aux e-fan electrical upgrade

I am going to upgrade the tired old OEM aux electric fan on my 89 to the newer 97+ electric fan. I have two questions.

1- Should there be any kind of wiring upgrade that goes along with the newer fan? How about fuse, relay and such?

2- I remember seeing a write-up or two on how to wire a manual on/off switch for the e-fan so that it can be controlled manually. I can't find the how2s. Any help there?

TIA

Don't wanna hijak but would an aftermarket fan be better then the stock e fan? I need to keep my 97 cooler

I can't tell you much about the stock wiring, but to control it manually just figure out the amperage draw, wire in the appropriate relay, wire the switch in to the relay, and you've a manual control for turning the fan on.

For the second guy, an aftermarket fan may be better. It all depends on what brand you get and the CFM it can move. A favorite upgrade is the two-speed fan out of the ford taurus, since on the high speed it is rated up to 4500 cfm. It does require some design and custom shroud though as it's either 14 or 16 inches, I can't recall at the moment.

I have heard of the taurus fan used as primary cooling but not as an aux fan... Any more info on that?

aftermarket fan be better then the stock e fan
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If any of this maters to anyone.
The later model stock fan will move a fair amount of air is not that loud and has already proven to last forever. Is all but a dropin replacement for the early ones, Can be replaced at most boneyards auto parts (within one or two days) and right from the dealership.
None of the third party fans can even come close to all this.

badron said:

.....Is all but a dropin replacement for the early ones .......

Click to expand...

IIRC, I need to swap the connector from the existing to new.

if your just swapping in a newer style fan from a newer XJ, wiring should be fine. If your just expecting it to come on when it normally does, but move more air while its doing it jobs... swap it in, no worries.

If your swapping in an after market fan, you'll probably want to use the stock wiring to activate a relay. Depending on the amp draw of the new fan, it may be too much for the stock wiring. Not a big deal, just use that wiring to switch a relay running a new 12V source through heavier gauge wire. Again, swap it in, new 12v and your good.

If you want to have it so it comes on like normal, and when you want it too, wire it up same as above, but with the stock wiring going to the 'always on' pin on the relay, and wire a switch into the other pin so you tell it when to turn on.

Lots of wiring diagrams on here, or search for '12v relays' online (or click this link) http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp