Clutch Fan Vs Electric Cooling Fan

[Bliksem]

Doesn't matter if its a thermo fan on a Ford or a KTM 530, they're used on everything nowadays. PWR pretty much sell every second radiator with thermo fan mounting tabs for vehicles that didnt have them fitted from the factory... why? because they work.

[Nimmo]

how ya going mate. as ol mate said it very debatable on what is reliable.

Looks like I've opened the can of worms now, here I was thinking this post was pretty much closed .

[mad082]

It was simply being driven hard, and the car spat the towel.

The car is brand new... how can it be anything else other than poor design? The fans were working, obviously not to the level required however.

Once pulled over, allowed to cool all was good again.

Crappy fraud!

well at higher speeds the fans don't work that well anyway. and it also depends on whether he had aircon on or not. on my magna the thermos didn't really work unless the aircon was on, but then would kick in if the car got REALLY hot.

[116.hks]

Looks like I've opened the can of worms now, here I was thinking this post was pretty much closed .

looks like you have mate. everyone is intitled to their opinions, some just take things the wrong way. i understand what sshatch is saying and trying to explain to people, but as i said people are intitled to their opinions and thats why we have forums so people and ask questions like ya self and get answers. NO OFFENCE TO ANYONE, but what is use of a forum, when all people wanna do is bag each other out, when all they wanna do is help out and give advise. sorry if this offended anyone, i'm just an on looker, looking in.

[some_cs_student]

Nimmo, if you do use thermo's I'd like to see a post of the results afterward

[06tst]

I am running a set of EL falcon thermos on my 32GTR. Had to ditch the clutch fan as I upgraded to a 52mm radiator and couldnt use the standard shroud.

Spent alot of time setting it up right and making the EL shrouding fit and work properly and I think it is very effiecent and draws alot of air through. Works very well and never goes over 82 degrees in traffic.

The EL thermos are very narrow and have a great fan profile compared to shitty and expensive davies craig ones. Can pick up a second hand set cheaply from a wrecker. Have seen non genuine ones new for about $160 but not sure how they compare.

Edited October 16, 2008 by 06tst

[Nimmo]

Nimmo, if you do use thermo's I'd like to see a post of the results afterward

Nah I have opted to go for a new genuine Nissan viscous coupling I figure I have no idea what the cooling differences are so using a standard setup should do fine.

people are intitled to their opinions and thats why we have forums so people and ask questions like ya self and get answers. NO OFFENCE TO ANYONE, but what is use of a forum, when all people wanna do is bag each other out, when all they wanna do is help out and give advise. sorry if this offended anyone, i'm just an on looker, looking in.

:laughing-smiley-014: Some were getting a little edgy

Thanks for all your replays

[andy25]

Im for a thermo. They look alot more profestional it frees up room in the engine bay and its not a direct power loss on the engine like a clutch fan. If they werent the shiz they wouldnt be putting them on the new model cars. even my jeep basic as jeep has one

[rev210]

Well setup thermo fans are very very good.

For hassle free use the clutch fans work well but, if you are willing to do the work and ensure that fan shrouding is retained then electric fans can work as good or better than a clutch style.

The Volvo fans are better again than the EL falcon ones.

[some_cs_student]

Im for a thermo. They look alot more profestional (sic) it frees up room in the engine bay and its not a direct power loss on the engine like a clutch fan.

Power loss is negligible, like 1-2KW, I don't mind that kind of loss

If there were serious cooling advantages and I start having overheating issues again I'd consider it then.

I would like to see the before/after on people who have done track days with clutch and then thermo fans, or some higher powered cars running thermo's...(in a separate thread).

[rev210]

Power loss is negligible, like 1-2KW, I don't mind that kind of loss

If there were serious cooling advantages and I start having overheating issues again I'd consider it then.

I would like to see the before/after on people who have done track days with clutch and then thermo fans, or some higher powered cars running thermo's...(in a separate thread).

Track day answer is pretty simple as at speed the fan is not required, it is only there for low speed and stand still.

But, you reduce load on the water pump and belts by getting rid of it and the reduction in weight (2kgs) acheives some additional gains in inertia reduction. The fan itself can aslo generate harmonics that can be transmitted through the water pump and add to cavitation issues at sustained high rpm also (not a problem on a road car and also it may not be a significant issue with some cars). Race cars usually don't run them for this reliabillity and gain. You can appraoch these issues from a different angle to retain the clutch fan by adding an underdriven pulley and ensuring the fan is in excellent working order. The problem is that clutch fans have a limited life span and people don't think to replace them because they are unaware of how to simply test them.

