Electric fan upgrade?

Anybody here taken the 1980s era mechanical engine fan off and install a modern electric fan kit? Which kit did you use?

I did a 2004 Ram once with a Flex-a-lite fan kit. It helped MPG slightly and freed up several horsepower. Would like to do it to this 2016 Toyota and bring it into the 21st century but I haven't found a kit that looks appealing yet. What have you guys done?

 

If you actually use your truck to tow, I would not. A mechanical cooling fan will move far more air than an electric fan. One of the great things about the Tundra is it has a very legit, almost 3/4 ton, cooling system in it. Go look at the cooling systems in the in the F150's, GM 1500's and Rams. They are puny by comparison.

And Toyota could have put electric fans in the new 2022 Tundra, but they didnt(they did only secondary electric fans for the A/C). They kept a big ass radiator with a big ass mechanical cooling fan because it works.

That said, one of the best fans out there is the Taurus/Lincoln Mark VII cooling fan from the 1990's. It's a hot rodders go to. It's cheap and very few fans will out flow it. I put one in my 1995 4runner and am driving it off of a PWM controller:

https://www.autocoolguy.com/

Its the Autocool 85 amp model. It will soft start the fan so you don't get a giant surge of power, and it can vary the fan speed anywhere from 10-100% based on the coolant temp. Works fantastic.

 

Funny you say that because after I converted my old Ram to the electric fan it moved so much air that you could feel heat rolling from under the truck up into the cab with the windows down at a red light. The electric fans move serious air. Seems like the mechanical clutches on the engine mounted fans also wear out periodically.

 

The advantage of the electric fan is that it can run at full speed regardless of your engine RPM. So the truck is sitting there idling and the fan is running at max speed.

If you are standing next to a truck with a mechanical fan whose clutch is not locked and the engine is idling at 600 rpm, it probably doesn't feel like much is happening because the fan is barely spinning. Lock that clutch up and spin the engine to 4000 rpm and it will be moving a serious amount of air and make the electric fan look silly.

I know on my Jeep Liberty CRD that the mechanical fan was pullied 1.5:1 vs the crank. So at 2000 rpm my fan was spinning at 3000 rpm and at 4000 RPM it was spinning at 6000 rpm. i did experiment with an electric fan on my Jeep, which was prone to overheating, and no electric fan I tried could keep it cool like the factory fan.

This is a good read here:

https://www.departmentofboost.com/tech/

Specifically the article called "Why You Probably Don’t Want Fans On Your Heat Exchanger." The article is specific to supercharger heat exchangers but their results should carry over to a radiator. And I am not saying you don't want a fan at all, just that electric fans have limited performance benefits if true cooling is your goal.

 

Don't waste your money. The clutch fan set up is one of the best and most reliable systems there is.
I have electric on a performance car sure but that's because I want the extra power. For a reliable daily? Clutch fan.

 

I know I'm showing up pretty late to the discussion, what else was needed for the conversion beside the Lincoln fan and the Autocoolguy controller? What sensor did you go with? Also where did you get the fan itself?

 

I've been running a lincoln fan for the past 8 years. I just replaced the motor, have 2 new old stock spares. It held up great for being made in 1992! I use a Volvo relay and BMW temp switch. I cut the Lincoln fan to fit inside the Tundra shroud. I've towed(no campers) and driven hard without fail. The bearing in the motor failed last week and it was an easy fix.
Edit for spelling