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Electronic Clutch Fan

7K views 35 replies 14 participants last post by  cbr600rx7 
#1 ·
I've heard a lot of people mention this mod in passing, but I can't seem to find any solid info on it. What's the story? What does it do? How much does it cost? How difficult is it for a newbie?
 
#2 ·
No such thing as an electronic clutch fan. That's an oxymoron. :funny:
What all the threads are going on is the removing the clutch fan and just running the electric fan by itself. Some say you will have issues with running just the stock electric fan, others have not had any issues. If you are concerned about overheating with just the electric fan, then you can go find a more higher flow electric fan and go from there.
 
#3 ·
No such thing as an electronic clutch fan. That's an oxymoron. :funny:
What all the threads are going on is the removing the clutch fan and just running the electric fan by itself. Some say you will have issues with running just the stock electric fan, others have not had any issues. If you are concerned about overheating with just the electric fan, then you can go find a more higher flow electric fan and go from there.
Now that is funny.
 
#4 ·
l'd advise against it in your R/T. Unless your going to pull the mechanical fan and put in a bigger electric fan that will run in its place. Seems to me the 4.7L guys can get away with just the E-fan, but the pushrod engines can't.


Every case of the engine running hot has come from either the 5.9 or the 5.2 engines.

I haven't heard of any 4.7L running hot from pulling the mechanical fan.
 
#5 · (Edited)
well all automotive A/C compressors use an electric clutch... so it's not that much of a stretch to think it's possible for a fan. But no I havn't heard of the existence of one for our purpose.

Cost can vary by alot. a single name brand one can range from $50-120 depending on brand and size. And the circutry is usually in the $25-$75 range. Buyer beware about super cheap e-bay fans. That's where I got mine, but they vibrated badly so I had to balance them myself.

Alot of setups I've seen use a single good 16" plastic blade fan put in the stock shroud. Or sourcing a fan from another junkyard vehicle.

My setup is 2 14" fans mounted to a shroud I made from GFS aluminum cooking pans riveted together, with a variable temp controller (sensor sticks into the rad fins). It was a squeese; I had to cut off a mounting point on both fans. Total cost of roughly $140. been working well for about a year and a half.
 
#6 ·
Mercedes uses one. Seen a couple in the junkyard and have thought about picking them up but never have the tools to do it.

They have one that is really just a flex fan on a typical on\off electromagnetic clutch but a new one is emerging in a few makes like Ford as well. It's an electrically controlled viscous fan clutch that gets set by the computer based on coolant temperature or released like the AC normally does under WOT.

 
#7 ·
hey, I said I was a newbie. :p I'm still working on the terminology I suppose.

So what's the difference between an electric fan and a clutch fan?
 
#8 ·
The clutch fan is that power robbing mechanical fan that sits on the front of your water pump. In order to free up that power, alot of guys pull it off and use just the electric fan right behind the radiator. If you go this route, you should be aware that the temp guage will rise until it hits something like 200 degrees before the fan kicks on. You can buy a switch for the fan to wire it up so it comes on at a lower temp or you can buy a higher cfm rated fan and the switching to go with it. There are a few good write-ups for fans if you do a quick search on electric fans.
 
#9 ·
hmm, thanks for the explanation. I think I might not do this mod, I don't want to risk overheating anything
 
#10 ·
its ok to do this mod if you upgrade either your switch for the fan or get a higher cfm rated fan. Although, i first tried with removing the clutch fan and didn't like how hot my truck got while sitting in traffic, so i upgraded the fan as seen in my sig.
 
#11 ·
Get a good electric fan with a proper shroud and no risk of overheating. I'm running a SPAL 16" fan in a custom shroud with a variable speed SPAL fan controller with a SPAL temp sensor in my M1. No problems with overheating with that set up. But I've got about $400 into the set up. No cheap Ebay parts, or rigged up e-fans from other vehicles here.
 
#12 ·
So how much of an actual benefit does this mod provide?
 
#14 ·
How many is a few? I'm certainly not dropping $400 on a couple horsepower, I'm far too poor.
 
#19 ·
You dont have to spend much and its very easy to do. I live in Miami, FL so its hot all the time. What I did is change out the thermostat from the stock 195, to a 180 from Napa auto. I think it came out to 9.95. That was all I had to do. Now my car actually cools better then when I had the clutch fan in. Only thing is, is that in heavy traffic you have to have the A/C on or the temp will go up. The stock e-fan is fully capable of cooling the car. What I would do is find someone that has a SCT Reprogrammer so they can change the temp that the e-fan turns on, that way you dont have to turn on the A/C to get it on, instead the ECU will turn it on, on it own.
 
#20 ·
So, anyone know of a good step by step tutorial on how to do this...hopefully with pictures?
 
#21 ·
I think I had a thread to show how to take the clutch fan off. The thermostat is simple. Its located near the oil filter. You will have to drain the system into container. Once you put the thermostat back in you can reuse the antifreeze. Let me track down the link, i dont know if it was on here or DodgeTalk.
 
#24 ·
I've been planning on getting a used superchips tuner. How much do used SCT's usually go for? I'm assuming superchips doesn't have the ability to control the fan?
 
#25 ·
My bad I didnt see the engine you had, I have the 4.7L. My understanding is that the SuperChips can not do as much as the SCT. If you buy SCT without programming it costs about $175.00, but the programming is expensive. You can control and change more of the car with the SCT. Unless im reading wrong. You can check out pricing at AirRam.com
 
#27 · (Edited)
Yeah, I couldn't find a dakota compatible SCT on Airram's site. Any other places I should look? By the way, where is the electronic fan located? I looked at the front of the truck, and all I saw was the clutch fan.

edit: nevermind, I found the e-fan.
 
#30 ·
I was looking at getting the Pro form fan from my local performance shop...it comes with an adjustable thermostat built right in to the shroud, for $189
thought it would be the easiest way to go and the price was not to bad either.
anyone hear of any problems with these?
 
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