Keeping the Mechanical fan

**1997 XJ** First off, let me apologize for bringing up the topic of taurus fans again. Even though seems like this topic is very common, I have searched through all the archived threads and and my question is still unanswered. I want to know if it is possible to install a taurus fan in place of the auxiliary fan while keeping the mechanical fan in place. My main reason for keeping the mechanical fan in place is because it's always on when the engine is on. If the electric fan burns out ill still have something that can cool my engine when im out in the middle of nowhere. Has anyone tried this with another hi-power fan if it is not possible with the taurus fan?

I like to know too... I think the factory fan sucks bad.

I dont think you can retain the mech fan with the Taurus fan in place. Im pretty sure the fan is just too large to keep both.

I dont see why everyone swaps the fans out, the mech fan along with the stock e-fan works perfectly. Just the other day i had my e-fan go out and i drove about 60 miles in afternoon temps without it and without a problem...

A functioning cooling system shouldnt have to be bandaied with high power fans.

my .02

swbooking said:

I dont think you can retain the mech fan with the Taurus fan in place. Im pretty sure the fan is just too large to keep both.

I dont see why everyone swaps the fans out, the mech fan along with the stock e-fan works perfectly. Just the other day i had my e-fan go out and i drove about 60 miles in afternoon temps without it and without a problem...

A functioning cooling system shouldnt have to be bandaied with high power fans.

my .02

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X2. You would not be able to run both the OEM mechanical fan and the Tarus fan. Either of these fans occupy 65%+ of the radiator area. It wii take some major customizing to get them both to fit together.

It appear to me that most everyone who have a properly functioning cooling system or are happy with cooling system have a manual transmission.

I remember having cooling issues with both my XJ,s when driving through the city or at stop lights but never on the highway. The electrical fan would come on to help reduce the high engine temperature back to the normal 200* +/- . I replaced every item in the coolong system except the fan blade and saw no improvement. What got me thinking was the fact that I could remove the mechanical fan and run down the highway in the South Florida summer and the temperature stayed below the 210* mark. I concluded that the mechanical fan was a useless POS.
I am now using the Derale DER-16928 since the mid 2004 and have no complaints. I will not go back to the mechanical fan on my XJ.
It do appear to me however that most of us who have experianced cooling problems have the AW4 transmission. Am I correct?

Is there a reason you want a Taurus fan specifically? Are you looking to just upgrade the aux fan? The reason I ask is that the Taurus fan that most of us use is 2 speed and seems overkill for an aux fan.

Why not try to find a fan from something else alittle smaller. I'm not sure if you are looking to wire an over ride, but a single speed fan from possibly a smaller import may be a better idea.

If you want a Taurus fan because of the two speeds. Ford Tempo's also had 2 speed fans. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember which models had them, but I can look it up. I want to say it was most likely the 92-94 V6 models. The radiator was smaller in the Tempo, and the fan should be smaller too.

I have the mechanical fan, and a Torque Flow aux. fan, and they work great together. I also have the AW-4 tranny. I recently switched to teh open style cooling system with a 3 row rad, needless to say, my cooling issues are gone!!

dagr8tim said:

Is there a reason you want a Taurus fan specifically? Are you looking to just upgrade the aux fan? The reason I ask is that the Taurus fan that most of us use is 2 speed and seems overkill for an aux fan.

Why not try to find a fan from something else alittle smaller. I'm not sure if you are looking to wire an over ride, but a single speed fan from possibly a smaller import may be a better idea.

If you want a Taurus fan because of the two speeds. Ford Tempo's also had 2 speed fans. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember which models had them, but I can look it up. I want to say it was most likely the 92-94 V6 models. The radiator was smaller in the Tempo, and the fan should be smaller too.

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the taurus fan is a popular mod for us. its not just because of the two speeds but because of the CFM. the taurus fan has by far the highest CFM of any stock e fan and more than most aftermarket e fans. the fan from the ford crapo's may be a two speed fan, but it does not flow enough air to take over for the mech fan. so its not just an issue of fitment, but of the quantity of air moved

and rgnavarr, welcome to . I have a taurus fan in my jeep with a delta current control fk-60 fan controller. i love how well it preforms. i havent heard my stock e fan turn on in a year. my stock mech fan was toast so i figured why just replace when i could upgrade. i mounted mine vertically and used the extra space on the shroud for a large trans cooler. and yes, i did have the first fan i bought go out on me on the way home from work one day. the fan threw its bearing and locked up. it wasnt a big deal and the stock e fan kicked in to keep temps down a bit. i did not overheat even with just the stock fan, and that was in late summer/early fall temps in phoenix.

the fan blade assembly on a taurus fan is still quite large. i dont believe that it will fit on the pass side of the radiator because the steering box is in the way even if the fan shroud was trimmed as much as possible. i have toyed around with an idea along the same lines though. when i took apart my old burned out taurus fan, i noticed the motor is a tad larger than our stock e fan motor. i hope to see if the taurus motor will fit in the housing of our stock e fan. some major trimming would have to be done to the fans shroud and mounts to clear the larger motor, but it may be a feasible option. i think i will hit the junkyard today to try to find a stock e fan. but i dont know what i will find and when i would be able to try this theory out.

