I was on a trail tonight with a friend. Just strating some crawling. When suddenly, i smelled melting wires followed by a wonderful orange glow under my hood. Quickly, i stopped the truck, shut her down and made shure i wasent too close to the cliff next to me. I grabed my fire extinguisher from the side of the seat, and jumped out of the truck. After soaking the engine bay with that baking soda shit from the open wheel well, i popped the hood.

My electric fan self distructed. Realy odd. The positive wire all the way to the fuse box was crispy, yet the fuse didnt blow. And the fan was dripping its plastic casing into my raidiator.
My friend told me that after that last rock, he heard the fan squeeking badly. And here i tought is was just some mud in my brakes. Soon there after, smoke then flames.

Has anybody had a problem with thier Flexalite fans like this?
And is thier a better brand out there that wont well, burst into flames?

sounds like the bearing seized. do you run in water or mud much, either of those in there will cause it to fail pretty quick.
I would suggest a smaller fuse next time, if in doubt start with a small one and keep upsizing untill they stop popping.

yep smaller fuse or bigger wire. The fuse and wire should be sized together so that the fuse blows before all the insulation melts off or crispifies on the wire. You should also look into a electric fan manufactured by Ford Chevy dodge toyota Honda whatever, they are a lot better than any of the aftermarket ones in my opinion.

Im running a 15amp fuse right now. Mutch less than that, and the fan wont spin :D:D Well, today i get to inpsect the engine for damage. Attempting to drive 10 miles w/o a fan is a fun experance.

Another option is turning off the fan when going through deep water and mud, or when blasting through puddles, this will keep the bearing a little cleaner cause the fan won't suck the mud into it. Just remember to turn the fan back on...:flipoff2:

Brian--

I actually just ordered a 16" flexalite fan...its a 2000 CFM (pull) model, it draws 11 amps...
Glad i saw this thread..I'll be extra sure I wired it up correctly.

MJ

I run a ford taurus electric fan in my toy and my bros race car and have had good luck with them..

yea definately try an OEM fen. they are a lot higher quality and sometimes you can find them for quite a bit cheaper too.

any idea what cfm those taurus fans pull?:beer:

Originally posted by FULLSIZE
any idea what cfm those taurus fans pull?:beer:

I did a fan swap a few months ago. If you go with these fans, you'll need at least a 75 amp relay.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21025&highlight=%2Afan%2A