EASY E-Fan Installation Write-Up

[BCYJ]

Not another Taurus Fan install:

Introduction:

The purpose of this write-up is to give a basic no brainer to an electric fan installation for a jeep, or any other vehicle for that matter. No I’m not installing a Taurus Fan into my YJ. I run a 2.5L YJ and determined that I only really need about 1800 – 2200 CFM to cool the engine. So why would I really need a High powered 4000+ CFM fan for my YJ? To kill my alternator with a spike drain of 75+ amps and a high end drain of approximately 33 Amps? I don’t think so…

Purpose:

I began the build with the intention of freeing up some horsepower by removing the manual clutch fan from the crank. Any time you can take a strain off the crank shaft you can gain a small amount of horsepower. And as we all know the 2.5L is know for having a lack of horsepower, we hear this every day from the 4L guys.

Parts you’ll need:

-An electric fan, be careful on picking your e-fan with this build, I only use a 40 Amp relay and a 40 Amp fuse, and 12 Gauge wire, BECAUSE THAT’S what the factory did with my E-FAN!
-A 40 amp fuse and 2 female spade connectors
-Various wire connectors and heat shrink
-Hayden Imperial Adjustable control module P/N 226204-123647 (The guy at my local shop just needed the number 3647)
-Electric Fan Radiator mounts, basically work like Zip Ties, work really well.

Finding the ‘right’ Fan’:

So with NO wiring schematic in hand or really ANY basic knowledge of wiring, trust me my wiring sucks! I headed off to the local ‘Pick a Part’ to find my prize! I know that I wanted a 2 speed fan so that I could only hook up the high side, that way I knew that it would be pulling a fair chunk of air. A friend of mine has a Taurus fan hooked up to his 4L YJ so I knew how much air it pushed just from holding my hand behind the radiator, so I knew that I needed something comparable, or close enough.

Sure enough at ‘Pick a Part’ I found a Taurus fan. But I didn’t want it even though it was tempting. What else could I find? Pick a Part is really nice this way, you can run through their junk yard for hours to find your perfect part, I was like a kid in a candy store! Checking a lot of import and domestic cars I seemed to find a lot of smaller single speed 12 inch fans, I knew these would be a waste of time so I let them be.

FINALLY I found a perfect fan. 2 speed, dual 13” fan setup from a 1995 Dodge Stratus 2.5L. I took a quick measurement of the dodges radiator, sure enough their radiator was substantially bigger than mine, and it also had a transmission cooler parked in front of the radiator. Could a fan that cools a bigger radiator cool a smaller radiator?

Well it looked like a nice clean setup so I pulled it. You can always tell a 2 speed fan from a single speed fan because a dual speed fan will have 3 wires heading into the connector, a single speed fan will only have 2 wires from what I’ve seen. Ok, the fan is pulled, whats next? Cut the wires and find out if the damn thing fires up NOOB! Yes you have to make sure it works before you buy it! (I had made this mistake with electrical stuff in the past) Sure enough I found the high side and the low side, and the high side throws a lot of air! Done, we’ve got our fan, $36 to Pick a Part and we’re on our way home.

The Installation:

So I’ve got the fan, all I need to do is wire it up. So I searched through the internet and have seen millions of write ups. And they’re all good, some really good! But most are for a Taurus fan, so you’ve got to hook up a huge 70+ amp relay through your system. There has to be something easier. Well looking though the write ups I found a cool part from HAYDEN, an Adjustable electric fan controller, the guy had used this in a Taurus build. The module comes with the thermostat, power wires and almost everything needed to hook up a fan. It’s even connected to a 40AMP continuous duty relay! Perfect!

If in doubt with my installation guide refer to the instructions that come with the Hayden control module, it tells you what to do!

1) Connect the Negative Fan power line to the negative Battery terminal

2) Make sure you’ve found your High side wire from the electric fan, or if your going to only use the low side then do the opposite, cut your low side wire short and tie it off somewhere.

3) The fan module comes with a 25 Amp fuse connector; I ended up blowing that fuse straight away. I replaced it with a 40 amp fuse using 2 female spade connectors. One lead is already attached to the Hayden Module, attach the other end to the high side wire of the fan motor. It should look like this:

http://www.s-seriesforum.com/picture...es/Image16.jpg

4) A small black wire from the Hayden module needs to be connected to a ground, I used the ground connection for my headlights as it was really close to my module.

5) The thicker 12 Gauge RED wire coming from the Hayden box is your positive power wire, this wire needs to go to the positive side of the battery terminal

6) The final wire you’re going to play with is a Yellow wire, this needs to be connected in 1 of 2 ways:

- Way number 1 is connect it to the positive side of the battery terminal. If you do it this way the fan will continue to run even when the engine is turned off. It will act like a cool down fan, BUT this can drain your battery! It has not drained mine though.

