How are your Electric fans working?

LOSTR4

LOSTR4

Member
For those who have converted the cooling fans from mechanical to electric, what CFM did you look for or recommend for the electric conversion? I see some up to 4000cfm and am curious if that is more than sufficient when towing anything. Also, what's the breaking point on amperage draw? 40Amps on full blast seems high on some of the applications that have been suggested...the obvious reasons to do this is for power gains and mpg increases...

Electric Fan Kit - 2RZ/3RZ/5VZ(95-04 Taco & 4Run)

Electric Fan Conversion - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum Electric Fan Conversion

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What are your thoughts on this being a valuable modification over factory know-how? Who has done this and do you have photos of the install?
 
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I'll head down to the store tonight. I did the plug and play aspects of the kits available especially as it comes with the all-important shroud. I'll check out what they have and see if it meets my marks. Thanks for the advice!
 
There was a thread somewhere about this not too long ago. Those that tried it went back to the trusty clutch fan.
 
What about just the addition of a flex fan? Would that allow an additional efficiencies out over standard Toyota fan? Still mechanical but "better," more efficient fan blades?
 
Incase the OP is still considering this swap or something in the area. Do it properly with good shrouds and good fans and you shouldn't have any issues. One member on another forum saw 2 mpg increase and has had to replace fans due to buying the cheap ones. Make sure to wire the power to each fan separately so if one fails the other still go and ALWAYS use a duel fan setup on our type of truck.

Many advancements have been made in electronics and what didn't work 5 years ago might work now.
 
2big4arunner said:
Incase the OP is still considering this swap or something in the area. Do it properly with good shrouds and good fans and you shouldn't have any issues. One member on another forum saw 2 mpg increase and has had to replace fans due to buying the cheap ones. Make sure to wire the power to each fan separately so if one fails the other still go and ALWAYS use a duel fan setup on our type of truck.

Many advancements have been made in electronics and what didn't work 5 years ago might work now.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Almost every fwd car ever made and most rwd cars have electric fans. Mechanical fans are typically only reserved for older suvs/trucks. Even new trucks have electric fans.

Keep in mind all these vehicles have dual electric fans for the very reason if one was to fail. The reason for mechanical fans is normally a cost thing and very marginal reliability improvement when off-roading.
 
i swapped my old 98 silverado over to LS1 electric fans. I wired it into my ignition fuse. That way if it ever went out, id know before it got bad. It had zero issues and ran great also gained some MPG.
 
I attempted this, started with the 18 inch fan from the auto parts store that was mentioned.

It was enough to cool the truck durring the cooler months of the year; however, when the summer months came or if I was on the trail running high RPM with low ground speed the engine would heat up quite a bit.

I added a second pusher fan on the front from a jeep Cherokee. It brought the temps back in range but between the two fans it was louder than the clutch fan.

I did see a slight increase in MPG's like 1 mpg gain lol. No power gains or anything of that nature.

I wound up purchasing a high performance 18inch fan from perma cool. It was just over 300 bucks. I put that on thinking i could drop the pusher fan but to no avail. Still needed the second fan. Also I was still using the stock radiator shroud.

Singtoe, a member on here converted his third gen to a V8 and used a dual fan custom alluminum shroud setup. He hasn't had any over heating issues and his setup seems to work great. Although it would cost much more to convert to that setup than it would cost to replace the clutch fan blade or fan clutch.

here is the thread I started on this: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/113933-new-fan-clutch-fan-electric-fan-mod.html

you'll see similar responses and what I went through durring the attempt. With all that said, after spending a couple hundred bucks to attempt a conversion I wound up just replacing the factory setup after no luck with electric fans It just wasnt worth the cost of the fan and shroud setup to keep pushing the conversion to find a setup that worked.
 
My last swap was for a 1992 4runner. I ran a ford radiator to replace the old copper core crap that I had and I ran two ford taurus fans hooked up to ample power. Overall diameter doesn't mean air flow. Also making sure you have enough power to push said fan has been an issue before.

