almost overheated with electric fans....

[t4r4life]

ok will do.. its probably about time for a new set of intake manifold gaskets with as much as I have taken them apart. And I need to do a flush I think. Before I replaced the engine I put some stop leak in there.. wonder if thats clogging it up?

never ever use any stop leak stuff in your engine it will **** it up, take a bottle if brake cleaner and spray on all hoses and gasket to see if there is a rpm change to check for leaks, its better to do a smoke test but brake cleaner is the cheaper way just not as spot on, also use a bottle of chevron injector cleaner on almost empty tank to clean out the injectors, is there a CEL? any weird noise in engine bay or idels funny?

 

[t4r4life]

ill give you some advice

The reason i went to an e-fan was because i blew the stock one up going through a pond on an off roading trip about a year ago. So i spent the time, got the efan installed it. got a cheapo temp switch. it was terrible

So i went back and did it "right" with the in line water temp sensor. It worked great unless the manual off switch got tripped, happened to me a bunch of times. i saw it hit 220, 228, 236, 248 and 260 the many times was accidentally off. Luckily every time it got hot i was going very slow or stopped idling so it wasnt under load and so far so good about 10,000 miles later. After the last big one i said it was time to fix it once and for all. took it all apart was going to build myself a sweet little mico controller with an LCD display blah blah. So i went to play with it and discovered the fan wasnt working took it apart figured out what was wrong and went to put it back together and snapped a blade off...

So i said enough was enough and figured toyota engineers new what they were doing so i went back to stock. havent had a problem sense and now i dont have to worry about if the fan turned on when it was supposed to.

Anyway. this is just some food for thought.

For me it was not worth the headache and possible damage to my motor.

the stock fan pots out a ton on air its great and if you ever go into the pond again zip tie the fan so it wont get broken and **** up your rad

 

[jmt2404]

Yeah worrying about wether or not the fan is running or not is gonna be on my mind alot.. I might hook in a little led light to let me know when the fans are on or off. I still have the stock fan and shroud just in case the e fans dont cut it..

Thanks for the advice.. I will give it one more shot and see if it works. I will install the switch and inline temp sensor tomorrow and give it a run to see what happens.. If it doesn't work ill trash it and put the stock fan back in.

Yeah toyota def knows what they are doing. Maybe this is why they didn't do this in the first place..

And yeah my buddy who is ase certified on toyotas says its a good possibility that my radiator is clogged.. but we will see.

 

[twitchee2]

the stock fan pots out a ton on air its great and if you ever go into the pond again zip tie the fan so it wont get broken and **** up your rad

no i learned dont be overly cautious when entering water and go so slow that you do not have a bow wake to keep water from getting up behind the radiator and in the fan.

So if i have no choice but to go through it i make sure i have a little speed. but not just blasting through it, ive witnessed a hydro lock on my buddies rig lol

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/t4r-m...ota-4runner-san-bernardino-mts-6-13-10-a.html

bottom of that page you can see the carnage pics.

 

[jmt2404]

I have been taught fording a few times but only really learned my lesson by hydrolocking my truck..

The way I was taught ws you start in slow ish.. like walking speed then when you see a wave form in front of your rig then you can speed up. That wave is basically pushing a portion of the water out and away from the truck instead of rushing through your radiator fins. getting water through your radiator is inevitable its going to happen. And your fan is going to fight the water. esp if your mudding and get bogged down in a mud hole. what breaks the blades is running into deep water real fast and having the blades stop immediately. going fast through water also forces water up into spots where it wouldnt normally go.. like your intake.

 

[turkeyman]

i have been there and done that with the electric fans...now i will stick with the stock fan with clutch. the supposed advantages of the e-fans are not worth messing with wiring in-line fuses and temp guages when the stock fan with clutch setup does everything for you. At interstate speeds or anytime there is sufficient air moving accross the radiator, the fan is essentially freewheeling anyway...there is very little affect on horsepower.

e-fans require a good supply of power to run and as I learned in physics, the power has to come from somewhere. They create more electrical draw on the entire charging system thus creating more heat for the motor.

give me the stock viscous clutch and fan anyday

 

[jmt2404]

yeah I am getting frustrated with it.. On the way to work today I almost overheated again going down the highway.. So I will try one more thing before I give up and go back to stock.

 

[IanV]

Hot?

Sounds to me like a stuck thermostat? Maybe its time to replace yours?

 

[Gerdo]

Sounds to me like a stuck thermostat? Maybe its time to replace yours?

