Viscous fan problem

[Two Transit Dave]

Again a fair point, but to date in general running around the temperature guage has not moved from its usual position and surely driving fast along a motorway increases the airflow through the grill which in turn cools the engine bay, I drive at 70 for prolonged periods since the fan eat itself without a trace of fluctuation in the temp guage and as I said when I got caught in traffic (which is the only time the temp rises) I switched on the aircon and it went down like I say I won't be driving in London for a few weeks and the fan will be fitted by then.
Just another point being a car fanatic I am fortunate enough to own two high performance cars as well and both have electric fans not for space saving as there is room for both to have ordinary fans so there must be some merit why Lotus and Mitsubishi use electric fans

[Nighthawk]

Most vehicles now have electronically controlled fans, some even push their use beyond just cooling the engine when it gets hot.

A good example would be Transit FWD's 2 speed fan, it has a slow speed for general cooling and a high speed for when things get nawty.

The extra control offered by allowing the engines control module to operate the fans is a benift to drivability, we can now bring the fans in gently using a pulse width modulation, sort of like having the fan on 40% power and increasing to 100% as and when needed.

I'm waffling now.......too much Becks.......


Good luck with it

[Roddy the Dog]

I had a 05 crewcab pickup in the other day for a starting fault,as I got in about it what did I find...
One viscous fan assy sat neatly in the rad cowling,and judging by the marks on the rad gilling had been there for some time,but no reports of overheating!!

[Two Transit Dave]

I have been running my Transit now for a few days in all this hot weather without the Viscous fan 1 because the electric thermo fan has'nt arrived yet and 2 I am still trying to find out what the two unused connecting plugs on the right hand side are, but as you say no overheating problems yesterday I was waiting in a queue at the dreaded Devils Punchbowl in Hindhead for about 20 minutes and the guage only moved 2mm at most and as soon as I put the air-con on it went straight back to its usual place I know you have to have a fan but I wonder how much the electric fan will be required

[Two Transit Dave]

Well it has been over a week now since I fitted the thermo electric fan to my van and have been stuck in the traffic on the dreaded A40 going into London on one of the hottest days this year for about 40 minutes and guess what the engine stayed at the same temperature and when I put the air-con on the temperature remained stable in fact I wired a little tell tell light from the fan plus a manual overide just in case and the fan has never cut in. Now I know it is stupid not to have a fan and the thermo electric 16 inch fan complete with thermo control was less than the ford viscous replacement but with the benefit of hindsight I think i should have bought three of the little 12 volt fans from Radio Spares at £5 each and removed the front grill and installed them there with a manual switch. If you check out the Kenlowe fan web site they state that about 8% of the engines power goes to running viscous fans plus they are keeping the engine cold in cold weather which must have an effect on economy and I have to say that the combination of BP Ultimte Diesel and the dumping of the fan have made the Transit a bit more smooth and comfortable.

[AndyG]

If you check out the Kenlowe fan web site they state that about 8% of the engines power goes to running viscous fans plus they are keeping the engine cold in cold weather which must have an effect on economy

I thought that a normal fan would do this NOT a viscous fan as it's meant to "slip" until things get hot when it will "lock up" and act like a normal fan What's the point of a viscous then

[MrMPuk]

The fan still turns but only at a lower speed, take a look under the bonnet with the engine ruinning Andy.

[AndyG]

The fan still turns but only at a lower speed, take a look under the bonnet with the engine ruinning Andy.

I realize this But I thought after a while, it shouldn't cause any drag to the engine
If I stop my hot engine for a short period of time and restart my fan is locked up and I can actually hear it as I drive away

[MrMPuk]

It will always cause drag on the engine as it is always turning.

[AndyG]

It will always cause drag on the engine as it is always turning.

Spoilsport
You know what 100ps drw hicube's next mod is, if he reads this

[100ps_drw_hicube]

yep some small leccy fans then

[AndyG]

yep some small leccy fans then

Your better off with a large one (possibly off a petrol Transit)
The two little electric fans on mine are so noisey it sounds as though I've either got two engines or an industrial generator under the bonnet

[Two Transit Dave]

Yes of course the 16 inch fan is best and when I manually overide it you cant hear it over the engine so I don't know what Ford use. My point about the smaller RS fans is that you dont have to mess around fitting it between the the rad and the pullies but I noticed that Mocal fans do an 8 inch fan for just under £50 which if it would fit when you take the front grille off would be a dead easy mod.