Converting from belt-driven fan to electric fan

I don't think it will make that much of a difference. As long as the thermostat is closed, there won't be coolant going through the radiator, so it won't matter if air is moving through or not.

I would think in the neighborhood of 0.1 mpg. If you are concerned about MPG, try making sure that there is enough air in the tires.

Forget it, except make sure there is enough air in the tires, don't drive like a rabbit, and have a great day.

Jeff

I don't think an electric fan will make much of a difference in warm up speed. The belt-driven fan has a clutch that is disengaged when it is cold, so while it may be free-wheeling, it shouldn't be sucking signficant air through the radiator.

Adding the electric fan should be easy if you can fabricate some kind of bracket for the fan, The hard part will be adding a coolant temperature switch somewhere. You will have to drill and tap an opening in the radiator side (not the part of the engine where the coolant circulates when the thermostat is closed) of the cooling system to mount the coolant temperature switch. There may be room in the thermostat housing, but before you go and potentially ruin the existing housing, I would get another one to modify and keep the original in case your modification doesn't work properly. Your other option would be to get a cast aluminum sleeve in the radiator hose and mount the switch in the sleeve, or mount a switch somewhere inside the car that you can operate manually.

You will also have to wire a relay into the system between the switch and the fan since the switch probably won't handle the current from the fan.

All that Ray and Jeff mentioned and in addition, to purchase all that's needed to change the system over, plus the cost of your time and effort, it may be a long time before you find it was cost effective on an almost twenty year old vehicle. IMHO, save your money and effort.

Just stick a piece of cardboard in front of the rad, covering about 2/3 of it. Probably won't help much with mileage, but should help warm it up faster.

I doubt you will see much of an improvement in either the warm-up time, or the fuel economy. Once the car is moving, the fan is almost a non-factor. And when the car is cold, the thermostat should prevent water from circulating through radiator.

If you decide to go ahead with the conversion, you will also need to add a switch to turn on the fan in response to the needs of the A/C. My modern cars with electric fans and A/C all have high side switches that turn on the electric cooling fan when the A/C high side pressure goes up to some level. An older Audi I owned, just turned on the electric cooling fan anytime the A/C compressor was engaged.

Ed

Ray, Ray, Ray! I think these things out beforehand!

OK, that covers the part about the relay, but you still have to figure out where and how to mount the sensor. They show what looks like a sleeve to hold the sensor, but the hole has to be drilled and the sleeve installed somehow.

My sister has those electric engine block heaters that you plugin to a wall socket when she parks the car during cold Canadian winters. I haven't seen in personally, but she tells me it works fine.

I also don't think you will see much of an improvement. The thermostat should be closed when the engine is cold and then it will modulate to control coolant flow to keep the engine at temperature once it warms up. It doesn't matter how much air is going through the radiator on a cold engine since the water is only moving through the heater core until the thermostat opens.

You also have a clutch on the fan that is temp sensitive. When you first start it up the fan may roar a bit until the fluid in that clutch warms up (a minute or so) but past that point the fan isn't doing much.

If it were mine I would leave it alone. It has worked fine the way the factory designed it for close to 20 years... Make sure it is in good tune and drive like there is an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal and you will save much more fuel.

Steve B.

=A0Make sure it is in

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About that last suggestion, Steve: We are joined at the hip with that statement. But how can one drive like there is an egg on the accelerator without having the vehicle behind you end up in your back seat?

I live in Fairfield County and believe me, when the light turns green, even on an old two-laner, the roar of cars leaving the line resembles several 747s spooling up for takeoff at once! The floor-pan beneath their gas pedals must have an extra indentation from how often that pedal's been FLOORED!

I've also been watching my tachometer more on takeoffs - not allowing it to rev above 2000-2500 before letting up on the gas and letting the ole' automatic downshift. Accelerating through lower gears is a LOT quieter than pressing the pedal almost all the way down and not letting until the car is at the speed limit. It's just that most drivers behind me don't have the patience for my fuel-saving ways. ;)

-CC

Make sure it is in

_______________________

About that last suggestion, Steve: We are joined at the hip with that statement. But how can one drive like there is an egg on the accelerator without having the vehicle behind you end up in your back seat?