I would agree.

Also, wire sizing.
14 awg - 15 amps
12 awg - 20 amps
10 awg - 30 amps
8 awg - 40 amps
6 awg - 60 amps
4 awg - 80 amps
2 awg - 100 amps

 

[twitchee2]

I would agree.

Also, wire sizing.
14 awg - 15 amps
12 awg - 20 amps
10 awg - 30 amps
8 awg - 40 amps
6 awg - 60 amps
4 awg - 80 amps
2 awg - 100 amps

i would agree. How ever the linclon mark viii fan i was running off the OEM 10 guage and it was a 40+amp fan. granted the OEM was larger 10gauge. but i do 100% agree with you, i wouldnt run any less then what you spec'd along with the longer the run, the bigger the wire.

 

[jmt2404]

hmmm

Interesting.. I def will replace the thermostat. I think its probably past due and the new fans pushed it over the top? idk. Ill replace it and check what gauge the new derale switch is running.

 

[jmt2404]

good times

Alright so I installed the new switch with an inline temp sensor and its working wonderfullu. The engine was still over heating but tje switch was working. awesome turns on at 190 and doesnt turn of unless it goes below that mark.

So I started sourcing other problems. So I started cheap and I replaced the thermostat and my radiator cap. So far its running awesome at 197.6. It hasnt gone over 199.4 yet so we will see if i fixed it. If I did ill do a good write up on what's happened so far and the electric fan mod.

 

[Stick Figure]

Looked through your threads, and seems like you are on the right track making sure all the mechanical side of things is 100% at this point.

As far as the fans, i won't pretend to know if they are actually capable of cooling the 4runner even if everything is working properly, so this could all be for nothing. Personally i usually recommend a nice Spal set up. I have used these on a few cars and they move enough air that they would hold a playing card sucked tight to the intercooler which was in front of the AC condenser, and then radiator. Pulling that much air through 6+ inches of cooler is damn impressive if you ask me. This isn't to say that a lesser fan won't work, just that you have to make sure the set up is perfect.

One thing i did notice about your set up is the gaps. Air will always take the path of least resistance, so as close to an air tight seal as you can get is best. It looks like you have the fans spaced up off of the shroud, flush them to the shroud. The shroud itself looks like it is back from the radiator a bit as well. While you don't want the aluminum to rub the radiator (holes from vibration would be bad). If you can either trim the shroud to get it closer to the radiator, or add some rubber seals to eliminate the gap.

The only other thing i would verify is that the fans are spinning the right direction. I've seen this in the past where someone wired/plugged the fans in backwards, and they are fighting the air coming through the grill.

Hopefully some of this helps.

 

[jmt2404]

Thanks for checking the threads out for me. You are the only one I know with a successful electric fan set up. Everyone else has switched back to the stock fan. The reason the fans are off the shroud is becuase of the vibration the put was so bad that it was rubbing on the shroud when it got up to speed. I might take your advice and put some rubber tubing in theere to fill the gaps. As far as the fans running in the right direction. I did test the with a piece of cardboard up to the front of the t cooler and radiator. It sucked it. Right to it and not to mention the fans will blow your hair back when you stick your head uner the hood. Thanks again for the advice..

 

[IanV]

I haven't had any problems with my efan setup and its pretty ghetto lol

 

[jmt2404]

What set up are you running?

 

[SIKHILUXSURF]

i ran the flex a lite dual fans for about a week and then gave up on the setup one of the worst mods i have ever done. it made my a/c not blow cold in the summer last year and also let me start to overheat as well. i would never do it again.

 

[IanV]

I have an efan from a wrecked buick controlled with a radiator temperature probe. Very basic set up since my fan clutch was going and I got everything but the temp controller for free. It runs after I shut off the 4runner but only for about 30 secs till its cooled down to the setting I have.

 

[jmt2404]

Yeah I think these things are more hassle than they are worth but since I already got all the components and installed everything I am going to try and stick with them and work out all the bugs.

Well done on the free e fan set up Ian can't beat that deal.

I have heard nothing good on flex a lite. I was going to go with them until a couple of guys showed me some articles on them. You are just one more story to add to the pile.

So far I haven't gotten over 204.8 with the new set up and thermostat. I think it gets the hottest during the hotter parts of the day. If I lived in a place that was hotter than here I would have some real trouble I think.

 

[twitchee2]

thats still alittle warm if you ask me for just driving around town. I still think theres something up with your coolant. did you flush it?