Viscous coupling dead, what about an electric fan conversion

[Morat]

As the title says, my viscous fan coupling has failed (as confirmed by the garage) and I'm just wondering how involved the electric fan conversion would be... the engine is completely standard otherwise - apart from my shiny new intake boot of course I'd really be interested in eliminating a weak spot rather than power gains,

Cheers
Morat

[kidsinister]

There's different ways of doing this, but I know of one guy who installed one of these and just had a switch under the dash for heavy traffic - got to keep an eye on the temp guage though!

Also, you can have one with a sensor which goes into the top hose, but I don't think they're too big a job whichever you get. Might have a go at this myself, too.

[andymn]

i have just had one fitted....a kenlowe that is wired into the ignition......sounds like its goin to take off...lol

but keeps it nice an cool

[gcorky]

i have just had one fitted....a kenlowe that is wired into the ignition......sounds like its goin to take off...lol

but keeps it nice an cool

andy lol,its not wired into ignition its relayed......dont think the ign circuits would power these monster kenlows....


andys is fitted direct to front of rad as blower,and wiring is ign pos fed to relay circuit....did give him option of switch/thermo switch for auto running.

[lukeb]

hi there, mines just failed (again!)

any chance of a bit more detail regarding the wiring up of such fans? ie where to take power from and what switch rating to use etc etc.

thanks

[Demlotcrew]

If you guys do a search you will find lots of different ways to do this with wiring diagrams

Andrew

[ed325i]

Click here .>>> http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... t=elec+fan

ED

[DanThe]

If anyone doing this hasnt got the plug in the side of the rad for the thermo switch then you can fit the switch in the top hose like this


If you want one of these adapters making up just PM me

[DanThe]

Heres one I made earlier



£10 inc post

[gareth]

my M30 has the switch fitted in the theromostat housing (rad side) and works fine. not sure if the M20 has a spare port for this though...

[Brianmoooore]

m not sure if the M20 has a spare port for this though...

OE rads just have the position marked on the rad, but replacement ones seem to be fitted with a boss and brass plug.

[Jhonno]

what does the blanking plug look like?

[buster]

when i had my 325 engine in i just put a series 2 rs turbo fan on.Got it cheap from the scrappie and just fitted it infront of the rad.Worked really good and was really quiet.



the fan was £15,kenlowe's are expensive.Sill got it attached to the radiator (which is really good condition) if anyones after one.

[Gwynleym10]

arn't rs2 fans made by kenlowe?

also Audi air con fans that site in front of the rad are good

Loads on ebay pretty cheap

[ed325i]

If anyone doing this hasnt got the plug in the side of the rad for the thermo switch then you can fit the switch in the top hose like this


If you want one of these adapters making up just PM me

I was told to put mine in the bottom hose I think this is because the water will be cooler once it has been through the rad. I think this is crap and put mine in the top hose but having said that the thermo switchs are normal mounted in the rad the bottom hose side.

ED

[buster]

no it has to go in the top hose as thats where its hottest.When it comes out the bottom hose its been cooled

[Gwynleym10]

no it has to go in the top hose as thats where its hottest.When it comes out the bottom hose its been cooled

But surely the water in the top hose is similar temp all the time?

Water in the bottom hose is taking the temperature of whats in the rad.

To me if the fan is taking temp from the top hose, it will be on far to much.

When its plugged into the bottom hose, the fan will only come on when the radiator isn't working properly, ie when your stuck in traffic and there is no flow going through the rad. This is when you want the fan to switch on.


Oh and the aftermarket rads with the connections for temp sensors are at the bottom of the radiator.

[ed325i]

no it has to go in the top hose as thats where its hottest.When it comes out the bottom hose its been cooled

But surely the water in the top hose is similar temp all the time?

Water in the bottom hose is taking the temperature of whats in the rad.

To me if the fan is taking temp from the top hose, it will be on far to much.

When its plugged into the bottom hose, the fan will only come on when the radiator isn't working properly, ie when your stuck in traffic and there is no flow going through the rad. This is when you want the fan to switch on.




Oh and the aftermarket rads with the connections for temp sensors are at the bottom of the radiator.

Yes this is what I mean. My brother has just built a kit car and they recomend putting it in the bottom hose.

ED

[buster]

ok so boiling water is coming out the head and into the rad.
But because its cooled before it gets to the temp sender it doesnt come on until its too late.
The temp switch needs to be switching on as soon as it detects too hot,IE before it gets to the rad.otherwise over heat.
Also on my rad the temp sender is near the top of the rad.

[DanThe]

Yep, all the rads ive seen have temp sensors at the top on the side, the bottom hose is at the bottom of the rad because thats where the coldest water is thats about to go back into the engine

[Brianmoooore]

Engine temperature is determined by the engine thermostat, which modulates the flow of water to the rad to keep the engine at the correct operating temperature, as determined by its designers.
If the water coming to the rad exceeds the engine thermostat's value, then it means that the radiator is not able to remove as much energy from the water that the engine is adding to it, and needs help from the fan. Therefore the correct place for the stat for the electric fan is in the top (hottest part) of the rad, as the correct BMW switch is, or, failing that, in the top hose.
The fan stat should be set a few degrees higher than the engine stat.