My family and I like to camp a lot and seem to be going out almost every other weekend. Living near Lake Tahoe, we travel over many mountainous roads on our way to our favorite campgrounds. The F150 handles the load very well except for a lack of power going over 7 to 8000 ft. passes. Some of this lack of power comes from the engine cooling fan coming on and occasionally fully engaging. When this happens, I can definitely feel a loss in power until the fan clutch switches back to part-engagement or disengages completely. The fan also makes a high-pitched whistle when fully engaged at high RPM. Is this normal? My '07 F350 PSD did the same thing...

So I'm about to pull the trigger on the Troyer e-fans. My question is: will this fan setup be capable of cooling the engine as well as the stock fan under these towing conditions? I run the engine hard at high RPM (2nd at 3500-4000 or higher) to keep speed up some long grades. In the heat, this puts a lot of demand on the cooling system. Will the e-fans keep up?

Also, I would also like to add 2 4" or 5" cooling fans on the factory transmission cooler. The truck came with a long narrow cooler that doesn't look to have that great of airflow in it's current position, especially at lower speeds. Towing obviously puts high heat demands on the transmission but I haven't actually measured what my temps are under load. I just want to be sure I have all my bases covered as I plan to tow a lot over the next few years with this truck (no, a Super Duty is not an option).

 

In the Troyer kit, each of the two fans has a higher capacity than the clutch kit, so surely one will be able to cool the engine as well as the clutch fan.... better if you had both running, of course.

 

Anyone else? I'm really interested in anyone towing with e-fans...

 

IMO, your drop in power at 8,000 ft elevation is because of the thin air, not because you are running a mechanical fan.... Even if you weren't turning a fan, you would still be sucking in thin air and losing a lot more hp then whatever a mechanical fan draws... You might free up 10-15 hp without running a mech fan, but you won't be able to tell the difference in high elevation I wouldn't think??

I don't know what the cfm rates are for either fan, but I do know that when my truck is idling with the hood up, and I put a beach towel over the grill and top of the rad the towel gets sucked into the grill and will hold itself there... Shut the truck off and the towel drops to the ground... I'm talking a full 5' long beach towel here.... Now, that's some draw of air from the fan that's not even locked...

I've had vehicles with factory electric fans in the past, and sure, they were small fans, but they didn't seem to move all that much air compared to a mechanical fan...

I don't know... For me, I prefer the mechanical fan when towing and away from home.. I've heard too many stories of fried relays and wires of folks running elect fans for one reason or another.. I'd rather have the AC on in the cab then have a few extra hp under the hood when it's 90* outside and I'm a couple hundred miles from home on a 'vacation'... That's gonna tax the cooling and electric system hard enough without having to also run a dual fan setup and however many amps that's gonna pull...

But, this is a site for mods, and electric fans are popular with the crowd.....

I'm sure someone will chime in with a 'in favor' vote for ya!

Mitch

 

No no no.. Look under the hood of just about any of the competitions trucks and tell me what you see... Thats right, 2 BIG E-Fans moving large amounts of air. The E-Fans are very reliable, will INCREASE in cabin A/C cooling as many people who own them have found out. I know I'd be able to feel 15-25RWHP that the fans free up, and up at 8k ft is where I know I'd need it. You're right, due to elevation I'm already slightly down on power, so I'd take that extra boost in a second! Go with E-Fans, every other manufacturer has, or is going to... BECAUSE THEY WORK

 

Factory installed is one thing, but the kits that are so popular on this site seem to have one issue or another popping up with them by the number of posts about fixing this or fixing that with them.....

I'm sure they do a good job at drawing in air when needed, but the Q was about towing heavy with them and specifically going up the long grades and higher elevations...

Considering that no one else has popped up with a post about how well they do for those towing situations, I can only think that not many 'towers' do this mod for one reason or another???

Well, I'm out of my element on this anyway, as I don't have E fans and don't plan on getting them anytime soon either...

I was mearly stating my reasons for 'not' wanting to go the E fan route due to my towing duties....

Mitch

 

Resurrecting this thread:

So I didn't install the Troyer e-fans yet but have another related question. I came across the "infamous" Lincoln Mark VIII / Taurus 18" 2-speed electric fan that is supposed to be rated at 5000 CFM on the high speed setting. It looks like I could easily mount this fan to the factory shroud, maintaining the factory look and more-so, cooling ALL of the air moving through the radiator. Most other dual fan kits I've seen don't cover the whole radiator.

Towing through the mountains at GCWR means I need all the cooling I can get. The factory fan keeps up fine but switches to high speed often when pulling a long grade. There is also a high-pitch whistling noise when the factory fan is on high speed, which is REALLY annoying when climbing for 10 miles. It drives my little dogs nuts, and the DW too.

So anyway, what are your thoughts on the single fan setup? Anyone do this type of conversion? I would think that even if the CFM rating was a bit optimistic, it would still exceed the CFM rating of the stock fan. I would also like a recommendation for a high-quality controller. Since I am entertaining a single fan setup, controller failure is not an option. Thanks.

 

http://www.madenterprise.com/catalog/F150.asp
Click on the F-150 per link - some interesting Mark VIII fan & controller stuff to look at. Don't let the Ferrari throw ya , lol.

