I think I just found my overheating problem .........

.... and I don't believe it has anything to do with our little off-road excursion ........ I headed down to the weekly Thursday night cruise-in ........ stopped and got a tank of gas ........ temp at 195, but that would be normal after being turned off at the pumps ........ headed back out for the gathering and the temp continued to climb ........ reached nearly 230 before I could get some clean running back to the house ........ was at 205 when I got home ........ shut hm off and unfastened the nose and tilted it down ........ no coolant leaking this time, but when I turned on the ignition to check the fan ......... nothing, nada, nyet, zip, zilch ........ the fan is thermostatically controlled to come on at 180*, and that's not happening

Hope it's just the sensor and not the fan itself ........ I have a spare toggle switch on the dash and I'm really thinking about direct wiring the fan to that switch (if the fan is indeed ok) ......... I'm getting a little tired of all this fancy stuff going out ......... we'll check it again in the morning, but I think that's my problem ...... intermittant fan :mad::rolleyes::mad:

Technoloegy strikes again

John---do you have teflon tape on the threads of your temp sensor for the fan???? It will insulate the threads and not let the current go to ground

Jerry

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

John---do you have teflon tape on the threads of your temp sensor for the fan???? It will insulate the threads and not let the current go to ground

Jerry

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Amen to that, Jerry. That was the first question the AutoMeter guy asked me when I called about a faulty gauge, and he said that about 95% of their temp sender problems are teflon tape insulation.

AutoMeter is in Sycamore Il about 15 miles west of here---I may have been who told them that!!!

The electric fan on the radiator of the Bucket is wired through a toggle switch only and out on the highway I don't need it but once in city traffic,it is only a matter of flicking the switch for it to suck more air through the radiator. It works good for me.

I use SPAL's Programmable Controller for mine with a SPAL sender, and I like the ability to easily program the staged "ON" temps for the low/hi speeds. Mine is set for low speed "ON" at 203, with high speed coming in at 215F. I normally run down the open road at 186 to 192F, with occasional excursions to 203. My fan normally does not run on the highway.

I think your thoughs about wiring the toggle is a good one. Back when I was running electric fans, I used a thermostat switch but also had the fan wired to a switch on the dash and it came in useful more than once.

I never have trusted the controllers to turn on my fans, so I wire them with a toggle switch that I control. I rarely forget to turn it on and am more reliable that any controller we have bought. Dan has a SPAL controller on his rpu and we had to call SPAL because it wasn't coming on, they told us to put juice into the green wire which effectively keeps it running all the time at 100%. It is coming out when we put his engine back in and a toggle switch is going in it's place.

Don

No Jerry, no teflon tape on the sensor ........... I just think the sensor is going bad :mad:

I use Centech's fan control box--very slick way to control your electric fan. No problems in five years of use.

you can wire it so the thermostate turns it on and put in a switch to over ride. Guess you'll just have to watch the temp gauge

Why not wire it to run when ever the motor is running ? After all a mechanical fan does that .
Or are we saving electric ? LOL

I did the on all the time thing, and went thru 3 fan motors in 5 years, mind you at the time I was doing a lot of long distance high speed commuting, and at speed I could hear the fan just screaming. I think being on like that just gave it a boost, although the motors were cheap A/Z motors. I probably should have just put a on/off switch.

There is never a need to have the fan come on with a turn of the key, especially when the motor is cold. You don't need to cool a cold motor.
I had a thermostat control on one time, and I also had a toggle to over ride the switch. After the thermostat control took a crap, I just removed it and just had the toggle to turn the fan on only when I needed it.

Above about 20mph a running fan actually restricts air flow by "getting in the way" of the air being pushed through the radiator by the vehicle speed. Your electric fan will freewheel in the air stream, much like a mechanical fan with a thermostatic clutch does. For a coolant thermostat of 180F SPAL tells you to put your "fan on" setpoint at around 185 to 190, and your "max speed" setpoint at around 205 to 210 (15 to 20 degree delta). The fan only runs when idling hot, or when stuck in traffic at no/low speeds. A toggle switch works just fine as long as you remember to keep an eye on your temp when you're angry about the traffic jam you're stuck in. And yes, you pay for running the electric fan in lost efficiency of the engine cranking the alternator - the higher your amp draw the harder it is to turn, using HP that would otherwise be going to the rear wheels - nothing's free. The only reason I use the electric fan is clearance issues - not enough room for the fan/clutch off the water pump pulley.

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Originally Posted by rspears

The only reason I use the electric fan is clearance issues - not enough room for the fan/clutch off the water pump pulley.

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Same situation here Roger ......... no room for a mechanical :rolleyes::rolleyes:

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