oh, and rgnavarr- if you want to check out my taurus fan set up feel free. im just outside of phoenix in the west valley. if you want to check mine out send me a pm.

hth
stewie

stewie said:

the taurus fan is a popular mod for us. its not just because of the two speeds but because of the CFM. the taurus fan has by far the highest CFM of any stock e fan and more than most aftermarket e fans. the fan from the ford crapo's may be a two speed fan, but it does not flow enough air to take over for the mech fan. so its not just an issue of fitment, but of the quantity of air moved

stewie

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The problem is that the original poster wanted to replace his aux fan with a Taurus fan. Most of us replace our mechanical primary fan with a Taurus fan. That makes his question Apples to Oranges with what most of us do.

The Taurus fan is too big to replace the aux fan. I'm trying to find out what the original poster specifically wants and try to provide suggestions.

stewie said:

the taurus fan has by far the highest CFM of any stock e fan
hth
stewie

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Somewhat of an overstatement!

not with 2500 cfm on low and 4500 on high

dagr8tim said:

The problem is that the original poster wanted to replace his aux fan with a Taurus fan. Most of us replace our mechanical primary fan with a Taurus fan. That makes his question Apples to Oranges with what most of us do.

The Taurus fan is too big to replace the aux fan. I'm trying to find out what the original poster specifically wants and try to provide suggestions.

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My reason for upgrading is that my cooling system always seems to fail during the summer months. Whenever the outside temperature rises above 100 degrees my normal engine temp is 225+. I have mounted a manual override switch on the auxiliary fan and it will make the temperature level out at about 225 depending on the temperature outside. I have a 3 core copper radiator (that has helped a lot) and i flush out the coolant regularly but the problem still persists. I have 180 hi-flow t-stat but would like to go back to a higher temperature t-stat because during the winter months the engine will stay below 180 degrees which i have heard is not good for the engine. My main goal is to get my engine temp around 200-210 all the time because i have heard that these are the preferred temperatures for the engine to run at. The taurus fan stood out because i could be able to run a 195 degree t-stat in the winter and still be able to wait in traffic during the summer at nominal temps. I will most likely have to consider different (smaller) fans, and I am going today to look at some lebaron hood vents to see if that helps with the temperature at all. What is best is to figure out the initial problem with the cooling system but i have tried everything short of taking the engine out and looking for anything blocking water flow. I simply do not have the time to do this. Switching to a higher power auxiliary fan seems to be the only alternative since i want to keep the mech fan in its stock position. any other ideas or ideas for small high-cfm fans?

rgnavarr said:

My reason for upgrading is that my cooling system always seems to fail during the summer months. Whenever the outside temperature rises above 100 degrees my normal engine temp is 225+. I have mounted a manual override switch on the auxiliary fan and it will make the temperature level out at about 225 depending on the temperature outside. I have a 3 core copper radiator (that has helped a lot) and i flush out the coolant regularly but the problem still persists. I have 180 hi-flow t-stat but would like to go back to a higher temperature t-stat because during the winter months the engine will stay below 180 degrees which i have heard is not good for the engine. My main goal is to get my engine temp around 200-210 all the time because i have heard that these are the preferred temperatures for the engine to run at. The taurus fan stood out because i could be able to run a 195 degree t-stat in the winter and still be able to wait in traffic during the summer at nominal temps. I will most likely have to consider different (smaller) fans, and I am going today to look at some lebaron hood vents to see if that helps with the temperature at all. What is best is to figure out the initial problem with the cooling system but i have tried everything short of taking the engine out and looking for anything blocking water flow. I simply do not have the time to do this. Switching to a higher power auxiliary fan seems to be the only alternative since i want to keep the mech fan in its stock position. any other ideas or ideas for small high-cfm fans?

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I know what you are going thru. I have been there some years ago. Have you changed the water pump? The radiator cap and over flow / recoveery tank are also something to look into. Does your XJ over heat at highway speeds? Knowing when it is most likely to heat up could be and important part in trouble shooting the problem.

techno1154 said:

I know what you are going thru. I have been there some years ago. Have you changed the water pump? The radiator cap and over flow / recoveery tank are also something to look into. Does your XJ over heat at highway speeds? Knowing when it is most likely to heat up could be and important part in trouble shooting the problem.

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i have changed the water pump a year ago along with a new radiator cap, t-stat, and t-stat housing. At highway speeds the temp is able to stay around 210. When i am under 10mph (usually off-road) the temperature will seem to rise to 225. when im at idle with the auxiliary fan it can go above that depending on the temperature outside. Hopefully the hood vents will be able to remove the hot air trapped under the hood until i am fully able to diagnose the cooling issue.