuring vehicles I worked on and the Liberty is dead on. Price was right so I used it.
I got my Taurus fan from a parts store, new. you shouild be able to get the Liberty one also....just need the info from the Jeep...motor size, year, make, model...etc. etc ......
Nice job Darren! The liberty fan looks like it belongs in there. Hmm I have a dead liberty sitting here...Wonder if the fan is any good... Need one for the blue Mav
Looks like an awesome fit!! What's the cost on those fans new? 2008-2009?? I like the looks of it! Thanks for the info!
You could use a breaker. I just personally prefer fuses in my car. I just stopped in at Carquest and grabbed a couple of 40A ATO fuses. Gave me the box no charge. I love those guys.
Why do you have it turn on at such a high temp? I would reset the "on" temp at closer to 180F. The thermostat will keep it hot enough and the fan doesn't have to play "catch-up".
Then the fan stays on too much. Its off point is about 11 degrees below on temp. It cycles nicely at this temp. The Hayden instructions say to have it set to turn on when the stat opens. I see what your getting at Paul and the train of thought your on but the fan runs too long after the initial warm up cycle. Once the stat opens the first time the rad stays well above 180 so the fan would never turn off. The whole idea with the electric is to cycle on and off to maintain a temperature window. If I set the on temp at 180 the electric would run even when the car was at speed and likely doesnt need the fan on. Of course the set point would vary depending on the engine set up. My car runs very well and efficient around the 195-200 mark. A lot of guys with electrics have them set up to basically stay on. Its not necessary if your cooling system is up to snuff and the fan and shroud do the job they should. For example this is how my fan runs right now at idle. The engine temp hits around 190,stat opens,rad temp climbs to about 198, fan on, temp drops down to around 187, fan turns off, takes a minute or so to get back up to 198 and start the cycle over. By doing this the fan has quite a bit of off time even at idle. No need to be drawing 21 amps off the charging system with the fan running non stop. Its a waste of HP and fuel.
Darren, I see what you are saying - especially when cruising. My concern is that with the switch set at 190F means that an iron cylinder head will be considerably higher than that temp and could cause preignition or detonation - harming the engine. You know your engine better than anyone and you may be running aluminum heads which would have different characteristics than an iron head. There is a lot more to determining what temp the fan should come on then just a temperature. Compression, head material, cooling characteristics of an engine and driving habits can all play a role in choosing the temp that the switch turns on the fan. It has to be determined for each engine individually to satisfy the specific needs of the driver and his/her engine.
Yep, your right. And this particular engine has always run around the 190-200 mark. No ping, detonation. Its iron heads but only 9.5:1. It runs very well 190-200. I have yet to see the gauge go over 200 even with this killer heat this year. So setting up the fan like I have is just duplicating how its always ran with the mechanical fan. Thats pretty much what I was shooting for. Its a nice engine combo in this car. No hassles. No pinging and no overheating. It loves to be driven and handles the HWY at 3300 rpm no problems and is surprisingly efficient. This electric is great. I have quite a bit of experience with electrics in this trade and how fast temps drop at idle when the fan comes on and this set up seems to work very well for me. The fan drops the rad temp instantly. The heat transfer on the rad is great. I wouldnt mind a nice aluminum rad under the hood but this stock one just works too well to get rid of it. Maybe it will spring a leak or something in the future so I can justify a nice pretty rad. Thanks for your input Paul. Its nice to hear from us old experienced guys on here. Not to say the young guys dont have some good input. Ah gees now I've done it, probably insulted someone.
