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Aux fan idea? help me out

kdub41

kdub41

NAXJA Forum User
Location
hemet
what would be the best and cheapest way to hook up a fan that will pull A LOT of air into the radiator, so i can run this one on a switch? so if im wheeling and i want to make sure the motor is cool i can flip that one on. and the other quesiton is that if i install one of those on the radiator and then when i get a tranny cooler can i put that on the drivers side part of the radiator or would that take up to much of the radiator and cause the motor to heat up due to stuff being in front of the radiator?

Give me some suggestions :loveu: lol
 
kdub41 said:
what would be the best and cheapest way to hook up a fan that will pull A LOT of air into the radiator, so i can run this one on a switch? so if im wheeling and i want to make sure the motor is cool i can flip that one on. and the other quesiton is that if i install one of those on the radiator and then when i get a tranny cooler can i put that on the drivers side part of the radiator or would that take up to much of the radiator and cause the motor to heat up due to stuff being in front of the radiator?

Give me some suggestions :loveu: lol
Click to expand...


a quick dirty way to facilitate more cooling is to unplug the AC compressor pigtail and put the controller in the MAX position. This makes the factory aux fan run continuously without adding heat from the ac condenser.

EDIT: if your AC is kaput you'll also have to jump across the low pressure switch
 
kdub41 said:
but i also want my ac :( any other ideas? and i want it on a switch so i can control the aux fac
Click to expand...


in which case you likely won't do any good adding another fan because you're factory units are already pulling pretty much all the air (unless you replace the factory units completely) that can fit through the radiator. Remember this this chassis was not designed to have the radiator where it's located with the 4.0xj. The old 2.8's and 2.5's have the radiator mounted in a much more conventional location with much better airflow characteristics, but when jeep figured out how bad these engines sucked they had to jerry rig the rad into the slot normally occupied by the ac condenser due to the length of the 4.0


These vehicles are a marginal at cooling even with everything perfect, I doubt you'll have much luck with extended wheeling at low speed with the AC on.
 
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what kind of condition is your mech fan in? have you tried to test it?

search for:
ZJ fan clutch
aux fan
e fan
taurus fan
etc

you mention so that when your wheeling you know the motor is cool. well, do you have an instrument cluster and not just the idiot lights? are you having problems with overheating (even in this time of year)? what kind of maintenance have you done to your cooling system?
 
no i dont have heating issues but i know jeeps are prone to over heating so im just trying to do whatever i can to prevent it and i dont have a cluster of guages but i do want some lol
 
I wired up my aux fan to a switch. It works get. I found the fuse box by the battery and found which fuse it was, ran 10g wire into then one end to a switch and the other end to the batter. It works great im always cool. Just got to remember to turn it off lol
 
krochus said:
These vehicles are a marginal at cooling even with everything perfect, I doubt you'll have much luck with extended wheeling at low speed with the AC on.
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I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on that. The stock cooling system if maintained properly and in proper working order is adequate for all but the most demanding conditions.
 
Seeing as we're talking about a late model here...

Has anyone successfully wired up a switch to trigger the fan relay as opposed to running a second power wire to the fan? I've read a couple of threads regarding this idea, but the OP's never came back and advised whether or not it worked without throwing a CEL.

In stock form, the ECM sends a ground signal to the fan relay whenever the fan is needed (A/C, Hi-Temp, etc.) via a small gauge Dark Blue/Pink wire. I'd like to wire up my switch so that it grounds that wire (and thus the fan relay) but I'm worried it's going to confuse the ECM and throw a CEL. I figure a diode installed upstream on the stock wire would prevent the problem but I'm really not too sure...

Anyone tried it?
 
jeeperjohn said:
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on that. The stock cooling system if maintained properly and in proper working order is adequate for all but the most demanding conditions.
Click to expand...

I would agree that the XJs cooling system, if maintained properly and in proper working order is capable of handling what it was designed for: a grocery getter with light to moderate offroading ability.

If you want to tow, upgrade.

If you want to crawl, upgrade.

If you live in an area with extreme hot weather, upgrade.

We can always agree to disagree! :cheers:
 
I have to add that the Procomp style $20 fans are too cheap and easy of an upgrade to pass up. With an upgrade so affordable and easily available this should really be a non-issue by now. I picked up two of the same style fans for $30 at a swap meet two years ago and wired them up to a 3-way switch so I can operate them manually or automatically and have had no issues to speak of. I will vouch for a quality T-stat, I always use Stant Superstats and they have never let me down.

But hey, I could be wrong. However, I do think there should be a sticky if there isn't already on a dual electric fan set-up, it's just such an easy and cheap fix to a common problem.

My .02

Thanks
 
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yeah john said that i would need some 18 guage wire and some 14 guage wire and also a 12 volt diode.
 
joe_peters said:
I would agree that the XJs cooling system, if maintained properly and in proper working order is capable of handling what it was designed for: a grocery getter with light to moderate offroading ability.

If you want to tow, upgrade.

If you want to crawl, upgrade.

If you live in an area with extreme hot weather, upgrade.

We can always agree to disagree! :cheers:
Click to expand...


This just goes on and on, doesn't it. If by upgrade you mean a good radiator, then we agree, but otherwise.......

I've been wheeling with groups of XJ's on the trails for over 15 years with very few cooling issues. We've had 30+ XJ's on a single trail run multiple times completely loaded down with camping gear and crawling at slow speeds up steep trails. No one had cooling isuues. When someone did have the occasional cooling issue it was ALWAYS tracked to a component in the system that wasn't working right. And, this is in CA in the summer where it gets hot.

Like we've said, a larger aftermarket radiator is eventually needed, and should be assumed as an upgrade, but beyond that the stock system will get the job done.

:wave:
 
Goatman said:
This just goes on and on, doesn't it. If by upgrade you mean a good radiator, then we agree, but otherwise.......

I've been wheeling with groups of XJ's on the trails for over 15 years with very few cooling issues. We've had 30+ XJ's on a single trail run multiple times completely loaded down with camping gear and crawling at slow speeds up steep trails. No one had cooling isuues. When someone did have the occasional cooling issue it was ALWAYS tracked to a component in the system that wasn't working right. And, this is in CA in the summer where it gets hot.

Like we've said, a larger aftermarket radiator is eventually needed, and should be assumed as an upgrade, but beyond that the stock system will get the job done.

:wave:
Click to expand...

I agree with Richard. Now that I've finally got my system working right, it cools too well between my 3 core rad and ZJ fan clutch. The fan clutch will be coming off so I get back to operating temp.
 
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