Thermo fans are every bit as reliable as a clutch fan and in fact a twin setup offers some redundancy in the case of single fan failure. A thermo fan setup on my old GTR was superior to the good order clutch fan in terms of cooling capacity from a hot days traffic point of view by a few degrees water temp consistantly.

[mad082]

that is a good point about the sitting in traffic bit. thermo's are generally running at full speed no matter what rpm you are doing, where as a clutch fan speed when it is fully engaged will depend on rpm.

[rev210]

that is a good point about the sitting in traffic bit. thermo's are generally running at full speed no matter what rpm you are doing, where as a clutch fan speed when it is fully engaged will depend on rpm.

See what you are saying but, in reality it's not a problem. The fan/s quickly get the temp down and cut out fast once the car starts moving even at a fairly low speed. It's a little better than the clutch fan in cutting the load at the right time, not really much to compare though as a benifit.

A badly setup fan usually stays on all the time due to the temperature activated switch being crappy/cheap/wrong setting. This is the same for the clutch fan where it may stay on all the time or worse stop spinning when broken.

Lots of aftermarket ecus offer thermo fan control now too that is more advanced than the old skool days davies craig units and the dodgy resistor and sensor.

[JW_R33]

See what you are saying but, in reality it's not a problem. The fan/s quickly get the temp down and cut out fast once the car starts moving even at a fairly low speed. It's a little better than the clutch fan in cutting the load at the right time, not really much to compare though as a benifit.

A badly setup fan usually stays on all the time due to the temperature activated switch being crappy/cheap/wrong setting. This is the same for the clutch fan where it may stay on all the time or worse stop spinning when broken.

Lots of aftermarket ecus offer thermo fan control now too that is more advanced than the old skool days davies craig units and the dodgy resistor and sensor.

Great post mate.

[CrimsonLey]

I know it's old but great info on this thread.

[Nee-san]

and you somehow think that the power of a car somehow determines how well the cooling system works?

ok well how about this. gti-r pulsar runs them. porsche runs thermo fans. are they enough of a performance car? and i think the r35 gtr runs them as well

Power of an engine IS directly related to the requirements of it's cooling system.....

[Duchie]

Just thought id add..... Even when the fuse on my thermo fan blew the car ran at normal temperature when crusing, it was only when i was in heavy traffic that the temperature crept up.

And also when I did my research for the thermo fan i found that the clutch fans reach their max speed when the engine is at 3000rpm (same as the water pump, a/c and alternator) any higher and they stop draining your power.

Also some people said that for the track, they found their original clutch fans to be better but who knows how they had the thermo fans setup.

I opted for a thermo as my clutch fan was developing cracks and my car being NA, it needed he extra power. Car is a little more responsive around 2000-3000rpm.

[beemae30]

One point everyone is missing is the fact our skylines were never designed with thermo fans in mind. Obviously a car which the whole cooling system aerodynamics have been worked around a thermo fan the system will work. Also modern vehicles are becoming more complicated and the engine bay is becoming filled more and more with equipment so obviously the easiest thing to get rid of was the clutch driven fan. That does not mean that one is better then the other.

Also in regards to the v8's/f1 remark. I dont see jetski's with a rocket pack, What's your point? They are in no way street driven cars they are running at high speed 99% of the car vs 30-50% of the time for street driven cars. What also you are missing if you are a mechanic, Is the fact that you are increasing the load on the alternator. This does load the engine up somewhat if you do diagnosis load testing on a vehicle at 100% alt load you will see your engine load % increase. The only reason i could see that you would want to fit thermo fans to a vehicle design for a viscous fan is either appearance or space if you have converted a dfferent engine. Btw im a diesel fitter and nearly every road train/ industrial engine is clutch driven and anything large IE large dump trucks, loaders have a hydraulic motor driving a fan ( talking about 2-3 mtr span)

[The Bogan]

When the clutch in the clutch fan is broken it locks on and the engine is still being cooled, though you do lose about 5 hp, when a thermo fan breaks a wire,fuse,electic motor, ect, so does you motor.

Simple really.

[freyb]

quick question,

#1 >>>> will a viscous fan from a nissan safari fit a rb20/25 engine? im having trouble sourcing out a viscous fan for my rb20det.

#2 >>>> or perhaps a viscous fan from a different nissan car?