Aux fan questions and installation (1 Viewer)

[Epic Ed]

So I've noticed my AC isn't running very cool in traffic or while sitting at a stop light. AC compressor was just replaced and I cleaned the evaporator thoroughly when I was replacing the expansion valve. Did some additional troubleshooting and the aux fan is dead. I ran power directly to the battery to test it, by-passing all the other wiring that takes it through a relay. The fan doesn't run at all. Also noticed this is an aftermarket fan install by the previous owner some time ago and not the OEM fan from the factory. A part number trace looks like this is a 14" TorqFlo from Autozone:

Parts | AutoZone.com

Here's a pic of it mounted in my Cruiser:

Questions:

- Is this a decent aftermarket fan? Price is about $70. Or should I go with a ProComp off of eBay for about $43? Either way the installation looks to be about the same.

- That brings me to the installation question. How in the heck do you push the mounting thingy through the back of the condensor to get it to poke out the front so you can mount the fan? It looks like I'll have to remove the radiator, correct? If so, that's not a project I'm looking forward to. Are there other options for fans that use the factory mounting brackets?

 

[NLXTACY]

I got an OEM used fan for under $60 from SOR and it came with the pigtail. OEM fits in easy and my guess, as you've seen, will last longer. That said you can get some pretty high cfm fans. Much higher than OEM.

If you mount aftermarket you will have those issues. OEM bolts right in. The aftermarket ones I uses to have was a straight zip tie looking thing that went thru the condenser and radiator fins.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

I have a Torqflo cooling my coupe

I think it's a 14" unit

Got it from VatoZone for $39 bucks with my shop discount

Works great for cooling a big 481 BBC Stroker motor in the Florida sun


As for the mounting strips, you might be able to fish them through using mig wire, but I'd say your best bet would be to pull the radiator

Actually, if you're careful and have hands of a surgeon, you can probably cut the locking tabs with an exacto knife and re-use the strips with new tabs

I ended up using an OEM fan on my rig and it just bolted in place

I'd say the Torqflo probably pushes more air than the OEM unit, but it's definitely louder (not that it makes any difference when running open headers lol)

 

[Epic Ed]

Actually, if you're careful and have hands of a surgeon, you can probably cut the locking tabs with an exacto knife and re-use the strips with new tabs

I ended up using an OEM fan on my rig and it just bolted in place

Yeah. Too late for that. lol -- I'm a ham-fisted mongoloid with the patience of a small child. My effort to remove the locking tabs resulted in three broken strips, a lot of cussing, and me yelling "HULK SMASH!!" a few times.

 

[inkpot]

Most of the rigs around here are not running any auxiliary fans, but they are running higher CST silicone fluid in their clutch fan to maximize the entire cooling system. As our rigs are aging, some of us are also finding that we need to flush/replace our radiators, even though they have had good maintenance and the coolant appears to be clean. John

 

[NLXTACY]

Most of the rigs around here are not running any auxiliary fans, but they are running higher CST silicone fluid in their clutch fan to maximize the entire cooling system. As our rigs are aging, some of us are also finding that we need to flush/replace our radiators, even though they have had good maintenance and the coolant appears to be clean. John

I have my exhaust ceramic coated, a complete rebuild head to toe on the motor, brand new radiator, new S/C fan and a 15k cst fan clutch from LANDTANK. I STILL need the aux. fan's help on hot days when in traffic. My temp gets over 220 still. My wife is in Vegas right now and said the Scan Gauge reads 221 with the AC set at 75. Doesn't go past 221 thankfully.

 

[NLXTACY]

Most of the rigs around here are not running any auxiliary fans, but they are running higher CST silicone fluid in their clutch fan to maximize the entire cooling system. As our rigs are aging, some of us are also finding that we need to flush/replace our radiators, even though they have had good maintenance and the coolant appears to be clean. John

I have my exhaust ceramic coated, a complete rebuild head to toe on the motor, brand new radiator, new S/C fan, brand new Toyota green coolant and a 15k cst fan clutch from LANDTANK. I STILL need the aux. fan's help on hot days when in traffic. My temp gets over 220 still. My wife is in Vegas right now and said the Scan Gauge reads 221 with the AC set at 75. Doesn't go past 221 thankfully.

