Well i did the electric fan upgrade last night, I have to say that I an very impressed with the results so far. I put a 16" perma cool fan with a temperature switch and an air conditioner relay (I can manually shut off the fan when it comes on because of the air conditioner). Cost for fan, temp sensor, and relay $128. I also have to buy some wiring and buy those components which cost aboiut $20. The engine runs quiter, seems to have more power, and should be getting better gas mileage( i will post my results for mileage next week). Just some info for everyone to look over.

Yesterday with stock fan on the truck, outside temp was in the mid 60's truck temp ran between 95 and 97 Deg C.

Today with electric fan on the truck, outside temp was in the low 70's truck temp ran between 93 and 95 Dec C. (the fan never turned on during my whole trip to work).

It almost seems that the stoc fan slows down the air going through the radiator (at highway speesd).

My past gas mileage for the last two fillups (21.12 and 22.03 MPG) almost all highway driving.

The only concern I have is how the fan will perform in stop and go traffic with the air conditioner on. After letting the truck sit in the driveway with the a/c on the temp reached 102 Deg C (outside temp 71 Deg F).

I drove home from work yesterday and the outside temp was near 90. The truck ran between 97 and 99 Deg C (highway speeds) and hit 100 in stop and go traffic.

I will post more results as they become avalible. I just want to help people who may be considering this upgrade. (especially with the insane gas prices). If you have any further questions feel free to email me.

Does anyone know how high I can let the temp get before I get concerned?

 

Have u ever considered running two 14 or 16 inch fans. Running two 14 perm-a-cools moves between 4000-6000 cfm.
As a mattter of fact that set up, according to PMAC is suffcient for a big block.

 

Have been running and electric fan for about a month now, can't say enough good things about it. The fan only turns on when sitting in traffic for several minutes and then just only long enough to cool the engine down, maybe 2 minutes at most. Gas mileage has increased about 1 to 1.5 mpg, engine is quieter too.

 

I just installed my electric fan. At first I didn't think it was working but when I messed around with the thermostat setting and lowered it the fan came on for like 30 seconds while the truck was running.

The only problem is I can't get the ac relay to work. I found one wire that lookedike black and yellow but the it wouldn't work when I put on the ac. Where exactly is the wire? An is black with a yellow strip or yellow with a black strip?

Also since I rarely ever use AC is it normal for the engine to seem to not idle good and make weird hissing noises when the ac is on?

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black 97' x-cab 4x4, 5 speed 4.6, black westin nerf bars, 6 cd changer and a 12 premier sub, pilot ground searchers, borla SS split rear exhaust, K&N genII, bosch +4 plugs, superchip, flexalite electric fan, v-tech oval side window covers, IAS shocks


still to come: new spark plug wires, new rims and tires.

 

If I remember correctly, its black with a yellow stripe. You can verify this on a 97 by pulling the plastic wire loom from the AC clutch connector, one wire should be black /yellow. The compressor is very low on the passenger side of the engine, it may be easier to crawl under the truck to see it. You can verify it by sticking a small pin through the wire, connecting a multimeter or test light to it and ground and running the AC. you should see 12V on it when the clutch pulls in.
Hope this helps

 

I just put an electric fan on yesterday. On the '99 V6, there are only two wires going to the AC compressor - A black one and a gray one. I figured the black was ground, so I went with gray. Works just right.

 

Thanks, I was just very very color blind. Don't know how I missed this one.

Anyway 1 other question, I got the Flexalite Black magic fan, which way lowers the temperature? I looked at it and their where no instructions or directions as to which way you turn the *** to adjust the setting to what temperatures. Is it clockwise to lower or raise temp, or counter? Anyone know?

 

That's the same fan I bought. Counter-clockwise makes the fan turn on at a lower temp. Since the range is 180 to 240 degrees, I started with it in the middle and fine tuned it after warming up the engine and doing a drive.

BTW, I had to use the long threaded bolts (all the way in) to mount, and with this arrangment the mounting plate interfered with the control ****. So I had to drill a hole for the ****.

Overall, the install took a lot longer than I thought it would. I borrowed the fan clutch removal tool set from Pep Boys, but the large wrenches to hold the 4 bolts were too big, and I had to tape some thin steel straps inside the wrench to reduce its size.

