Removing fan clutch cause overheat

[willcheung]

I had recently follow the instruction from 240sx.org to remove the fan clutch (mechanical fan)for my 95 240sx and i had also rewire the eletric fan rely too by shorting therefore the eletric fan always on when key ignition is on. It runs great for normal freeway driving, but when I stuck in traffic, my car's temp gauge needle tents to go up, and there is a point of time almost reach red but lucky I have manage to got out from the stop and go traffic. MY quesiton are did anyone encounter this problem after removing mechanical fan and runing stock electric fan? should I just put my mechanical fan back on or should I put a performance fans such as Flex a lite or other, what do you guys recommand?

[240sxtreme]

I just installed an electric fan on my 240, and I kept only the lower portion of the fan shroud, and am having no problem.

what size fan, and how much cfm's does it pull?

also...on the freshalloy forums, there's a few topics that talk about fan shrouds are a must for proper cooling.

but I think as long as 3/4 of your radiator is covered by fan...you should be ok, depending on how powerful the fan is.

[willcheung]

Originally posted by 240sxtreme
I just installed an electric fan on my 240, and I kept only the lower portion of the fan shroud, and am having no problem.

what size fan, and how much cfm's does it pull?

also...on the freshalloy forums, there's a few topics that talk about fan shrouds are a must for proper cooling.

but I think as long as 3/4 of your radiator is covered by fan...you should be ok, depending on how powerful the fan is.

I don't know how many CFM is the stock electric pull, I just remove the mechnical fan and top stroud. what kind of electric fan did you installed

[240sxtreme]

lol

dude, I'm sorry. I completely missed the part where you said you're using the stock AC fan :D my bad.

I'd imagine that's totally useless....as it's really intended to only help the AC radiator....for one thing, it's tiny.

I'm using a 16" fan made by "Zirgo". it's pretty cheap...ran me 130. but it pushes 2700 cfm's....not too bad. and it cover's roughly 3/4 of the radiator...and I have no heating problems...hence the reason why I said as long as your fan covers that amount of area, as that's all I have experience with.

honestly, I'd wager that the stock AC fan is nowhere near the fan you need/want.


Here's a link to the zirgo fan I'm using. damn...and it's cheaper online too..didn't even think to check :/

http://www.zirgo.com/detail.lasso?itemid=ZF16

[willcheung]

thanks alot for the info, so you did remove the stock electric fan that is behind the radiator and replace it with the zirgo fan right. how did you run your fan, did you just run it to the ignition or the fan you got comes with a temp sensor that control the fan when to be on and off

[Bill Roberts]

On the gauge, anything beyond the half way point of the 3rd and 4th tick on the gauge is too hot. I would be in horror if I ever saw mine reached the 4th tick. (little lines)

[240sxtreme]

I removed both the electric AC fan, and the clutch fan.

the install is pretty easy...about twice as hard as an intake install...mainly because you have to decide where you wire it to.


Here's what I did (with the help of a friend who's already done the same install):

the fan came with 4 brackets, you'll need to have on hand some electrical tape, electrical wire, and 4 nut/bolts (skinny and long...I believe mine were 1.5" long...don't remember the width.) pretty much skinnier the better, as it's going through the radiator :)

1-I didn't do this first, but if I did this again, I would......detach battery cables first.

2-remove both fans, top fan shroud.

3-align the fan to where you want it, and push the 4 bolts through the radiator, and bolt them up.

4-I used my inside fusebox to connect the wiring, so I ran wire from my fuse (20v), through the firewall, and to the fan. I also bought a female connector piece, and wired it all up.

5-reconnect battery, bolt lower shroud back.


that's about it. hehe. it really isn't that hard if you have a general sense what to do.


Also, they do make an adjustable temp control....they're just about to come out with a digital control, the temp sensors go into the radiator, and the fan would come on at the set temp. I didn't get one of those, but personally, I don't mind it going the whole time while the ignition is on.

I'll post up some pics in about 20 minutes.

[Muzzy]

thas a crock of ****!!!
im runnin no engine fan or clutch..jus stock elec fan with no probs
always runs cool even in traffic... i though i had to have the fan constantly on in my car...nope..its fine...and yea i live somewhere hot..i live in hot *** san antonio texas!!


also....did u spill any coolant while disconnecting anything...if so that may be your prob....how full is your puke tank??

to add to wut bill was sayin..my motor only runs like a mm above the third tick mark with my setup...where does yours run bill????

