Anyone care to speculate on the gains of Underdrive Pulleys vs. E-Fans?
I ask because I am leery of replacing my fan with an electric. I just replaced the fan clutch. I don't really like it because it is loud as all get out when it kicks in, however as long as my motor is turning I have know the fan is turning. Electric fans are very reliable from what I can see. Instead of jacking with the electrical involved I figured I would install under drive pulleys and keep the stock fan.
I don't run extra lights or a high powered stereo system. I have replaced the head unit and speakers and included a 4 channel amp but nothing huge by any means. That being said, pulleys or e-fans?

 

fans if you know how to build a quality kit.

 

Any recommendations?
Thanks again!

 

Make your own kit. I have a pretty thorough write up in my signature, and others on here have also done great write ups. I also have a write up for Jwool15's fans i did somewhere around here.

 

HI!...

- ELECTRIC FANS = 15-19 RWH.P

- Underdrive pulleys = 5-7 FWH.P

- Electric water pump = 10-12 FWH.P

 

FWIW, regardless of my personal experiences/opinions (at this particular moment), the fans are not a problem in and of themselves. I also without a doubt feel that any problems you read on these (or any) forums is by far the minority. Imagine how may of these fan kits are sold, and how many problems do you read about on here...2?? A dozen?? So what! So I got a bad deal going on right now. Big deal!! That doesn't condemn the electric fan industry because one guy is having a bad experience.

We always use these forums the majority of the time to seek out help with problems or issues,and I think that sheds a bad light on a particular item or component. Especially when people get locked into that something is completely terrible if they read one or two bad write ups in a forum somewhere. Becaue there are people that let that happen to themselves.

Perfect example...spark plug issues with the NBS truck. Heck, based on the feedback in here I'm surprised Ford is still in business...but lo and behold we keep on buyin em!!!

 

Sounds like the fuse is too big for the wire and the heat of the current is working on the connection.

 

I'm going to put them on something closer to home.
I just don't want any outa town breakdowns
pita

 

Just for the record I did have a mechanical fan fail one me, my Ranger. The fan clutch locked and I was not able to go over 45 MPH without the fan creating a great deal of noise, I thought it was going to try and take off. What was amazing was the amount of power that it drained from the engine at higher RPM's almost like a governor. However, I was able to limp home and the repair was very simple.

Good and bad points of the Mechanical Fan:

Good
300 HP fan
Reliable (but can fail)
No fuse
OEM Installation
Warranteed

Bad
Adds additional load to engine
Less efficient then electric
Takes up engine compartment space
Adds load to water pump affecting longevity
Does not look cool/modern (Important)
You can’t turn if off

 

Flex-A-Lite 270 kit...

Perfect fit; 2 fans; no radiator penetrations; looks OEM...

Replace the fuse holder with one like I posted about earlier, solder all your connections; ground it on the firewall ground and it will be as reliable as anything available...

 

Nothing is free. Must be just more efficientcy. I wonder if the electrical motors were pulling max current during the tests?

 

May be!! I do need to make a correction though...I'm running 30 amp fuses, not 35 as originally stated. But, any smaller than that and it blows the fuse when the fan starts up.

 

That's always a concern. Being one of those you see broke down on the side of the road. I've owned this truck since 98 and never been stranded. However the motor blew in 2000 , but I was able to bring it back to the dealership under it's own power. You should of heard it .

Most problems are lack of maintenance related along with old sensors that give out. That can happen with all makes. I've seen after market mods have adverse effects as well..

I would put the F150 up against any or all vehicles as far as reliability. The manufacturer defects that I have seen with these trucks that Ford hasn't done very well with is Spark Plug Blow-Out issue's in the past. I haven't had the problem, but I change my plugs correctly - so.....

 

What went wrong ? Did you not follow the instructions somewhere along the line ? Was it a bad controller ? Maybe I missed it.

The only thing I would have done different after the first melt down is rewire it heavier and bump up the fuse, but still you going to have the smaller gage wires coming from the fans themselves to worry about. So Heavy wire and fuse's may not resolve- even if each fan had a totally seperate harness might not resolve the issue. Where was the defect?

Did you find the problem yet?

 

HI!... Well both my 16" electric fans were going full speed as well as my MEZIERE electric water pump while on the dyno. And I still made 354RWH.P on a low compression (8.0:1) N/A 5.4.