I've almost got my self talked into installing a electric fan on my 93 4 runner 3.0,
Any advice on brands,models etc. also any input on advantages / disadvantiges would be greatly apreciated.

 

Taurus fan with 85 amp solenoid

 

Advantages
Less drag on the motor means more power
Better mpg
Quieter

Disadvantages
Uses power so you might want to upgrade your alternator
I dont think electric fans provide as much cooling power as the stock fan

 

If your going to go electric do it the correct way.

Are you also going to a electric water pump??

you want to have a thermostat control the power . I have seen so many with just a switch .

Common problems forget to turn it on !! You notice the temp gauge when the smoke pours out from under the hood.

forget to turn it off come back to start the car in the morning to a dead battery.

Unless you have a clearance problem from a engine swap I can see no real reason to go this way.

I have pulled electric fans off a few vehicles and have gone back to stock.

As far as losing power maybe in a drag car trying to shave off a 100th of a second more.

noise I doubt most people can even hear open headers over the sound system.

A marketing ploy to sell electric fans.

That is my 2 cents

 

You really are not going to notice a power difference, same with MPG. I did it on my wife's old 4runner because the bearing seized on the fan bracket and Toyota wanted $700 for it, so I stuck one in with a thermostat control after cutting out the fan bracket pulley and using shorter belts, it seemed to cool it just fine.

My advice, unless it is broken or will be soon, just leave it the way it is.

 

how could you have an electric water pump on a 3.0? isn't the water pump driven off of the timing belt or am I crazy?

 

leviticus6432, I don't know anything about the electric fan/waterpump conversion but you're not crazy ... the water pump is drivin off the timing belt on the 3.0 ... maybe there is just an additional coolant temp sensor added in with the electric fan to trigger the fan to power on a certain temp. ? I'm sure someone will be along to fill us in shortly.

 

hmm maybe he was just talking in general... I have to disagree about the "necessary thermostat" part... Why not just wire in a relay and splice into the fuse for your heater blower motor... If i am thinking correctly, you will have power there with key in run, but not in start. So your fan will always be running unless your cranking the motor. You could also add a lighted switch to shut it off when doing water crossings etc. If you don't remember you just shut your fan off with a red light in your face reminding you... well thats sad lol

 

Thanks everyone for the input,I think I'll keep it "stock" for now, doesn't seem like there any real benefit to going electric .

 

IMO, the only real advantage to an electric fan is being able to turn it off for deep water crossings.

 

I installed a flex-a-lite fan because of the fact that I'm in Phoenix and go wheeling in the summer. The controls were based on 4crawler.com's setup including an indicator light and its exactly what I wanted. I leave the fan on when wheeling (low speed and lots of idle). Thermostat controlled all other times. It is also wired to turn on when the A/C turned on. I can turn it off if needed.

Anecdotal data - I have read of A/C performance improvements and tend to believe it. My A/C is R134 and I have had to turn it down in the summer because its too cold and I have a soft top. This was not the case before the fan install.

With the Achille's heel of the 22RE being overheating, I wanted the extra assurance when low speed or at idle a lot in the summers here (115F sometimes). It is at full rpm at idle so the cooling should be better than the OE clutch fan.

My thoughts:

Pro's
You can configure the fan control to your liking (within reason)
Better cooling at low speed and idle
Can be turned off
My perceived A/C performance improvement

Cons
Need to upgrade the alternator (I needed to upgrade from the stock alternator anyway because of my winch)
$265 for the fan (incl controller)

Don't care
No fuel economy or power difference noticed
No idea about weight
A little quieter but don't care

This is one mod that I do not regret whatsoever as a Phoenician. Other places in the US, maybe not so useful.

 

Best pro IMHO, that and on the V6 it takes stress off the fan bracket bearing.

 

Angry Bob, I also live in Phoenix , Sounds like a pretty good set up , Thanks for the advice & leads for installation , MT_ Goat not sure what what IMHO means? I'm still a noobe..

 

bolard I believe IMHO means 'In My Humble/Honest Opinion' here's is a link to a thread I found that explains all the code lingo! https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f120...ossary-202917/

 

X2 Some food for thought: when your driven down the road, the air coming in is pushing the clutch fan faster than the clutch. The reseon it shows on a dyno that the electric is more efficient is simply becuase theres no head wind to drive the fan. And on the dyno the radiator is probably hot right? So the clutch fan would be riippin. Yes the electric fan robs less of the engines torque. But also moves less air, is less reliable, and temperature fluctuation is very hard on your engine. Notice how the temp gauge never moves with a clutch fan once its up to temp. The thermostat is able to regulate the temp perfectly. With most electric fan setups the tempurature varies and the thermostat has to open and close constantly to maintain temp. And even then the temp gauge still fluctuates enough to double the wear and tear on your head gaskets.

Enough of that stuff. My point is, theres nothing wrong with converting to electric fan, as long as you do it right, don't skimp on parts$$. Thats considering that you need to do the swap. Like mentioned above the taures 2 speed fan is an awesome part. Don't buy any shucks brand replacement fan. And make sure your thermo sensor is doing a good job of maintaining RADIATOR temp. This allows the thermostat to do its job without fluctuating engine temp. The stock fan isn't hurting your mpg unless your averaging 5-10mph.

 

Are you worried about your fan bracket bearing?

 

If my 4Runner was only a daily driver and I wasn't in bumper to bumper all the time in the PHX summer, I wouldn't get the fan. Heck, above 25mph even at 115F you probably don't even need a fan.

I have an indicator light for the fan and it never turns on if I drive it to work - 35 miles each way. The only time it turns on is in a lot of traffic. I set the thermostat to turn on at 104C and it turns off at 98-99C using a thermocoulple in the cold start timing switch. It cycles from 104-99C...not going to cause any engine problems.

 

I have a Mercury Villager/Nissan Quest fan wired through a digital controller. Bought the fan for $15 from a pick and pull, and gave $16 on ebay for the controller. Thermostat is installed in the radiator, the 5 Amp output of the controller is wired to a 40 Amp relay to power the fan. I have not had any issues with it in the past month that it has been operational. My truck is not a daily driver right now, but I would not hesitate in doing so concerning the cooling system (tires and alignment are a different story). I wouldn't care to take this truck anywhere with the current set up.

Hope this helps.

 

I'm not too worried I have an e-fan But yes there are lots of threads on here about fan bracket failures. Sometimes they fail in an explosion that does a lot of collateral damage.

 

I would run the Ford Taurus 2 speed fan period. Nothing in the aftermarket electric fan brands moves that much air. I have street rods, customs and my truck and they all have 2 speed Taurus fans. As far as reliability, the last time I replaced a Ford Taurus fan was 10 years ago when one failed in my Merc and that one came from a junkyard ($25.00).