 

[Epic Ed]

Most of the rigs around here are not running any auxiliary fans, but they are running higher CST silicone fluid in their clutch fan to maximize the entire cooling system. As our rigs are aging, some of us are also finding that we need to flush/replace our radiators, even though they have had good maintenance and the coolant appears to be clean. John

No dice in mine. I did the blue fan clutch mod a few years ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure you were there. lol. It was one of the group wrenching days at somebody's garage. Kevin helped with getting the right fluid resistance/weight so I'm sure it was done right. Radiator is also relatively new with good fluid. It's been running warm at idle for years and I always figured it was just due to some maintenance stuff I needed to do on the AC system but I just recently replaced the compressor, expansion valve, and dryer, and cleaned the evaporator. Pretty much all that's left to improve is the aux fan. In this case I found out it wasn't working at all, and my guess is it probably hadn't been for years.

 

[inkpot]

No dice in mine. I did the blue fan clutch mod a few years ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure you were there. lol. It was one of the group wrenching days at somebody's garage. Kevin helped with getting the right fluid resistance/weight so I'm sure it was done right. Radiator is also relatively new with good fluid. It's been running warm at idle for years and I always figured it was just due to some maintenance stuff I needed to do on the AC system but I just recently replaced the compressor, expansion valve, and dryer, and cleaned the evaporator. Pretty much all that's left to improve is the aux fan. In this case I found out it wasn't working at all, and my guess is it probably hadn't been for years.

While I do have the JDM fan, I only put in on during extended periods of low rpm, like bad traffic. Even then the improvement is subtle, and I see no benefit from it at all at higher speeds where the engine is staying about 2000 rpm. We just had a couple of 110+ days, and the highest I saw in bad traffic on my ScanGauge was usually 207, with one spike to 211. I am planning on doing either an acid flush, since my plastic radiator has never been out, or swapping in a copper cored one to see if it really makes any difference. John

 

[Epic Ed]

Yeah, my problem is exclusively at low speeds. I was 4Wheeling for several hours recently -- all obviously at low speeds -- at the Cruiser started to overheat since I had been running the AC the whole time. It was then I noticed the aux fan wasn't running at all, and it's likely the culprit behind my poor AC performance in rush hour traffic.

 

[inkpot]

I have my exhaust ceramic coated, a complete rebuild head to toe on the motor, brand new radiator, new S/C fan, brand new Toyota green coolant and a 15k cst fan clutch from LANDTANK. I STILL need the aux. fan's help on hot days when in traffic. My temp gets over 220 still. My wife is in Vegas right now and said the Scan Gauge reads 221 with the AC set at 75. Doesn't go past 221 thankfully.

If your still running the blue clutch with 15000, you may want to try taking it up a ways. I am at 24000, and I am thinking seriously about switching to 30000, as several Mudders have reported doing this with no negative issues. What kind of Intake Air temps are you seeing? Have you got hood vents? Have you done your IC yet? I am curious if anyone gets some hard data on engine coolant, intake, or EGT before and after these mods. John

 

[NLXTACY]

If your still running the blue clutch with 15000, you may want to try taking it up a ways. I am at 24000, and I am thinking seriously about switching to 30000, as several Mudders have reported doing this with no negative issues. What kind of Intake Air temps are you seeing? Have you got hood vents? Have you done your IC yet? I am curious if anyone gets some hard data on engine coolant, intake, or EGT before and after these mods. John

Sheesh at 30k cst might as well drill it out and stuff sand it

I may get another one from LANDTANK.

I don't know what AI temps my wife is seeing, I will ask. Hood vents are in, forgot about those. I have not installed the InterCooler as I haven't installed the rest of the S/C yet. I wanted to get more miles on it. I have not done the EGT mods yet.

