Hey all

 

I have the electric fan kit from Zcentre and twice now I have parked up gone off for half an hour or so and then come back and the car wont turn over as there isnt enough juice in the battery. I have replaced my battery with a 680Amp job from Halfords and hopefully that will fix it but as its hot I'm guessing the fan just runs until the engine cools down but this could take a while???

 

Has anyone else done anything to fix this? Switch under the dash maybe?

I figured that if the viscous fan stops once the engine is switched off, then why have an electric fan that runs after the engine stops. I understand the idea and think it's good to have a thermostat that keeps it going until the engine cools down, but with our cars this can take a very long time. I took the simple solution of wiring my fan up to the ignition live. Therefore whenever the ignition is on the fan is running.

 

I know this is not how it's meant to be but I was worried that the fan would be running for too long after and this would also then effect the alarm as it senses a voltage drop. So opted for the easier solution.

The whole point of the electric fan is help gain that wee bit more of what was previously sapping power.

It should only ever be on at a certain temp, say for example 85 degrees, that way theres no constant running or overrunning when the engine has been switched off unless temps are megga high.

smithy

Thanks guys i'll wire it into the ignition live

What temp do you have it switching on at ?

Thanks guys i'll wire it into the ignition live

 

I think this goes against what smithy was saying.

I know that I did 1/2 mile without the fan and blew a matrix pipe as the car overheated. But it may be an idea to keep it wire as you have but just adjust your temp that it come on and goes off at. you may have it set at too lower temp.

Thanks guys I'll chnage the temp it comes on at. Anyone got an idea how to?

Show us a picture of what the kit uses to determine the temp ? is it a sender unit or a small box with a dial on perhaps ?

smithy

Hi mate small box

Edited July 15, 200817 yr by radron

you should have a screw on it somewhere, get the car to the temp you want it to come on at and turn it until it clicks on or off.

If you have an aftermarket temp gauge or a conzult, you'll be able to work towards getting the fan at the correct temps.

Ideally IMO is 85 degrees, think nissan suggest 77-82degrees as normal/ideal temps. So 85 is just that wee bit beyond.

Electric fans aftermarket of stock as fitted to modern cars are designed for a stop-start operation not to be running for long periods and certainly not all the time. SMW1 if yours is on all the time, have to looked to see what temp your running at ? too cold and the engine is not performing correctly as it should and obviously too hot is not good either, plus i would suspect that the electric motor would fail sooner than one that operates as it should.

smithy

My car seems to heat up real quick

I'm runnning at 79 on normal usuage or anywhere upto 94 on really hot days / heavy usage.

Yikes 94 summitt deffo ain't right mate. pretty sure 95 is the Aux fan opertion temps, which is overheat mode! If your constamtly running the fan whilst your driving, again theres something wrong, cos while the temp at 79 is correct, with the fan on which 4 times more efficient than the viscous one, it should be in the 60's which would be too low. You either have the wrong type fan perhaps ? or your engine is constantly running hot and the fan is working to keep it at normal temps, most of the time.

smithy

I'll have to rig up the conzult to see if it's reading the same temp as my dial.

The dial could be wrong or not earthed enough.

Before I earthed the sensor out correctly I was reading 205 F as a stanard, now that's dropped to 175F which is 79 C

 

I think I got the fan from either CPZ or Z1, can't remember.

Maybe I'll have a look at replacing it with one that actually comes with an on / off switch.

Deffo hook the conzult up mate and hopefully the gauge is giving a higher reading than the conzult and that would mean the gauge needs sorting.

If the gauge matches within 1 or 2 degrees of the conzult, that would tell me you've got an overheating problem, thermostat or pump perhaps.

An electric fan is designed to cool down and over hot rad NOT keep a rad cool. It can bring a zeds engine down from over 100 degrees to a steady 80 degrees in about 5 mins, so see what am saying..

Alls you need is once things are sorted is a 85 degree cut in switch and an overide switch in the cockpit just in case. All of SE Nissan's kits for years were like this and worked very well too :cool:

smithy

Was just reading another post about over heating and I've never actually checked the fan since I got back.

 

I know it's running, but I've never checked whether it's pulling or pushing.

 

Will have to have a look at this. It may be the reason I'm running hotter than I should be.

Hey guys will do. My aux fan comes on also so I'm guessing that the car is running hot... Must be a dodgy thermostat as the pump is new unless I've got an air lock maybe?

 

Doesnt the aux fan run at two speeds low speed for normal and high speed for meltdown? needle in the car on the temp guage has never moved above middle as far as I have noticed.

Hey guys will do. My aux fan comes on also so I'm guessing that the car is running hot... Must be a dodgy thermostat as the pump is new unless I've got an air lock maybe?

 

Doesnt the aux fan run at two speeds low speed for normal and high speed for meltdown? needle in the car on the temp guage has never moved above middle as far as I have noticed.

