THE BEST ELECTRIC FAN SET UP, HANDS DOWN.

My Jeep was running hot, and I initially went the "Taurus" fan route.
Electric fans are great except for a few problems I encountered.
I've exhausted the cooling fan options to the very end, and this is BY FAR
the best solution there is out there.

The problem with the XJ radiator, is the shape. It's NOT a square like some truck radiators... or CJ or YJ radiators. SO, you plop a 14" or 16" fan behind the radiator pulling air, it's a waste!!! It's doesn't fit, the fan hangs down below the radiator and isn't doing what's you're intending it to do.
DONT BOTHER WITH A BIG FAN, or TAURUS FAN in an XJ or MJ.

Electric Fans have built-in thermal shut off points. Your engine is hot, on a 90 degree day in August, the engine compartment is like an oven.... just holding all the heat in there. Sure, you can vent the hood (I did) but it's still hot in there. Having "PULLERS" behind the radiator isn't good, because when the engine gets hot... the fans will SHUT OFF, then you're done. Now you have nothing.

#1 the fans must fit the radiator. 10" fans are THE ONLY fans that will fit our radiators and move air through it efficiently. REVERIBLE "S BLADE" FANS MUST BE USED. They are $25 each on ebay.
#2 putting fans in FRONT of the radiator, away from the hot engine is the BEST IDEA because they won't get hot and quick working.
#3 THREE CHEAP 10" electric fans from Ebay fit inside the XJ grille area
PERFECTLY across the front.
#4 They MUST be very sturdily mounted onto a sheet of 1/4" plastic,
while not warping or bending the fan shroud causing the blades to rub.

Here's how to do it:

Any pictures of hte set up with the grill attached?

I've never had my 14" electric (in place of the stock mechanical) ever shut off due to heat, and I run in 110*+ in PHX and LV rush-hour traffic with the a/c on.

I've never over-heated my engine, either. I would be just a little bit afraid to use your set-up in some extreme conditions, it's too restrictive.

Cute, but the best solution is to fix the underlying problem causing the overheating in the first place.

also with your setup the fans must run 100% of the time as to not create hot spots blocked by the plastic sheet. it would be better if mounted on the inside of the radiator

Did you hook these up thermostatically? or manually? or a combo of both?

Nice looking setup...

Cute, but the best solution is to fix the underlying problem causing the overheating in the first place.

X2

More pics! I am doing a swap where I will have very little to NO room on the engine side the radiator. How long have you been running this setup?

I'd be afraid of the shroud blocking the ram air. I do like the idea of putting the fans on the front though. it'd make water pumps and the like alot easier without the fan's and shrouds in the way.

Crawler said:

I've never had my 14" electric (in place of the stock mechanical) ever shut off due to heat, and I run in 110*+ in PHX and LV rush-hour traffic with the a/c on.

I've never over-heated my engine, either. I would be just a little bit afraid to use your set-up in some extreme conditions, it's too restrictive.

Click to expand...

x2..

When i did have my Taurus fan stop working it was because i was stupid and used a starter solenoid for the high speed side. It works great, but isn't made for constant use. The heat DID make it stop working (the solenoid NOT the fan itself). I have since purchased an actual relay (looks exactly like the solenoid i used) that can handle the amount of current required by the fans high speed side, and is designed for continuous duty. Since fitting this relay, i have NO additional problems. The Taurus fan on low speed is quieter then the engine with the hood closed. The High speed however is a different story, but that only gets used when off-roading. For me so far, the low speed even works well towing up hills.

rockwerks said:

Cute, but the best solution is to fix the underlying problem causing the overheating in the first place.

also with your setup the fans must run 100% of the time as to not create hot spots blocked by the plastic sheet. it would be better if mounted on the inside of the radiator

Click to expand...

