Flex-a-lite fan installed

So I finally received my electric fan from flex a lite. Install was easy, some minor wiring and use of a multi meter to find the AC relay.

Couple things I did not like:
The price I got it local at jb power for 380 and change.
Not a huge fan of how the shroud covers only about 80 percent of the rad
And the temp prob looks so ghetto have to figure a way to make it look a bit better.

Things I do like:
The silence! When you start up and while driving. Can really hear the supercharger and growl of the engine now.
AC is ice cold in traffic.
Fan comes on after the engine is off kinda cool?
Belt change will be a breeze now!


Anyways some crap cell pics.

 

Looks good! I'm interested in doing this to my 14 but I just can't stomach the price yet lol

 

U notice any power improvement?

 

I think it's placebo effect. I did notice some more go but it's hard to tell. The way I look at it is; it's like adding light weight pully, I just removed over at least 5 lbs of junk from the rotating mass lol

 

Looks Good.

 

Does anyone know if the 5th gen 4runner or FJ cruiser (with the high HP v6) still have mechanical fans or are they electric fans?

What about 6spd Tacomas?

Reason I ask that is if so it might be an easier swap and a full coverage fan. On my old BMW, the manual transmission cars had electric fans while the automatics had mechanical ones like our trucks. Some of the auto guys could simply buy the electric fan and bolt it right up. They would remove the electric AC pusher fan used in conjuction with the mech fan and use that plug to power the new one without any issues. It was a total plug and play process to ease manufactoring when building the cars.

 

I couldn't tell you if the new runner or fj have electric fans. I have a 6 speed 13 sport and it was a mech fan. My brother has the same in auto and it's a mech fan.

The problem with a true plug and play from another model is the tacoma has never had an electric fan. So you need some kind of controller that turns it on at a certain temp. The kit I bought included it .
I agree though if a newer runner has an electric fan I would try to get my hands on it and keep my controller and plug and play it!

 

they all have mechanical fans... as well as every truck based vehicle off a production line.... why because they are going to be more reliable.

 

I tried that once a few years ago. I went through three fans before I figured out electric fans don't like water or mud and put the stock fan back in. One died on the autobahn and I was busy driving and didn't notice the temp gauge pegged. The motor lost power and I pulled over and let it cool off, amazingly it started after half an hour but I would not want to change head gaskets on this motor as I'm sure everything would be warped.

 

I completely agree with the water and mud. I don't do any crazy wheeling. Up here in edmonton I doubt the fan will ever turn on 6 months of the year lol. So far I have been monitoring the temp with my ultra guage and it has not gone past 88c, even stuck in traffic. The old mech fan I saw the temp rise to 90c in traffic on a +30c day.
I am sure I'll kick my self if the thing fails and leaves me stranded lol

 

Im not familiar with how the wiring is done on this kit, but if the fan comes on after the truck is shut off, thats usually a bad thing. Technically most would be afraid of draining their battery. If you wanted to, you can use a relay switched by an ignition source to disable the fan when the car is off.

Also, ive done this years ago on an S-10 using a ford taurus fan ($40 at a junkyard). The thermostat that I got originally pushed in between fins of the radiator. it was horribly inconsistent and inaccurite. I later found a temp sensor that measured coolant temp. I placed it in a plugged hole at the front of the intake manifold (the plug used to burp the cooling system of air). It just so happened that the hayden (or painless maybe) temp sensor threads were the exact size to fill this hole that was plugged. I havent looked at the taco to see if this plug exists or is useable (sorry for the incomplete info). But I just wanted to share since once done, the system worked a ton better.

 

Keep track of your MPG too! I don't think it will make that much of a difference, but you never know.

 

I don't think it's going to get better I am at 17.4mpg which is pretty good for my mods. Plus I am enjoying the sound with out the roar of that fan!

 

I put the kit on mine several years ago. I made a few mods to mine over the years though.

o I added some rubber washers on the mounting surfaces as I was getting a "rumble" through the frame/floor when the fan turned on.
o I upgraded to a 2-stage fan controller, to help cut the spin-up amp requirements when the fan starts (was causing the idle to react a bit too much as the fan turned on and the amps grew quickly).
o I tapped the AC clutch line at the fuse box, rather then down by the compressor, in order to keep the spliced connection up out of the weather as much as possible.

Last, I saw no perf or mpg gains/losses, just the quiet from no clutch fan roar

 

Hmm I did not notice any idle drop or rumble, going to look into that. Out curiosity on the AC magnetic clutch relay which terminal did you tap into. I used ...
Sorry for the crap drawing I am not near my truck to take a pic.

 

There are more than a few vehicles that the fan will turn on, or continue to run, after the engine is turned off.

 

I tapped into the proper wire as it exited the engine fuse box, not the relay. Then soldered, shrink tubed, and liguid taped it, just to be sure. Any more detail then that is going to be error-prone as I did it 4 years ago....

As for the rumble, might be just mine, or might just be noticable to me, either way, if it isn't noticable to you, that's good.

Oh Hell!! You're in Canada, does the fan ever even come on up there ?!

Also, the Flex-a-lite controllers, these ones anyway, will run the fan for 30 secs after key off, if the engine temp is still above the threshold.

 

Cool mod, but IMO not worth the risks.... buddy of mine did this to his 3rd gen 4 runner (1st gen taco) went through a water crossing stick broke a fan blade and put a small hole in the radiator.... he went back to the OEM fan after that.

 

I tapped in from underneath man pulling that fuse box apart was the hardest part haha. I think I'll wait until it gets colder and make sure thr fan does not come on when defroster is on. It shouldn't since I tapped into the magnetic clutch.
I highly doubt thr fan will turn on at least 6 months of the year! Summer though it helps a lot in traffic