Taurus fan conversion question?

[PK99TJ]

Here's the situation. I've swapped out my 99 2.5L shroud and removed the mechanical fan for a Ford electric fan pulled from a taurus.

Now, I am fairly confident of the wiring, that I have all the proper gauge wires, properly sized relays, fuses, and so on.

Ran it today in the garage for about 20 minutes, it was keeping the jeep at about 180-190*, kicking on and off as needed. All seemed well... pretty sure I had the temperature settings dialed in properly on the Imperial fan controller.

Not long after it was fully warmed up and was running for 20 minutes, the fan itself started smoking.

The fan was setup as a puller, and was mounted directly behind the radiator with no gaps.

I was using the high, not low, fan speed setting.

Ok... so did I get a bad fan? It sure seems that way. I actually have two of them. So, before I make the other one smoke, maybe someone could just confirm for me that I didn't overlook something. It seems like these fans should be able to run for extended periods pulling 180-200+ degree air without troubles... but mine lasted just 20 minutes.

So, any opinions would help me out.

Thanks guys
PK

[PK99TJ]

Well, anyway...

It appears to have been a bad fan. I swapped the other one in -- and have no such similar issues.

PK

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by PK99TJ
Well, anyway...

It appears to have been a bad fan. I swapped the other one in -- and have no such similar issues.

PK

Since you had two, that would have been my guess.

Here's what I find interesting. I have a brand new E-fan from a Liberty I bought right. It was a dealer take-off because the customer had the tow package installed and that means they replace the electric fan with a mechanical one.

That has diminished my confidence in swapping to a full electric. Unless the Liberty fan is just way under powered for the application.

[Allen]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Since you had two, that would have been my guess.

Here's what I find interesting. I have a brand new E-fan from a Liberty I bought right. It was a dealer take-off because the customer had the tow package installed and that means they replace the electric fan with a mechanical one.

That has diminished my confidence in swapping to a full electric. Unless the Liberty fan is just way under powered for the application.

A WJ with the 4.0L has an electric fan.

A WJ with the 4.7L has both an electrical and a mechanical fan.

My WJ with the 4.0L also has both. It was a tight squeeze.

Allen

[PK99TJ]

From everything I've gathered in a stack of printouts over the last few months, the Taurus fan is somewhat unique in that it is both powerful and durable. I'm at least half convinced.

I didn't skimp anywhere on the wiring, so it was a bit of a disappointment to watch my original fan go up in smoke, but the second fan has at least a good 30-40 miles on it now, no problems. Now that I think about it, the original fan really did a number on the volt meter when it kicked on, dipping from 14 to 12 and back and forth. So, it might have had some problems. I don't notice anything like that with the new one.

I might couple the fan with one of those relay timers we were talking about in another thread, and let it have a 5 minute cool down after key-off as an added what-the-heck...

I'm happy to ditch that gigantic fan shroud and gain some engine room back. I can't imagine how the original fan and shroud were particularly efficient, having to bridge that gap
between the engine and the radiator, it must be a foot or more between them.

[TObject]

The shroud is very important to the factory system, those who removed or cut pieces off of it quickly found out that they screwed their cooling.

Going under desired voltage on electric motors is dangerous because the current shots up under load and melts the induction coils.

Good luck with your electric fan; let us know how you like it.

[PK99TJ]

I need to again clean up the wiring a bit, now that I've swapped the new fan in.

Anyway, newly acquired easy access to the top diff cover bolts, I guess.