Fan neccesary?

Ricky B

Ricky B

Wiiide Open
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
LKN - Tha Dirty Mo (Mooresville, NC)
I'm putting a big like 8 core aluminum racing radiator in my jeep, do I even need a fan? I see soo many people who have electric fans on there aluminum radiators and say they never need to turn on the fan . . . . just asking cause the radiator I have is frikin huge, and I have like no room for a fan with it in there and I really dont feel like rear mounting it :shaking:

I might just try it and see what happens, only one way to find out right :driver:
 
idk i mean im sure i could fit a fan if i bought one of those high dollar super slim ones, just dont have any $$ to spend right now, might just mount it and get around to the fan thing later, i know it sounds dumb not to have a fan just have heard a few people with the big aluminum radiators say they didnt even need it b4
 
I have never been in a situation where I didnt need a fan.
YMMV
But given your propensity for MUD (clogs) and throttle down driving style, I would definitley have 1 if I was you, even a front mounted pusher fan, any cheap stock electric will do...
 
for a street driven vehicle you could probably get away with it over the colder winter months but when it starts warming up you'll be running into problems for sure..... if you sit in traffic or like to warm up your vehicle in the mornings you will run into trouble sooner....
 
you will need it. from the looks of your picture you like the mud. the best thing you can do is keep your new radiator clean in the fins. especialy near the hedder where the tubes go into it. heat from your engine will bake mud in there making it next to impossible to remove. be careful using a pressure washer on it too. i know from experience that a pressure washer will wreck the fins on some aluminum radiators. a trick i did with my atv was to get a 12v bildge pump and make up a hose with a jet nozzle on it. when i got out of the mud holes i found a creek throwed the pump in it and washed the mud out while it was still wet and i didnt have to worry about running hot the rest of the ride. most fans dont have an internal diode in them so you could get a junk yard fan and reverse the polarity and make it a pusher if you have more room on the front.
 
So what happens when you are not moving and idling for a long time. or crawling up a long hill when is is 100 degrees outside.

I would think if you skimp on the fan you will be sorry
 
hit the junk yard

Hit your local junk yard and look for an import. Good fan, cheap, and really thin....almost as thin as the high dollar ones.
 
In the junk yard look for a Tbird with the 4.6L V8. They have a huge fan and it's pretty slim and is built into a shroud. I run one on my DD and it works great.
 
Yea I mean i got a taurus fan now but its way to big, its even bigger than my mechanical fan (depth wise) so id have to find somethin slim.

I probably should just rear mount it, it would save me alot of problems and also keep it from getting as muddy, I just dont have much room to run tube for the coolant.

btw: could I use PVC pipe for the hardline parts if I do rear mount it? or do I have to use exhaust tube?
 
jrraw23 said:
Yea I mean i got a taurus fan now but its way to big, its even bigger than my mechanical fan (depth wise) so id have to find somethin slim.

I probably should just rear mount it, it would save me alot of problems and also keep it from getting as muddy, I just dont have much room to run tube for the coolant.

btw: could I use PVC pipe for the hardline parts if I do rear mount it? or do I have to use exhaust tube?
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THe taurus fan is a monster. It cools like hell but may be overkill with your new radiator. I'm sure if you look around some yards you can find a cheap fan that is a bit smaller. You really never want to be crawling, or stuck in traffic for that matter, without some sort of fan
 
Well aparantly something is wrong cause I put the big azz aluminum radiator in there and now it heats up even faster than before, like ridiculoulsy fast kinda deal, I cant even idle bout a min or two and it spikes . . . . . .

And found out the cap was a 35lb one, didnt let out the pressure till 280 degree's . . . thought the hoses were gonna blow up they looked like balloons
 
talk to matt, he claims he can get taurus fans for $15 from a yard in charlotte.
 
I mean, I already have one, its too big to fit in there, will just have to go to LKQ one day and find one that'll fit i guess

but I mean, I gotta figureout what the hecks wrong with it right now thou, like the temp jumps super fast and builds a ton of rpesuuure real quick for some reason now that I have the aluminum radiator in there, something is wrong cause it didnt heat up this fast without a radiator at all . . . .
 
that seems to be heating up extremely quick, even with no water circulating at all... get a lower pressure cap, that might help....

what size thermostat are you running? id try getting a 160deg one.... dont not run one, cuz typically they run hotter without then with one...

then again it could maybe be your temp sensor too? if you could use one of those IR gauges to tell you temp on say the radiator surface, might help u tell a little


as far as fans go, find out what dimensions you can fit, then just goto LKQ or pull-a-part and start measuring import fans til you find one that is smaller then your dimensions...
 
ok, thanks for all the info on the fans, i'll just go to LKQ (its like a pull a part) and find a fan.

But what i was trying to say is that now that I have installed the new radiator, and I do have coolant in it. When I crank it up it is getting really hot fast. Alot faster then it used to heat up with the old crappy radiator in there, something is definitely not right its heating up so quickly, any ideas?

Thermostat is stock it seems to open at 210 its new and opens fine, water pump is new, running a guage thats screw into the intake manifold type, the cap will be replaced eventually as well with a normal pressure one, but this problem seems to be more then just a thermostat/cap issue it heats up so quickly . . .
 
It could be air locked from when you put the radiator in. Let it cool down, take the cap off, find the highest point in the cooling system(temp sensor, heater hose) and open it up there. If the heater hose is the highest point, remove it. If the sensor is highest, loosen it and let the air out. When you see a steady stream of coolant coming out, close it up.
 
jrraw23 said:
i did when i moved it around the yard once or twice
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Oh My! That'll kill em!

jrraw23 said:
I just messed with it somemore, the system is building pressure way to fast, pretty sure I have a blown head gasket, wouldnt be surprised it was running at like 240 the whole time I was down at the Big Dixie Boggers playground
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Is the cooling system pumping coolant out as soon as its running, with the cap off? Like a certain cylinder is blowing compression into the cooling system? Thats the easiest sign of a blown head gasket. It will generally spew out of the radiator, even before its very hot! (And compression testing it don't cost nuthin either!)

Dont discount the effect of an old cap. Water needs pressure to keep from boiling off!

x2 on the vapor locked. Make sure system is bled

240 wont hurt a motor unless the cooling system goes dry.
 
jrraw23 said:
i did when i moved it around the yard once or twice
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If you ran it without coolant in it, splitting a head gasket is getting off easy. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the heads are cracked or warped.
 
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