I live in Fairfield County and believe me, when the light turns green, even on an old two-laner, the roar of cars leaving the line resembles several 747s spooling up for takeoff at once! The floor-pan beneath their gas pedals must have an extra indentation from how often that pedal's been FLOORED!

I've also been watching my tachometer more on takeoffs - not allowing it to rev above 2000-2500 before letting up on the gas and letting the ole' automatic downshift. Accelerating through lower gears is a LOT quieter than pressing the pedal almost all the way down and not letting until the car is at the speed limit. It's just that most drivers behind me don't have the patience for my fuel-saving ways. ;)

-CC _______________________________

It is a paradigm thing. Until folks get used to changing the ways that they have driven for all these years with cheap gas, they will continue to be annoyed by folks that drive with less lead-footedness. Eventually they will change with the rest or they will continue to be annoyed (not my problem) and continue to lose money on gas. Tomes (back from the Usenet dead)

The faster you get into top gear and the longer you stay in top gear, the better the economy. Even a jackrabbit takeoff is preferable to taking three minutes to get up to speed. Maintain a decent following distance to reduce the need for braking.

Hachi, practice KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid! It works perfectly fine as it is, leave it alone. The belt driven fan with thermostatic clutch is simple, effective and efficient, you are adding many more failure points for a very dubious return.

If you want it to warm up faster, shroud off the radiator opening in the grille to cut down the road draft through the radiator - look at the big Naugahyde covers (or the air-actuated shutters behind the grille) that truckers have used for many decades.

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Why so much $$$ for that stuff? You may never recover your costs in fuel savings if you spend that much.

Here's how I'd do it: Either get a thermostatic switch from an old drip coffee maker or microwave oven (check ratings because they trigger at anywhere from 140-212F), or use a thermistor (electronic parts supplies, dud battery packs from cordless tools). BTW any relay from a microwave oven probably can't carry the current needed by a fan because AC amp ratings for relay contacts are equivalent to less than 25-50% the DC ratings.

You'll probably have to build an electronic controller consisting of at least a transistor and diode to drive the relay coil (wire diode across coil to keep it from destroying the transistor). A thermostatic switch can be wired almost directly to the driver transistor, but a thermistor needs a comparator circuit to set the trigger temperatures, plural because there's one temp. for turning on the fan, another, lower, temp to turn it off. That also means hooking up the comparator (think LM339, which is four comparators in one package) as a Schmitt trigger. You'll also need to find the relay that turns on the A/C compressor and use its signal to turn on the fan whenever the compressor runs.

Something as simple as a paper bag partially covering the radiator works well.

Back in Montana, we called that the "Safeway Thermostat", and it does work when the temperature has a (-) in front of it.

Yeah, I was thinking about one of these, too. There are a couple (a few?) types; one that replaces the dipstick, one that installs as a metal sleeve in the radiator hose, and another that replaces a feeze plug. Which one? Which one???

Where's the fun in that?!?!?!

Actually, it is a 3-speed AT (and I *MEAN* 3-speed!!!) It tends to get into top gear rather quickly, and stays there even if you almost stop for yield signs.

I'm getting varying fuel economy. For the 'paper route' it gets about 23, unless I have to use AWD when it snows/ices, where it drops to ~20. For open road driving (I rarely drive >50 MPH, since it's spinning at ~3,700 RPM) it squeaks out 25-26. It hasn't been run for a while and had crap gas in it, so it gets better the more it's driven.

I live in a rural area and drive it mostly at night!

But, like I said, where's the fun in that?!?!

Two of the other cars I have on the road: 1988 Supra Sport Roof (no Turbo) and 2005 Scion tC. Vrooom, Vrooom!

One car I have not on the road: 1985 Corolla GTS...VROOOOOOM....