[Bill Roberts]

Pics are cool. Many people use cable ties and they hold and dont melt...especially plentum grade ties (red ones)

To Muzzy, 2.5 ticks...cannot get it to 3rd tick..even when rawhiding hard.

Of course these things are far from precison instuments. A change in the sensor can feedabck a different gauge movement...but at 4 ticks..that would look HOT.

BTW, Mine is stock on a 15 year old car...go figga.

[240sxtreme]

lol. ok. you're running the lil ac fan...more power to you :D

but if you're gonna go electric, you might as well get something that you KNOW will take care of your car. to me the cost of fans that put out the same or better flow then stock..is worth it. if I didn't want to pay for an electric fan, I'd at least go to a junkyard, and pick up an altima fan, or volvo S80 (which supposedly fits), or maybe even a nissan truck that uses a dual electric fan.

I've seen people who race in the SCCA races with no intake filter...doesn't mean it's not detrimental to the car.

anyways...here's some pics of what I did.

as you can see here, I tapped into the 20v fuse, all I did was wrap the wire around the right side of the fuse.
fusebox (http://www.dawnandrobert.com/fuse.jpg)

here's where I went through the firewall, if anyone doesn't know where to thread it through:
firewall (http://www.dawnandrobert.com/firewallhole.jpg)

here's where I grounded it:
ground for fan (http://www.dawnandrobert.com/fanground.jpg)

this pic shows a general shot of the fan, and also where I taped the vacuum lines that normall run across the fan shroud
fan (http://www.dawnandrobert.com/efan.jpg)

if I was to do it again, or maybe wanted it cleaner looking, what I'd do is rerun the wire underneath the "seam" of the engine bay, so you can't see the wire at all. and also find the wires that plug into that particular fuse, and splice into that...so you can't see the wire from the front of the fusebox. but basically as it is now, if you turn the key, the fan will come on.

as for how well it cools....I do know I'm running cooler, at least 1 tick. which is fine...I'm just happy to finally get rid of that clutch fan. now the only thing to lighten up my drivetrain is to get an aluminum or CF driveshaft :bowdown:

[Muzzy]

mines 13yrs old....our gauges are the same right 89 and 91 SE FB??
and wut about 96 to 91..same guages(temp)...jus wondering???

[s14slide]

I'm running a/c fan only w/ the rear of the hood raised and I have no prob's in 100+F weather as long as I'm not running the a/c. (I usually don't anyways cause I smoke.) I have a 95 w/ hotshot headers and it gets pretty hot under the hood even w/ the rear of the hood raised the the rear seal removed to help vent heat. Not a problem here at all. I'm actually going to put in an old Z(60's or 70's) hood vent just above the headers to keep underhood temps down. I did get lucky once, fell asleep waiting for someone in the car and left it running. I would have been fine except for the fact that the wires for the a/c fan had been shredded(broken zip tie). Woke up a minute later to see steam coming from the overflow tank and temp needle pegged to the top!!! Got the car moving at about 25mph and cranked on the heater and temp needle dropped in like thirty seconds. I thought for sure that I had cracked the head or something after that, but like I said got lucky. Sorry for the longwindedness, but I thought I'd share that as long as your moving decently, no probs what-so-ever w/ the a/c fan only. But if you get stuck in traffic, just dont run your a/c. Also as a side note, MOST of the time during the summer(peak heat months) I'll leave the clutch fan on, JUST IN CASE, and in the winter I'll take it off because w/ just a 5mph headwind, you pretty much can't overheat unless something is really wrong w/ your cooling system. Hope this helps. It's late and I go sleepy now.
Night all.

[240Driver39]

i have stanza dual fans on my 240, which are basically the same as the altima fans, but ive never had ne cooling problems and those pull a decent amount of air, not sure of an exact number. My car runs between the midway point of the 2nd and 3rd tick, i also am using an adjustable temp relay to activate em, all in all it cost bout 40bux for that setup, majority being the cost of that relay

just my input

[240sxtreme]

yeah..after I installed my fan...I noticed my wife's altima uses a dual electric setup. darnit. I probably would have gone that route. lol. especially since those fans have a shroud built into them.

if you go to the freshalloy forums, there's a topic there where they're talking about the absence of the shrouds is the big issue. they're saying that you *could have cooling issues even if you have a big fan, because 100% of the radiator isn't having air pulled through. they say you gotta have a shroud (or something like a shroud) that covers the whole radiator, so the fan, no matter the size, pulls air through the entire radiator.

but thanks! I didn't even think about the stanza's :)

[willcheung]

