Eh 2nd fan clutch went out, worked great and stopped spinning when warm. Went ahead ordered electric one from summit which has thermostat **** attached.ill give the update when I get it on.

 

The clutch fan is not supposed to engage when the engine is warm and idling. The fan should be free spinning as long as coolant flow through the radiator provides sufficient cooling, which is most of the time. If your temp gauge is showing normal operating temperature, the fan should be free wheeling. From your description, your new clutch fan is operating exactly as it's supposed to.

The clutch will only engage when the engine is stressed and hot, as under load or in heavy stop and go traffic in hot weather. These are conditions that are not normally observed on an engine sitting in a driveway with the hood up idling or even revving, unless there are serious problems with the rest of the cooling system, such as bad T-stat or clogged radiator.

 

That's how I tested it I drove it around and when I came to idle after driving for about 10 minutes, after warned up I idled it with hood closed, after driving. Needle started pulling slowly and when it got to the point where it Kicked ongoid last time and waited 3 minutes it just stayed weak. So I shut it down. Spun the fan with my hand and mot even close to thick. She was getting way to warm for that. Radiator flow is good, pulled off waterpump and ran a hose through for about 20 minutes I didn't see a problem. Just that clutch. I just have bad luck with clutch fans I guess. If she's moving over 20 mph she stays cool fine, it's just when at stop and go.

 

im not sure what efan crapped on everyone's heart here. but i installed the taurus 2 speed efan on mine and for a $25 junkyard find this THING BLOWS! in a good way... i have the low speed hooked up to a thermoswitch and my god it barley hits a quarter on the guage, and i have the high speed wired to a switch on the dash just in case. (i never use it) and i deal with 100+ weather everyday and traffic. no problems. at all. vs my old clutch fan which went out and tried to commit suicide.

im not saying clutch fans are bad, when they work there great (30 years ago). but for a cheaper better airflow that you know is actually working... get an efan. im not one to replace things just to do it my clutch fan went out and i tried to source one, found an efan and wired it myself, done and done.

IF thats going to solve the problem your having idk, maybe something else is going on.

 

Normally clutch fans seize up on failure. This is why mftrs still use them in most vehicles. Typically new cars are using electric fans for auxiliary cooling for AC and oil coolers and such. Some mftrs are using primary electric fans for space reasons, they can't fit a cluth fan in the area. This started back in the 80s. At any rate, a failed clutch fan would normally be siezed even when hot.

You may have some other cooling issue like Ray says.

I will say I love my dual MR2 electric fans wired redundantly. Safe and very cool!

 

Good point Tim, that's the only problem I've had with the clutch fans, they seize up and roar like a jet engine all the time.

Nick if you don't have plans for those "bad" clutch fans, send them to me. If it turns out I can put them into service I'd be happy to compensate you for them.

In the mean time, you should just go with the electric fan, especially since you already ordered it. It should work fine and lots of folks prefer them.

 

A primary motivator to move to e-fans was transverse-mounted engines. The 90 degree linkage needed to power a mechanical fan drove the OEMs to electric.

 

There not mine, a friend loaned them to me, he said he was going to fix them up.i just got tired of trying. Lol

 

i recently upgraded my RX-3 to mercury villager fan from fiero. it is way stronger than a fiero but not as strong as a taurus fan in my son's FB with 12-a streeport. i highly recommend it. Thx to the how to over at the 2nd gen section.

 

For a ford short block, fit perfectly 15 inches side 18 inches down. Turn **** thermostat. 2800 Cfm, for a v8.

 

Nice fit!

 

Matches the Black Magic Fan I use. Meant for a mustang. They also have a nifty solid state fan controller that has a soft start up and varies the speed of the speed of the fan with the temp of the radiator so it speeds up at higher temps. Saves amps at moderate temps, also has circuits for Air conditioning etc. I am very pleased with mine.

However I do agree with Ray, the fan clutch does a much better job than most people give it credit for.

 

When that fan clutch did work for the little it did awesome. It just stopped.

 

I went with the dual MR2 fans and have never regretted it. Combined it with a $17.00 fan controller from Autozone and have no issues.


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had the same problem last summer, where I put an electric fan on my GSLSE. It was great, and mine was a 2600 cfm be cool unit. when it turned on the temps would instantly start to go down, but it was stupid loud. Sounded like a jet engine or huge turbo spooling up

 

If u do it right an e fan is probably great... But most cases the clutch fan is excellent and less likely to fail where an overheating issue will occur, in my experience....

 

True. The only real benefit I found in the swap was that the car seemed a to have a lot more pep in 1st/2nd gears than with the clutch fan. Might not seem like much, but for autocross it makes a big difference...

 

^ made a difference to me on the butt dyno too. Plus my other motivator was the obscene belt wear in the summer compared to the winter. I will never know why my belts (dual pulley) seem to wear out quick anytime the clutch fan is in use often, but they do! Seems like that thing is just hard to turn at times.

 

I've had good and bad luck with clutch fans. But either way, I'm glad I went with electric in the brown car. I'll do a clutch fan in the red one though. Both have a tall radiator with an oil cooler out in front.

Or the red one will soon. I made a copy of the GSL-SE style oil line bracket and will throw an RX-4/Cosmo oil cooler it it. Looking forward to that. It has the 84-85 oil cooler mounting ears in the chassis so I'll see what I can do with them.

 

I'm guessing its hard to turn because it moves a crap ton of air.. I'm guessing more than an e fan... I'll sacrifice a lil power for peace of mind of a cool car on an engine that's known to run hot

 

I haven't had any more problems. I can sit in traffic, get off the interstate without inching up, I went ahead and installed a switch too. I run it constantly and have it wired up to the battery. When i shut it down it starts up 30 seconds later, It runs for about 15, 20 seconds then shuts off. No more heat soak. Sounds like a turbine but I love it. It fit in between the top and bottom core snug so I took 4 gigantic zip ties and ran it through the condenser and the support brackets down the middle on the fan. It's not going anywhere.

 

Yup, the high flow efans are pretty noisy lol.