Oh yeah, for the on/off wire that doesn't go to the A/C, I used Bill Aquino's tip in another thread of using the red wire into the MAF. Thanks for the tip, Bill - that was a real easy place to find a hot wire that goes on with the ignition.
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1999 XLT S/C, 4.2 V-6, auto, 3.55 rear, dark torreador red/harvest gold, Ford bed liner

Clarion ARX8570z Head Unit, Sony 10 disc CD, Infinity 610cs components & JBL GTO7520 speakers; adding an amp and Polk woofer

Edelbrock IAS, Steeda Rear Anti-sway bar,

Superchip, Airaid FIPK, Flex-a-Lite Black Magic electric fan




[This message has been edited by dirt bike dave (edited 06-12-2000).]

 

Got everything running all set now. I got the thermostat set at about 190. I did the same thing with the MAS wire, I really don't like how that looks to much but for now it works fine. Also it took some finagling to get the fan mounted good on the radiator, one day I'll make everything look better.

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black 97' x-cab 4x4, 5 speed 4.6, black westin nerf bars, 6 cd changer and a 12 premier sub, pilot ground searchers, borla SS split rear exhaust, K&N genII, bosch +4 plugs, superchip, flexalite electric fan, v-tech oval side window covers, IAS shocks


still to come: new spark plug wires, new rims and tires.

 

Well I now have results for the mpg from the fan upgrade. These are my past fillups and mpg.

Mileage / Gallons / MPG for fillup/ Avg MPG
8540.4 / 15.763 / 18.233 /18.424
8881.4 / 15.763 / 21.633 / 18.529
9234.5 / 18.76 / 18.822 /18.540
9650.7 / 12.126 / 34.323 /18.915
9854.5 / 18.525 / 11.001 /18.638
10183.2 / 14.361 / 22.888 / 18.750
10441 / 14.204 / 18.150 / 18.735
10832.7 / 18.542 / 21.125 / 18.812
11194.1 / 16.4 / 22.037 / 18.901
11472.1 / 15.511 / 17.923 / 18.876
After Electric Fan
11808.8 / 13.777 / 24.439 /18.999

There were two records that were not fillups (the ones with high or low MPG per tank). From what I can tell, the fan upgrade gave me about 2-2.5 mpg difference.

On a side note, the perma cool fan was not enough for my truck. I ended up using the perma cool fan and a electric fan from another vehicle. One fan was enough cooling if the a/c is not on. I have one fan that comes on when the temperature gets to 99 Deg C. The other is wired to the a/c relay, it comes on when you turn the ac on, but I have a cutout switch to shut it off at highway speeds.

[This message has been edited by broken (edited 06-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by broken (edited 06-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by broken (edited 06-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by broken (edited 06-14-2000).]

 

Hey Guys,

What's the serial number on that Black Magic fan?

Bill,

What size is your engine?

Thanks, All. fish

 

Does installing a aftermarket fan void the warranty

Regards

Sean
SLC, UT

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gofish - if your talking about the Black Magic 150 fan, thats it. It's just that one for a universal fit, most Flex-a-lite are rated for CFM and horspower applications w/ universal fits then for specific models.


ren - not sure if it voids warrenty or not, personally I don't care.

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black 97' x-cab 4x4, 5 speed 4.6, black westin nerf bars, 6 cd changer and a 12 premier sub, pilot ground searchers, borla SS split rear exhaust, K&N genII, bosch +4 plugs, superchip, flexalite electric fan, v-tech oval side window covers, IAS shocks


still to come: new spark plug wires, new rims and tires.

 

My engine is a 4.6L, manual trans, 4x4, SC. I used the flexalite 210 which is rated by flexalite for considerably larger engines. I've added a very sensitive pressure switch that shuts off the fan if the vehicle is moving faster than about 25, works great.

 

Go with the black magic 150. Here's the link:
http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/blackmag.htm

The 150 is "designed for 4-wheel and off-road, higher horsepower and sport truck applications". <their words>

Both the 150 and 210 have an adj thermostat and ac relay, but specs show that the 150 would be a better choice:

The 210 model 'sucks' 2500 cfm at 19.5 amps.
The 150 model 'sucks' 2800 cfm at 13.9 amps.

I believe Summit has the 150 for less than $200.