I have several questions for 2nd Gen owners who have done the Flex a lite 165 install. First of all in step two of the wiring it says to wire to the ignition if you want the fan to stop with the ignition. Okay makes sense just like turning an amp on and off with the remote wire. So what wire do you tap into? I am not keen of doing the wire around a blade fuse stick it back in the box method. I poked around a bit but everything is wrapped around the engine bay. Also when if I just wired them both to the battery. Would the fan run for a long time after I shut off the truck????? Any advantages disadvantages? Would be alot easier to not have to find a wire that comes on hot with the ignition.

Second thing that totally lost me was wiring in the Air Conditioning relay. IT says to find the wire that is hot and runs to the AC clutch. I looked around the AC fan and didn't see anywiring that was easily accessible. I know I could just skip this for now especially since I haven't used my AC once over here in England but I would like to do it right so I don't have to come back to it later on when I am in a warmer climate. Everything else looks straighforward. I looked at about 3 write ups for the 3.0 and the 3.4 but no one really describes how the wired it. Everything is on how they mounted which as far as I can tell is the simple part.

Anyone that has done this mod please speak out and let me know how you wired yours and if your happy with it. I am going on a road trip this weekend and would like to get this thing in before that!!

Here's the instructions for the wiring portion that came with the fan.

 

If you have the thermo-switch...

Dont worry about their wiring recommendations.

Hook the + up to the battery.

Hook "B" up to the battery (with the fuse of course).

Dont run the AC switch. Its not necessary. Considering I live in PHX, I am sure you arent in a much hotter location.

Now if you dont have the thermo-switch, then you may want to follow their instructions.

 

Ditto to what 96 Runner said... Mine is wired right to the battery. The control box doesn't draw any power when the fan's not running, so you won't run the battery down.

I also opted NOT to install the wire to the AC switch. The thermostat takes care of things just fine.


Mark

 

96 thanks but what exactly are you talking about with the thermo switch. On the side of the fan I have a knob where you can adjust where the thing comes on and off at. It's right where all the wires plug in. I am assuming this is where you are talking about? I did find a wire in the fusebox that comes on and off with the key so may opt to just use a scotch lock and tap into it. Are there any pros as to having it hot all the time. Kinda scares me to think the fan could come on at any time without warning even if the keys weren't in the ignition. Cant think of a situation where that would ever happen but in theory it would be possible.

 

Sounds to me like you need a new idler arm, eh!
Gotta give me points for trying!

 

The thermo-switch is a control box that plugs into the coolant line, enabling it to monitor engine temp based on coolant temp, which is more reliable.

Sounds like you have a different set-up. Do you have a big copper wire coming out of your control box with a probe on the end?

 

Ya sure do your supposed to stick it through the rad fins near the return line. It talks about it in the adjusting temp control part of the instructions in the pic.

 

Well, if you have the thermo-switch that only goes in the radiator fins, then I might suggest doing the ignition wiring as instructed by flex-a-lite. I found their customer service to be very helpful. So you could call them. You could also use a multi-meter to find a good ignition source.

A picture might help. Can you take one and post it?

 

I pulled out my voltmeter and found a wire in the fusebox that has enough extra that I can easily splice into it so I am going to go that route. Think I'll skip the whole AC thing since I never use it here anyways. Can always wire that up at a later time. Should hopefully have some pics of the install tomorrow night if I can sneak outta work a bit early tomorrow.

 

Cool. You should notice better throttle response and a bit more power. Let us know!

 

If you can't figure it out you can donate the Flex-a-lite to me.
I need one for my supra swap.
What did you pay and how large is it? Does it cover the radiator completely?

 

There is another thread out there, and I think he said the kit is around $200 shipped.

 

Joey - as always, thanks for being on the bleeding edge. I'm happy to be a step behind you as you figure everything out. Someday, I will actually beat you to it.