Controller - most consider this one to be the best: http://www.dccontrol.com/

Another good controller (and fans) can be found here: http://www.spalusa.com/store/main.aspx

Tranny cooling options - active cooling: http://www.troyerperformance.com/cgi...3BTransmission


Your idea of adding a couple of fans to the aux cooler is ironic - I'm thinking of that myself. Will be building the controller for that myself as well ... will probably use one or two Derale or Spal fans and a fabbed bracket/frame.

My view is that the most important things that differentiate a reliable system from a crappy one is attention to detail, construction/connection/electrical best-practices, and high-quality components.

Over-engineering everything is not a bad idea for something this crucial. Everything - wire size, fuse holders, relays, waterproofing, wire routing/looming, fan & controller quality ... the whole enchilada needs to be considered holistically, IMHO. Or don't even bother.

Don't really give a rat's patottie if someone's twist-tied, duct-taped, wire-tapped, glued install of leftover hair-drier parts is working.

Gonna get flamed too by the usual dudes - still no crappies

Good luck, man.

 

Well, when you hear that 'roaring' sound from the fan, it means it's locked it's clutch and it's turning 1:1 with the rpms..... Meaning, you are really pulling in the air volume at that point! Not sure what the CFM volume is at that point, but I've never seen an electric fan pull that much volume....

Mine has done that on occasion while pulling a long hot hill too.... It's done it in really hot stop and go traffic and while stopped, I've actually put it in N and bring up the rpms of around 1500 and let it 'cool' down faster.... I can actually see my aftermarket temp gauges move while doing this as it 'cools' down!

IMO, if you don't hear the fan pulling in gobs of air when it needs it, then it ain't pulling in the equivalent volume as the OEM setup???

Again, I'm out of my element on this, as I'm not an E fan user.... If anything, this thread has convinced ME that I don't want to go to E fans anytime soon! But, that's just me and I'm really, really conservative on these kind of things when I'm towing with a truck that has over 200,000 trouble free miles on it!!

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do!!

Mitch

 

Awesome. Just what I was looking for! The kit comes with it's own controller:

http://www.madenterprise.com/catalog/fan_control.htm

By the description, it looks to be of good quality. And they have a 90 day "no questions asked" return policy. At $100 less than the Troyer kit, I'm giving this some serious thought.

I added a trans cooler fan last summer just after starting this thread. I used these parts from SPAL:

VA36-A101-46A Fan w/ PKSL (15300002) (5.2)
5.2" Paddle Blade
185FH Fan Harness Kit

The first item is the fan. It's used in motorcycle applications and was just the right size for mounting on the cooler. I used "through-the-cooler" plastic mounting pins.

The second item is the temp sensor and relay kit. The sensor goes in to the trans test port. It was a very easy install but took a few hours cuz I'm super **** about wiring and how it looks. :o

Now when I am backing my travel trailer or sitting a a stop light in the heat, the fan kicks on and provides much needed cooling since the trans cooler is a passive radiator. I haven't measured temps yet but I'm sure it's helping. I plan on adding another one soon just for grins.

I totally agree. When I do a project like this, it usually takes me at least twice as long as it should. I pay attention to every detail and double check everything. Maybe I'm just a tad OCD. But because it takes longer, I can drink more beer during the mod.

 

Yeah, the roaring is annoying. And I'm sure it's pulling some major CFMs. I have seen CFM cooling requirements in the 3000 range specified for the 5.4. Surely the stock fan pulls more than that. My only concern is that if the CFM requirements are for "normal" operation or at the GCWR. So far, I haven't found an answer. The dealers are clueless and Ford customer support knows even less. Either way, It looks like both the Troyer and Mad Enterprises solutions far exceed the 3000 CFM requirements.

I'm fairly conservative on these types of things as well. But if something is well engineered and I can install it correctly, then I get a better comfort level. Believe me, I certainly don't want to be stranded with the wife, kids, and dogs on the side of the road. At least I would have the TT to hang out in while AAA comes to the rescue.

 

ive heard 2010 F150s have factory Efans, but i havent been to the dealer to confirm this.

i myself pulled 6,000# on my truck with efans and had no overheating issues, in hot july in texas

 

I have heard that too but no definite confirmation yet. I wonder if the '10 fan setup would be a drop-in for earlier models? Hmmm...

Good to know. My TT weighs about 7000 and which is close enough to yours that there is likely no difference in cooling needs. Thanks.

 

The new ones would be pulse width modulated, so idk if you can run a continuous 12v to it or not i bet you could tho


My tow wasnt a TT, so it was a little more aerodynamic than a TT but still weight is weight.

 

Well after getting my toybox I kicked around getting a bigger radiator and e-fans. Anyways the old lady blows her radiater and after call the dealer that wanted $400 for a new one I call this place in town "The Radiator Man" he got me it for $90. Little place that has been there for years and is well known in town, the owner is this little old guy. So I told him what I wanted for my truck, then he asked me "does it overheat?" I said no... I said, but I tow a big trailer? He said "Does it overheat?" I said no, I said but I want to cool it better? He said it's cooling just fine, he told me that he thinks it's a waste of money if the truck is not overheating, he said when it does bring it back and we will fix it.

Also, I drive a semi for work every day, never seen one of them with a e-fan Just wish I could lock my pickup fan like I can in my Pet!!