- The second way is to find a wire that gets constant power when your key is turned to ignition ON, Then tap the yellow wire into this power connection, this way the fan will only run when the ignition is on. This wire that you tap into MUST get constant POWER! It must be hot from the time when you turn the engine on until you turn the engine off.

7) Attach the fan to your radiator with the radiator mounts. BE careful when pushing the zip ties through the radiator fins!

8) I’ll add in a wiring check step for you. Use a lighter against the thermostat and heat up the thermostat and make sure your fan turns on. If it does then carry on to step 9, if it does not, then refer to the previous steps and check your wiring! If you wired it into the ignition ON wire, then make sure your ignition is ON before checking to see if the fan runs!

8.5) There are other wires on the Hayden control module, a blue and green wire, I cut them short and tied them off, I forget what they're used for, but they are NOT important to this build!

9) The next step is to attach the thermostat to the radiator, I attached mine through the fins near the inlet portion of the radiator for a more accurate reading of the engines Temperature. Again, the Hayden kit comes with everything you need to hook up the thermostat.

10) The final step is to adjust the thermostat when to come on and go off. There is a little dial on the module, turn it all the way to one side, either side will do. Have a friend sit in the cab and turn the engine on, show him/her your thermostat inside your cab and get him/her to tell you when the engine reaches optimal running temperature(tell him/her what that temperature is too). I set mine at 90’C. IF you start the engine and the fan starts running as the engine is warming up, BEFORE it reaches optimal running temperature, turn the dial all the way to the other side. The Hayden module can be set from 120’F to 240’F. When engine reaches optimal running temperature adjust the thermostat down until the fan kicks on. Voila, it may take a bit of tinkering and tweeking to get it just right.

11)Watch the fan cycle for about 5 - 10 minutes and make sure it can keep the engine cool at a standstill. Then take it out for a run and make sure it can keep your engine cool while running!

It works:

So it works, perfectly! I’ve been running my jeep for about 4 – 6 weeks now on the e-fan alone with no problems! It holds it PERFECTLY at 90’c and will fluctuate about 5’C above and below that temperature setting. I even warmed up the jeep and held the engine at 3400 RPM for a good couple of blocks (to simulate wheeling) in first gear and the temperature gauge never really flinched. I'll wheel with it soon enough and repot back on any complications, or if all is well!

I’d only assume that you guys with a Taurus fan could remove the 40 AMP relay from the control module (it just pops out), and wire in a 70 AMP relay using spade connectors. For safety reasons, and my own peace of mind I do carry another 40 Amp relay and another 40 Amp fuse just incase, but I have not needed them yet. I still even carry the clutch fan, Yes I am paranoid, but in my opnion its best this way, I’d rather have it and not need it, than NOT have it and need it!

Conclusions:

Well after running for 4 - 6 weeks with the e-fan do you notice a difference? Yeah you do notice a little bit of horsepower difference. No, it won’t make your 4banger into a huge horsepower monster. I see the major benefit is how much smoother the engine handles now, power is the same from startup to 100 KM away, its very consistent and to my belief it runs smoother with the e-fan than it ever did with the clutch fan installed. It’s a noticeable HUGE difference in performance to my belief! I cannot believe how much of a difference loosing that 10 pound chunk of metal makes.

I also run a stock 90 Amp alternator, and when sitting at idle you can notice a drain on the alternator when the fan kicks on. An upgrade to a 136 Amp alternator is in the works as I’m also planning on a winch in the near future, so my power issues need to be addressed anyways! See here for an easy Jeep Wrangler TJ/YJ 136 amp alternator upgrade:

http://www.bc4x4.com/tech/2004/jeepalt/

Best improvement I've made so far besides the 4.88 gears and the 8.8. I've also got a 4L throttle body and a K&N filter, both help a little but hands down I'll give it to the e-fan.

Looking at other e-fan installations, I’ve often wondered why they tell you to use an 8 or a 10 gauge wire when most fans come from the factory with 12 gauge wires like mine did. I don’t know, BUT I do hope this write up helps you in a quest for an easier e-fan installation guide. IF ANYTHING all you need to do is go and buy the Hayden Fan control module and read the installation instructions. IT’S EASY! P.S. I do not work for Hayden, or get any money from Hayden for pushing their product.

Craig
Dtaix@yahoo.com

Credit where Credit is due:

http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/efaninstall.htm

http://www.geocities.com/smithmonte/...rkVIII_Fan.htm

http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1700

http://www.s-seriesforum.com/how-to-efan.html

http://www.inajeep.com/cjbuildup/mybuildup14.php