 

[Epic Ed]

I wouldn't mind changing the fluid viscosity. Problem is, I don't remember what it was when we first put it in. 15K sounds about right but I'm having a hard time recalling -- it was back in May of 2007. If I do I'm going to have to dig up threads for removing the fan clutch. I seem to recall it wasn't too much of a PITA, and while I have it off that would make it really easy to thread the attachment for the cheaper aux fans like a ProComp or another TorqFlo.

**Oh, and what is "IC"? Not sure if I've done it or not.

 

[cartercd]

I was able to use the mounting points on my auxiliary fan to tie into 4 points on the condenser/grille support structure. I had to fabricate a few short extensions from 1/8 steel in order to bridge a few gaps. I did not use any of the zip ties that go through the condenser.

 

[Epic Ed]

Sweet. Is that the ProComp fan? What kind of horns are those?

 

[NLXTACY]

*Oh, and what is "IC"? Not sure if I've done it or not.

Intercooler

 

[cartercd]

It's a Derale Tornado fan. My aux fan is triggered by the A/C pressure switch. I also have the blue fan clutch with higher cst fluid and a new Koyo aluminum radiator.

The horns are Fiam - a popular mod for the wimpy OEM horn.

 

[Tools R Us]

No dice in mine. I did the blue fan clutch mod a few years ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure you were there. lol. It was one of the group wrenching days at somebody's garage. Kevin helped with getting the right fluid resistance/weight so I'm sure it was done right. Radiator is also relatively new with good fluid. It's been running warm at idle for years and I always figured it was just due to some maintenance stuff I needed to do on the AC system but I just recently replaced the compressor, expansion valve, and dryer, and cleaned the evaporator. Pretty much all that's left to improve is the aux fan. In this case I found out it wasn't working at all, and my guess is it probably hadn't been for years.

I wouldn't mind changing the fluid viscosity. Problem is, I don't remember what it was when we first put it in. 15K sounds about right but I'm having a hard time recalling -- it was back in May of 2007. If I do I'm going to have to dig up threads for removing the fan clutch. I seem to recall it wasn't too much of a PITA, and while I have it off that would make it really easy to thread the attachment for the cheaper aux fans like a ProComp or another TorqFlo.

**Oh, and what is "IC"? Not sure if I've done it or not.

Yep, at the TruckWerks wrenching day? That was early in the fan clutch learning curve. IIRC the highest viscosity that day was 10K and most of the clutches done that day, have been redone, upgraded to higher viscosity. They were done in a hurry, possibly not fully drained and have since learned that thicker fluid has benefit in our climate.

The blue hub is a relatively wimpy clutch, doesn't respond as well as the others to viscosity upgrade. So for our climate, I wouldn't put less than 20K in the newer type blue hub.

The fluid in my clutch was filled the year before, is getting weak, so have found the life of that fluid, at least one data point? At that time I was using Clearco Fluid, good stuff, but now use stuff that is reported to be better, from Dow Corning. It is claimed to be the best for the application by a couple of PHD chemist acquaintances, but they are likely biased, both retired from Dow Silicone.

 

[Epic Ed]

OK -- good to know. So that is probably a worthwhile maintenance item at this point, anyways. Is that fluid hard to obtain, or only sold in 50 gallon drums? If not, got a link to where to buy? What viscosity are you going to put in when you replace yours?

 

[Tools R Us]

... Also noticed this is an aftermarket fan install by the previous owner some time ago and not the OEM fan from the factory. A part number trace looks like this is a 14" TorqFlo from Autozone: ...

IIRC, that was the fan that I bought for my rig, after working over the clutch, decided it wasn't needed and sold it? Those were made by Derale, a relatively good aftermarket fan. The newer vatozone fans that I have seen are no longer made by Derale, look to be lesser quality?

You don't have the cooling system crippling mod (S/C)? I would tune the clutch and kick the crutch, wimpy pusher fan to the curb. IMHO, they are not that reliable and aren't needed.