Electric fans

dbunn · May 9, 2005

Has anyone replaced their engine driven fan with an aftermarket electric to free up horsepower? My concern was with overheating issues. Any one with experience on this one or an opinion?

Geez - I have not spent much time under the hood of my 04. I hope it still has an engine driven fan or this post is going to be a little ridiculous.

Thank you in advance.

mcreyaufmiller · May 9, 2005

My step-father put a electric fan on his diesel and during the winter while he was plowing , he had to stop and take it off because it caused the truck to never reach temp. Just a piece of info.

Friz · May 9, 2005

I've never done it, but from the majority of people here posting about it, it seems to be okay unless you tow. Under load, the electrics just can't keep up.

MyBigToy · May 10, 2005

05 was the first year for the factory electic fans.

I've got the Flex-A-Lites and they work great and man do they move a lot of air. Once they come on the temperature never moves from 195. I could also tell a pretty good difference in horsepower; it seems like the engine spins up a lot easier since the weight of the clutch is off the front of the engine. It also frees up a lot of space under the hood.

weissmj · May 11, 2005

I just installed my Flex-A-Lite model 290 on my 2500HD. Besides it moving as much air if not more than my stock fan, I wired it to be turned on by both the Temperature sensor as well as manual switch on the dash (I used the Fog Lamp switch since I don't have fog lamps!).

I plan on towing with this next month up to Big Bear (it's about a 20 mile climb from 1000' to 6500'). In the past, my tranny tends to run too hot because the mechanical fan isn't running long enough to pull the air across the tranny cooler consistently. A couple of weeks ago I went up the conejo grade (it's a6% grade) and cruzed up at45 mph with the tach at 2800 rpm. the tranny was cool all the way up.

I switched because I can control the airflow on the radiator and tranny cooler before it gets too hot!

As I drive to and from work, only once has the fan switched on in traffic. I thought it was strange, but my gauges are at 195, and when it get's hotter, it kicked on and it dropped right away.

the kit's not cheap, but it's well designed, has a manual over-ride and you can vary the temperature to kick on.

Ask me after july the 4th and I'll let you know whether or not it was a great investment or not!

In the mean time,I'm looking to find out what the part number is for the bed lamp on my 2500hd? anybody know....

j

dbunn · May 12, 2005

Thanks for your input guys. I am looking forward to seeing how it handles after the fourth. Good idea about wiring it for manual as well as ignition. I know the instructions show an either or scenario, but having both could be handy.

XFORD · May 12, 2005

How much are you all talking on this Flex-A-Lite? I have a 2002 6.0 and am looking at any way to increase HP, but not alot of $$.

Indy · May 13, 2005

How much are you all talking on this Flex-A-Lite? I have a 2002 6.0 and am looking at any way to increase HP, but not alot of $$.

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They're not cheap, around $400.00.

weissmj · May 13, 2005

Xford, everybody has a reason for switching from machanical to electrical fans. Of all the threads I've read, it seems that you're trading your load. If you take your mechanical fan off, you're saving say 10 HP of direct load from your crank, but to drive the fans (when they are on) you have an offset of 10HP for your alternator.

But... if you're engine is warm/hot, but not over the sensor's trigger temperature, you're saving the 10 HP, plus, when the fans kick on, they will load pull the amps from your battery which your alternator will replace, but only until the sensor turns off the fan.

If you're driving at 40mph or higher, chances are the fan won't kick on at all because there is enough airflow to cool the radiator because the air is pushed through. Again, saving the 10HP.

For me it was a way to increase the airflow across my tranny cooler & radiator at slow speeds winding up a mountain.

If you're goal is to increase the HP for a quick race, then you could shut down the fans altogether with a relay and you'd have the 10HP for the duration of the run, but it would need to be turned back on afterwards to cool the engine back down.

In any case it's not a cheap upgrade (about 400.00) plus the time to install it.

KurtMcMouth · May 13, 2005

Heck, I gotta believe installing a K&N FIPK or comporable intake would give you more than 10hp gain, and cost less.

Seems to me the real reason for this is to keep the tranny cool. That's certainly my interest in the thread.

Freyguy · May 13, 2005

The 05's come with electric fans. There are some places selling them for $220 plus shipping. I saw some threads on the LS1Tech board about them. They said there are two fans, a large one and a smaller one. Not sure why. It seems to be a good upgrade for that price.

dbunn · May 17, 2005

Ok - Thanks everyone. I have had some assistance through TXdoc linking me to some other links and another forum. It ended up being very informative and somewhat confusing at the same time.

I have decided that when I do make the switch I will purchase the OEM 05 electric fan assembly or piece it together. Depending on where you order it will be either ordering the seperate parts to make up the assembly or one place sells it already assembled for a really good price.

After talking to Lyndon today about a wiring harness, thermostats, PCM programming for the fan - I decided that the smartest thing to do was to do it via the PCM instead of with the flex fan. I am hearing alot of complaints out there about the controller that comes with the flexalite.

It looks like I may wait a while though because the shipping from places like gmpartsdirect and EADS performance really chips away at the savings since I am up here in Alaska. May be moving in less than a year. Plus I just got my PCM back from Wester's. I was not aware of the ability of Lyndon to activate the appropriate pin from the PCM nor was I contemplating the idea of an electric fan until a week ago.

By the way - Lyndon said that he will be producing wiring harnesses to make this mod from the PCM to the back of the fan motor (that includes the pigtails on the back of the electric motor for the fan).

Let me know if anyone would like the links that TXDoc hooked me up with and I wll send them to you.

Or I may just post them on here soon. I need to organize my favorites anyways.

seanp1 · May 24, 2005

Hey dbunn,

Can you post the links to the other forum regarding the Efans? I'd like to bone up on the subject.

Thanks,

Sean

dbunn · May 26, 2005

Yes - I will. I am working overnight and the links are on the home computer. I will post them tomorrow.

GroceryGetter99 · January 18, 2007

Have you gents heard of the Ford Taurus efan swap? I am currently gathering parts for my swap and have since invested $40 on (2) dual speed efans from a few v6 ford taurus. I am looking at most spending another $100 for heavy duty relays, 8 gauge wire, and a temp sensor. I can not take credit for the idea, but the link i posted below has not worked recently and the whole offroad-tech website seems to be down. If you do a google search there are quite a variety of vehicles using these fans for their dual speeds and cheap price. This is just an idea if you are willing to do some legwork instead of spend the hard earned green. I have complied some notes over the last week or so in my free time how to wire these up safely to the A/C compressor (as a high speed trigger) without damage and a few ideas for heavy duty relays if you need some assistance.

http://www.offroad-tech.com/forum/showthre...ighlight=taurus