akwheeler

I'm not sure I get what you are saying millball, ALL engines reject excess heat to the coolant, ALL engines make more heat when loaded. There is no problem when I run the original mechanical fan, I just can't push enough air through the radiator with electric fans.

millball

It is a given that the most efficient auto engines reject 25 to 35 percent of the heat of combustion to the coolant.

All I was saying is that if an engine is not tuned optimally, an even greater percentage of heat is rejected to coolant and not used to make power. This stresses whatever cooling system that is used.

If the mechanical fan is sufficient, why not use it??? Unless you ford deep water a dozen times a day ( I realize that you sometimes might) removing the fan belt to ford might be an option.

Kolton5543

So far so good. Temps here are around 95°. I've been driving it a lot lately. The fan controller does an excellent job. Average engine Temps have been about 195. Never hotter. I do have the temp sensor on the bottom tank but furthest from the outlet because that's where there was already a bung. My fan is positioned more towards the driver side so the sensor sees a reletively hot stream of coolant right on top of it. Because of this, I have the controller set a little warmer than I'd like, otherwise it won't shut sometimes. It still works fine however, next time I have the rad out I'm gunna have a bung welded in right next to the outlet.

Akwheeler, first, what are you using for fans? If you managed to cram 3 fans along with the condenser fan they might be too small. I was barely able to squeeze in my 16"volvo fan. With the stock radiator a 18" villager fan can just squeeze in too. Do you have a shroud for them? Are they all for sure moving air in the same direction? You may have something else going on that's not related to airflow. Maybe try going back to the mechanical fan to rule that out.

As milball was saying, having tuning problems can dump excessive amounts of heat into the cooling system. Running lean and/or too advanced timing mainly. Rich and/or retarded timing can cause over heating too but its not usually as bad.

akwheeler

Yes I have a shroud, yes they are all spinning the right way, no I don't have any issues with the stock fan and it runs as good as you can get for a 3.slow, I just wanted electric so I could shut them off for water crossings or free up some horsepower for mudholes.
I had to move my radiator back about 3/4 inches to make room for a transmission cooler, so I don't have enough room for one big fan (all I found were too thick).

Kolton, I am still waiting to hear if you tried a hill climb at low speeds with your setup, I am still betting you will overheat. Mine works fine for tooling around town too.

Kolton5543

Im not sure about your problem then. If it's fine with the mechanical fan then it gotta be something wrong with your setup. Got a picture of it? I'm kinda interested in what you got going on.

You still might get away with a 16" Volvo fan on your moved radiator of your using a stock rad. I'm running a 3 core rad that's at least 1.25" thicker than stock and I got the Volvo fan to squeeze in there still.

For the hill climb, I haven't gotten a chance to go an a long trip up one since it's been hot. I was up the west side of Mt. Graham a couple weeks ago but it was maybe only 85 out. Still did great though. Most of my driving isn't usually around town. I'm usually out playing in the desert. Still slow driving, still hot out side and still loading it reasonably heavy driving through ruts and sand. Come July or August I'll take it up west peak and I'll report back.

akwheeler

the big differences in our situations are: you have a 3.4 and a 3 core radiator.
I don't know if you gain any space when you do the swap, I hope to start mine soon. But with a more powerful engine it doesn't have to work as hard... less heat, you also have a better cooling system with the 3 core radiator... I'll try to get some pictures posted on my build thread of my fans, two 10 inch and one 8 inch pulling from the inside on a flat aluminum shroud sealed around the edges of the radiator and the condenser fan pushing from the front still isn't quite enough.

Kolton5543

Your right about the 3.0 vs 3.4 and 2core vs 3core. That will play a factor in how things perform. However, the 3.4 actually has a little less room than the 3.0. I had a 16" single speed kia fan with the 3.0 and stock rad. Ran nice and cool with that. When I swapped to the 3.4 the kia fan no longer fit so I put the mechanical back in. After the mechanical took out the radiator is when I switched to a 3 core and Volvo fan.

akwheeler

Kolton, I posted pictures on my build thread, see my signature for a link.

Kolton5543

Haven't been on the forum much in the last few years. Was lurking around recently and realized I forgot all about this thread. It's been a few years and have had plenty of time to evaluate the fan setup. Everything I claimed back in 2019, still holds true today. I haven't changed anything since installing it all and have had zero hiccups. We've had summers reach 115°F and it climbs up mountains no problem. The hottest it gets during the dead of summer is about 210°F. No hotter than it ever did with the mechanical fan. I've got a buddy that did the same to a couple of his trucks too. He used a 18" villager fan and stock radiator however. Originally on a 94 pickup with 3.0. He then moved it all to an 2004 Taco with 3.4. He has had a similar experience. Only issue he has had is a failed fan controller but we determined that was due to him fiddling around with some electrical and manage to cook it.

Brings up a point on the HPC fan controller. I highly recommend it. Out of every controller I have ever found, it is hands down the most reliable, effective, and compact unit available. This thing is tiny, water proof, has adjustable temperature, accepts a manual on and A/C inputs and sports a failsafe if the it detects a circuit problem with the temp sensor. And it just uses a regular GM temp sensor, used it basically everything GM in the 80s to 2010s. So in other words, if the sensor fails. They are readily available and dirt cheap. As for the one controller failed from user error. He got a hold of HPC and the sent him a new one. No questions asked. Fast too. I wouldn't recommend a different controller from anybody else.

As for this fan setup, I'm going to continue to run it. However, I'm prepping for a 2uz swap in the near future and is going to be getting a full revamp under the hood. It's going to be the most packed full engine compartment this thing will ever see so cooling is going to be tuff. I plan to run basically the same configuration but I think I have a few tricks to be able to run the larger 18" villager fan. Will have a different radiator too of course. I'm thinking I might actually have to step down to a 2 core radiator. So, we'll see how things go. Will probably report back again after I have some well defined results.