I have always kept my electrical system safe by running capacitors from large audio setups to power the fan. It takes the original hit of starting the fan and smooths out the draw to the alternator.
It is really easy to make the shroud for these trucks to run duel fans. stagger a little top to bottom like in the picture below. I would even pocket the radiator a little spacing the fans a little further back. its more complicated and takes a little sheetwork but its really fairly easy with rivets.

 
I haven't done this on a 4R, but I did do it on a Dodge Ram V8. Used a Flex-A-Lite Black Magic fan kit, which was wired to the battery and used a temp. sender that was inserted into the radiator. Came on/off at the temp. I desired to set it to. It worked GREAT and pushed a lot more air onto the engine than the factory clutch fan ever would. You could tell when that baby kicked on! The heat would roll off the engine and you could feel it coming in through the windows if they were rolled down.

Plus, after I shut the truck off the fan would continue to operate as normal to cool the engine off whereas the clutch fan obviously would not. When you shut a hard worked truck off it's not like the engine immediately goes to 75 degrees. LOL.

Another plus is fuel economy, power, and if you go offroad you can wire the e-fans to be shut off with a switch for water crossings. Can't do that with a clutch fan. OH, and the noise of the clutch fan SUCKS.
 
2big4arunner said:
My last swap was for a 1992 4runner. I ran a ford radiator to replace the old copper core crap that I had and I ran two ford taurus fans hooked up to ample power. Overall diameter doesn't mean air flow. Also making sure you have enough power to push said fan has been an issue before.

I have always kept my electrical system safe by running capacitors from large audio setups to power the fan. It takes the original hit of starting the fan and smooths out the draw to the alternator.
It is really easy to make the shroud for these trucks to run duel fans. stagger a little top to bottom like in the picture below. I would even pocket the radiator a little spacing the fans a little further back. its more complicated and takes a little sheetwork but its really fairly easy with rivets.

Click to expand...

Good idea on the caps.....what radiator is that?
 
I would not convert to electric fans here in Arizona or any place else it stays very hot a lot of the time. I had a car that came stock with them and since they aren't on all the time and just come on to cool the engine, during the time they aren't on the under hood heat will fry the wiring and rubber hoses. After a few years the wiring and all the hoses were cracked and breaking. That doesn't happen or isn't as bad with a belt driven fan that runs all the time constantly blowing cooler air into the engine compartment.
 
It seems to me both have their advantages...clutch fans are generally more reliable but electric fan setups take more...proper wiring, a shroud that fits properly, and good fans. Two seems to be better than one as well...if there were a consistent reply stating one over the other, it would be an easier decision...until more research is done on my part, I'll leave it as it came from the factory. Keep bringing more trials and knowledge on this...I want it to work well in all environments.
 
Just curious...Has anyone tried this flexalite option?



They have it listed for a tacoma, but considering it's the same v6, engine (at least the '05 through '09)... thought about giving it a shot. When I talked with customer service, they indicated it "should" work provided there is enough clearance between the engine and the new should, which they have not measured. It's rated to move 3,300 cfm. I haven't looked into amp draws or anything like that.

The reason I bring up this options is that I removed the clutch fan on my '90 5.0 mustang, installed a black magic electric and couldn't be happier with the results. There is without a doubt signficantly less fan noise and more power. I can't attest to the MPG savings (thats not really why you have a mustang in the first place) but given the power increase, it would seem logical. Also, the install was very easy... start to finish in an afternoon.

I will say it hasn't been all roses. I've had the conversion on my mustang for five years or so and in that time I've had the fan shut off twice on me. Both times have been related to a butt clamp coming loose in the wiring. In my opinion, the clamps provided are pretty cheap and if were to do it all over again, I would go buy higher quality ones for the initial install and tape the crap out of the connections. Otherwise, I've been very happy with the purchase.
 
Will not bolt up. i have it. tacoma radiator size is different. If u want it i"ll sell it to ya with a bunch of spare parts that i got for it as well. 300 Half on shipping and its yours.
 
Thanks for the heads up! Saved me alot of money and frustration. I figure someone would have tried that option at some point. It's annoying they would make the conversion for the Tacoma and not the 4R. Much like other Gen4 owners, I'll probably just stick with the clutch fan.
 
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