X3 Fix the problems that are causing the overheating... dont just bandaid.
I switched over to get the benifits of the additional cooling when its hot and im off-roading AND the benefits of eliminating the mechanical fan.

i put two taurus fans in front of mine, it stays under 180 here in florida, i spin tires through mudholes and dont move an inch, it sits for the longest time running.

when i get on the highway though, i shut the fans off, and let the ram air do the work.

your work looks great, i wouldn't have killed all the ram air however with that shroud. the main reason for a shroud on the inside is to create a vacuum and pull air more efficiently, on the outside, it's just blocking the extra air, and holding your fans up.

also, never heard of pullers shutting off from heat, my stock puller inside never shuts off, i have everything wired to stay on when the truck is on.

kinda cocky about hating on the taurus fans. expecially since most everyone with an electrical fan setup, runs those fans.

yep a very dangerous and poor design with out being able to get ram air into the system

My buddy and I put a Cummins 6BT in his Bronco, and used two Taurus fans in a puller setup. Dual stage thermal switch to kick them on and off; only when towing hard on warm days does the second level ever kick in.

With proper electrical controls I've never heard of them shutting down in a puller-type situation. And this is pulling through the A/C condenser, the radiator, and the factory Dodge intercooler (which dwarfs the other two).

It was cheap and it worked for him so I say nice job. Ever other form of cooling mod has been tryed on XJ's so whats wrong with one more? XJ's are notorious for radiator problems. If a flush and fill won't fix cooling problems and the stock fans are working then cut your looses and buy a $99 radiator.

It works great.
All three are manual, all three are relayed.

I cant see it happening, I'm sure it works fine for you but I just cant see blocking the ram air, makes no sense to me. I've had to use my high speed on the taurus fan maybe twice, I never need that much air, and mine is not sealed off to the rad like some, it's very tight to it but I am happy with the set up. Good luck.

barillms said:

It works great.
All three are manual, all three are relayed.

Click to expand...

Ill give it 6 months before he forgets to switch on a fan and burn up the motor.

rockwerks said:

Ill give it 6 months before he forgets to switch on a fan and burn up the motor.

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Won't take that long if he wheels often. I have done it several times in my CJ7 when I cut all electrical off to use my winch. Then I forget to turn them back on. Luckily no real harm ever done, just overheated a little. I have mine on a thermal switch, but with a manual main power switch so I can have thm run when the engine is off. If your stock set-up isn't cutting the mustard and a single electric fan in plac eof the manual fan isn't working, you got other issues. And a good aluminum 3 or 4 core radiator with a high flow water pump will fix it. And if that doesn't fix it, you got even bigger issues.

I think your set-up would work a lot better if you took the shfroud off. Cause when you do an an electric fan conversion in a puller application, you should make a shroud for it. But you are supposed to cut a couple of holes in the shroud and put something over them like a piece of rubber from an innertube. That way when you go down the road the air coming in has somewhefre to go instead of just out the fan area. And it won't make a high pressure area behind he shroud and blow it off. With your set-up covering the whole radiator there really is no need for the shroud.

rockwerks said:

Ill give it 6 months before he forgets to switch on a fan and burn up the motor.

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LOL! Thats the only thing i dont like about my Taurus Install. I just have a SPDT switch for it and leave it off till it warms up (since any "normal" XJer probably look's at his gauges every 5 minutes LOL) and then switch it to low speed.

The problem with this is say if the GF Drives it, she "forgets" to turn it on. Fortunately, the stock fan still works and keeps it "fairly" cool . If for some reason it stopped however, it could defintely be an issue.

I guess it all depends on your habits. Even with how often i look at my gauges, i still wouldnt want to manually turn on 3 different fans. I would have wired it the same as my taurus (using the one switch). If i really wanted to get eloborate, then i would have used the stock fan to trigger the relays ( Fan CTS acting as a thermal switch).

slipslap said:

And a good aluminum 3 or 4 core radiator with a high flow water pump will fix it.

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BTW for any off-roader, i would recommend a 2 core aluminum not a high performance 3 or 4. There is alot of speculation around this, but when off roading you dont have the movement of air to dissipate the heat from the smaller tubes. 2 core's have larger tubes and more space between them that dissipate heat better when minumum "ram air" is present.

Muad'Dib said:

BTW for any off-roader, i would recommend a 2 core aluminum not a high performance 3 or 4. There is alot of speculation around this, but when off roading you dont have the movement of air to dissipate the heat from the smaller tubes. 2 core's have larger tubes and more space between them that dissipate heat better when minumum "ram air" is present.

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Well maybe I should have been more specific. Use a 3 or 4 core radiator with a good electric fan set-up with at least 1600cfm minimum with proper shroud or coverage IMO.

And is your name taken from Dune's Paul Atraides? I love that movie.