Anyone looking here and doing a search for info on Mike Troyer's fan kits has probably seen one or more of my posts. If you have, you know how nice they look, you have read how quiet it is under my hood. That’s all well and good...here’s the best news.... I drove from Boston, Massachusetts to Ottertail, Minnesota and back over the weekend, I picked up a 1953 Ford F-250, towed it 1550 miles basically non-stop back home on a U-Haul car carrier. The fans worked flawlessly...
I drove with the odometer in test mode monitoring the engine temp constantly, the temp changed between 4-6°C the entire trip.... that’s day, night, warm, cool and even some rain. I drove out the northern route and back the southern route, through the mountains of Penn. I'm not sure exactly what the entire rig weighed but it wasn't light.

I now have full trust in these fan kits, I'm not saying I didn't trust them prior, I'm stating that I have now proven there worth to myself without doubts.

 

HI!... I've been running two DERALE 16" fans for over 4 years now with NO problems at all. They are top quality fans. I have full confedence in them.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-6935.jpg
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-7163.jpg

 

Hi S'CrewLoose,

Good to see you again!

Sounds like you gave your cooling system a pretty good workout with that long & heavy towing job. What you reported seeing, the narrow variance in coolant temperatures regardless of load or weather, is a key hallmark of our Electric Fan Kit.

We were lucky in that with last year's heat wave gave us several opportunities to do really severe testing in BIG heat, with outside ambient air temps as high as 117 degrees, for example. And still using the stock 192 degree t-stat, we were never able to make any of the test vehicles overheat with our Electric Fan Kit.

One of our tests forces the vehicle to idle in gear for a full hour with the automatic transmission in Drive, emergency brake set and the A/C on full blast, with outside air temperatures of 117 degrees. That's about a brutal as it can get, & we've done that particular test in temps ranging from 108 degrees F to as high as 117F, with a few 111 & 115 degree temps thrown in, thanks to last year's heat wave out in the desert SouthWest.

The conditions you put it thru, towing a big load thru the mountains, in varying weather conditions, etc. is also a good test, that's nice data as well.

Thanks very much for your post S'CrewLoose, we appreciate you sharing your results with us & continued good luck with your truck!

 

Tell me more about putting the "odometer in test mode". I had not heard of this before . . .

 

sooo_alive,
The odometer can be used as a Diagnostics tool to check things like engine temp, battery output, dash cluster bulb test..........check out this page from Mustangworld.......

Good Luck Ed

http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/99hec.htm

 

ooohhhh - very cool! thanks!

 

Hi S'CrewLoose & sooo alive,

Just a quick note here...........

Yes indeed, teh digital odo test gauge mode is very cool & helpful. However, one thing to note is that in the F-150, the digital odometer readout, when you change it over to it's digital test gauge mode, DOES NOT have an engine coolant temperature readout. What displays when you see the "C" is actually the **cylinder head temperature**, not engine coolant temperature, there is no coolant temp display in the F-150's digital odo test gauge mode.

I don't know if it's any different in the Mustang in that regard.

Also, some time back JMC had kindly printed out a list of all the F-150's digital odo test gauges, and there too, no engine coolant temperature display is listed.

Some time ago we used to think that was engine coolant temperature being displayed until we dug into it a bit more and found it was actually the cylinder head temperature instead. Some people *have* used that readout to calibrate their fan turn-on temps, that does work, and nobody has had any problems as a result. But we advise if you don't have a scan tool or can't borrow one to set the turn-on temps by reading the engine coolant temperature sensor, to just follow our instructions in our manual for the alternate method, which is to use a simple infrared point & shoot thermometer pointed at the probes in the radiator fins to calibrate the turn-on temps. In our installation manual, we thoroughly documented both of those methods of calibration so you can do it either way, and don't have to have an expensive scan tool.

Just FYI.................

 

In the absense of a scan tool or infared tool, what cylinder head temp are people using to set the turn on temps at? I assume this is not the "preferred" way to set the temp?

Is there an easy way to get a scan tool or infared tool?

 

Galaxy,

I bought an infrared thermometer from Sears for less than $50. It worked great and I now can quickly check the temperature of my kids' foreheads.

Dave

 

What about this...Is their an easy place to install a temp probe from a mechanical temp gauge that would be close enough to the thermostat to be accurate enough to set turn on temps? I was thinking I could temporairly remove my trans temp gauge probe, plug the hole, and install it to get a water temp reading while I set my turn on temps. Removing it from my trans line and plugging that hole is a piece of cake, 2 min job if there's somewhere convenient to mount it in the cooling system temporairly.

Using an actual gauge like this, what temps would I use for the turn on setting?

I think this would be a better way than relying on the CHT from the odometer, don't you??????????