Originally posted by s14slide
I'm running a/c fan only w/ the rear of the hood raised and I have no prob's in 100+F weather as long as I'm not running the a/c. (I usually don't anyways cause I smoke.) I have a 95 w/ hotshot headers and it gets pretty hot under the hood even w/ the rear of the hood raised the the rear seal removed to help vent heat. Not a problem here at all. I'm actually going to put in an old Z(60's or 70's) hood vent just above the headers to keep underhood temps down. I did get lucky once, fell asleep waiting for someone in the car and left it running. I would have been fine except for the fact that the wires for the a/c fan had been shredded(broken zip tie). Woke up a minute later to see steam coming from the overflow tank and temp needle pegged to the top!!! Got the car moving at about 25mph and cranked on the heater and temp needle dropped in like thirty seconds. I thought for sure that I had cracked the head or something after that, but like I said got lucky. Sorry for the longwindedness, but I thought I'd share that as long as your moving decently, no probs what-so-ever w/ the a/c fan only. But if you get stuck in traffic, just dont run your a/c. Also as a side note, MOST of the time during the summer(peak heat months) I'll leave the clutch fan on, JUST IN CASE, and in the winter I'll take it off because w/ just a 5mph headwind, you pretty much can't overheat unless something is really wrong w/ your cooling system. Hope this helps. It's late and I go sleepy now.
Night all.
You are right, my car's temp gauge goes up when i stuck in stop and go traffic with A/C on at about 80-90F daytime. I guess if don't use my a/c, my car will not overheat, but still i think I will just going to take that stock a/c fan out and put the high cfm eletric fan on my car since there is no way i can live without A/C

BTW thank you all for the info and input, if there if more please reply

[willcheung]

Originally posted by 240sxtreme
yeah..after I installed my fan...I noticed my wife's altima uses a dual electric setup. darnit. I probably would have gone that route. lol. especially since those fans have a shroud built into them.

if you go to the freshalloy forums, there's a topic there where they're talking about the absence of the shrouds is the big issue. they're saying that you *could have cooling issues even if you have a big fan, because 100% of the radiator isn't having air pulled through. they say you gotta have a shroud (or something like a shroud) that covers the whole radiator, so the fan, no matter the size, pulls air through the entire radiator.

but thanks! I didn't even think about the stanza's :)

thank you for your input and info, it helps alot, so what do you think i should get, altima stock dual fan or the aftermarket single fan that you had? I can get the altima stock dual fan in the junk yard close to where i live for maybe $65 from a 95 altima. which year altima fan will fit on good with no problem?

[240sxtreme]

not really sure. my wifes altima is a 94. I'm not really sure how it'd fit ...I looked at it, but without taking it off, I'd say it *should* fit fine. also, not really sure how you'd bolt it on.

but if you can get one pretty cheap..might as well pick it up and take a look.

I would imagine you could pick up a junkyard dual-fan for 20-30 bucks...I know a friend found the same brand electric fan as mine, but smaller, and he paid 25 bucks.

if you want to try it, you could search around some forums, try to find someone who's used one of those fans.

*they're chargng you 65 bucks? hmm...ask for a stanza and see if that's any cheaper.

or if you have a "u-pullit", ask them to let you look at a couple of cars. stanza, nissan pickup, altima, etc....

[240sxtreme]

good lord, after looking at those pics I took...I realize I really need to clean my engine bay. lol

but hey..I'm not making a show car :P

[240Driver39]

heres a pic of stanza duals...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/p921172a9ffde1236943d63aca1ded8d5/fc115d87.jpg

some trimming is required, here they are installed on the car
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/p174b128370221eff9256f6d1d988e8b7/fc115d93.jpg


and i paid 10 bux for these at a upull it yard....

[AceInHole]

I'm running 2 14" fans from Autozone, wired to a thermostat ($70 each fan, $20 for the thermostat). My car seems to be running cooler than with the clutch fan.

[willcheung]

I went to a performance shop today, they sell Derale electric fan, it is looks like a good fan with a fair price, did anyone ever use the Derale electric fan before, is so how well is it perform? also I don't know how many cfm I need if I going to run only electric fan without mechanical fan?

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by AceInHole
I'm running 2 14" fans from Autozone, wired to a thermostat ($70 each fan, $20 for the thermostat). My car seems to be running cooler than with the clutch fan.

scratch that. i overheated twice this weekend. working on some fan ducting and checking the rad. cap and stuff.

it's weird. it never had a heat problem before, even on a faster autox course where we were pushing the car a LOT harder (bouncing the rev limiter).