 

Aux fan with come on if water temp is in the mid 90's (oveheating). TT has 2 speed system, I cant remember the exact details though.

 

stock Temp gauge wont move from the middle position till temp is above 100 C (ie. quite badly overheating). Never trust it. Go Aftermarket.

Edited July 17, 200817 yr by Yowser

Stu, you might not have any problems. It's not ideal having the fan on all the time but remember the thermostat in the waterpump will most likely compensate.

Thanks Jaffa,

 

I guess with all the talk in this post I got worried that I may be running too hot.

I know on the american forums people are actually rewiring their electric fans so they come on with ignition and are on permanently.

 

I don't think my car could ever run as cool at 60 degrees personally, no matter what I have running.

Sorry Stu, Jaffa's way of thinking ain't quite convincing me, lol

 

Lets look at this way, you got strapped your rad a fan that is 4 times more efficient than a viscous one, unlike the viscous it's not changing speeds, it's on full chat all the time. Your temps on a good day are 79 degrees, which as it should be with a viscous on, your bad day temps are 94 degrees, this is just 1 degrees away from the AUX fan kicking in after sensing serious overheating of the engine and all this time the elctric fan is on. You should never ever get this high, sorry.

It's constantly drawing power whilst on, so you may as well go back to the viscous, however i fear if you do, your gonna have higher temps.

Please just have it conzulted for temps whilst very warm to hot, test with the fan on and then the fan off.

I've never heard of anyone having it on at all times as it totally 110% defeats the object it was meant for in the first place.

Do you know ANY modern day car that has a fan on all times ? it;s either viscous at all times or electric when required, end off!

smithy

Sorry Stu, Jaffa's way of thinking ain't quite convincing me, lol

 

Lets look at this way, you got strapped your rad a fan that is 4 times more efficient than a viscous one, unlike the viscous it's not changing speeds, it's on full chat all the time. Your temps on a good day are 79 degrees, which as it should be with a viscous on, your bad day temps are 94 degrees, this is just 1 degrees away from the AUX fan kicking in after sensing serious overheating of the engine and all this time the elctric fan is on. You should never ever get this high, sorry.

It's constantly drawing power whilst on, so you may as well go back to the viscous, however i fear if you do, your gonna have higher temps.

Please just have it conzulted for temps whilst very warm to hot, test with the fan on and then the fan off.

I've never heard of anyone having it on at all times as it totally 110% defeats the object it was meant for in the first place.

Do you know ANY modern day car that has a fan on all times ? it;s either viscous at all times or electric when required, end off!

smithy

 

Agree with what your saying smithy.

 

Although the Stock viscous fan is more efficient than an electric fan. Stock fan is 6000cfm on full chat, all the electric fans I have seen are 2-3000cfm....although I guess you could look at it that the electric fan would possibly be pushing more air than the viscous fan would be when its not on full chat.

Edited July 18, 200817 yr by Yowser

Phew someone does, lol

What i meant though in comparing the 2 fans, if you consider a viscous is on all the time but cannot stop an engine from overheating if theres a problem, whereas the AUX electric fan can cool it down in 5 mins once switched on, because mainly it's at full chat and strapped to the rad. Just like Stu's aftermarket rad is, strapped to the rad and not sitting a foot away like a viscous, therefore he should have a cold water dispenser on his car :p

smithy

Ok, I'll have to get my cable fixed by Danny at DTA first as the consult can not see the car.

 

Once that's done I'll compare conzult reading to temp gauge.

 

I think once of the reasons that the water temp may have raised is due to the underdrive pulley, obviously this being smaller will cause the water pump to rotate slower.

Although I changed this well before the engine build I never had an aftermarket temp gauge so all I couldn't really tell if there was a big change at the time.

Ok, I'll have to get my cable fixed by Danny at DTA first as the consult can not see the car.

 

Once that's done I'll compare conzult reading to temp gauge.

 

I think once of the reasons that the water temp may have raised is due to the underdrive pulley, obviously this being smaller will cause the water pump to rotate slower.

Although I changed this well before the engine build I never had an aftermarket temp gauge so all I couldn't really tell if there was a big change at the time.

that is possible, especially if your a jap spec which has a slightly smaller water pump wheel than a UK spec anyways.

Danny and other companies now do an overdrive wheel for the water pump to bring things back into corect sync, however am thinking thermostat or summitt, new or not the odd rare occassion has seen a faulty one from new.

good luck

smithy

Hey all

 

Thanks for your help. Did a bit of testing today water pipe (fat one on the top left) to which the temp sensor is attached was running around 85 / 88 when I stopped after a long run from Brighton to home and the fan was running and so was my aux fan (I have an AEM not stock ecu so I need to check what its telling the aux fan to do) temp at the top of the rad was there or ther abouts) I set the fan to kick in here and will keep an eye on it. Its going back in for its re-map in a couple of weeks and they need to get the cam cover off for a re-paint so Itll get a flush then.