Is there an electric fan modification?

Just curious, the belt-driven cooling fan on my V6 is loud on start-up, and even though it has a viscous clutch, it has to rob engine power and affect efficiency. Has anyone ever ditched the belt driven fan and installed a single or dual electric fan? If so, did you notice any improvement in gas mileage, or change (either + or -) in engine cooling?

 

Flex-a-lite has an electric fan conversion.

 

That inefficient fan is one of the reasons these trucks last. You won't have a sensor fail and roast the engine.

On the other hand lots of Toyos with elec. fans go the distance.

If I were to make a kit, it would be with ALL factory new components from something Toyota. Not an aftermarket 1 size fits all.
In other words, it would never pay for itself.

 

My recently-sold dually had a belt-driven fan, same as the Taco does, but I don't remember it being as loud as this one. Of course, the diesel could be heard a couple of blocks away when it started up, sounded like it was coming apart. Maybe that's why I couldn't hear the fan.

I was just curious. There are quite a few companies that make electric fans that I wouldn't hesitate to use. Spal makes a very good one, and sensors are probably as reliable as the belt that drives the fan we have. But.....if it works, don't fix it, and I swore I was through with modding another vehicle.

 

Some people have added electric pusher fans in front for off roading purposes. I think it was mostly for the forced induction guys to help stay cool, but i can see it being useful for lots of others. There are a few threads, search for titles such as electric fan

 

You killed that when you joined this site

 

i put an electric fan into a car years ago. i liked it way batter than the clutch fan. too lazy and cheap to do it to a tacoma. super easy to do.

 

. You left yourself an out though huh?

Good user name. That you on the Ninja?

 

That's what I'm afraid of. Something useful like the fan wouldn't be a bad thing, but one thing leads to another. Before I know it, I'd have a 6" lifted, supercharged Tacoma with 10 million lumens' worth of offroad lights on it.

Yes, picture was at a track day at Rockingham Motor Speedway, in 1986. Bike is a 1985 model. I was younger and dumber then. I'm just dumber now.

 

Are you Tom Cruise?

nevermind, he was Navy

 

He was a poser. Until that film, he'd never ridden a motorcycle and had to take lessons.

 

One does what one will

I have converted so many Electric fans back to stock over the years nothing but problems.

Which seem to be fan does not turn on and head gaskets failed from overheating.

Fan does not shut off and runs till the battery is low enough the engine won`t crank

To me a non stock electric fan is great for engine swaps where you just don`t
have the room

 

I put the flex-a-lite kit on my 09, probably in 2010. I had one issue where the fan motor itself started to go bad and would only turn very slowly. I noticed low speed/idle temps going up on my Scangauge, since the OEM dumb gauge stays in the middle from engine temp between 170 and, at least, 205. Replaced the fan motor and alls been good. I switched to eliminate the noise for the most part, didn't notice any performance gains (wasn't expecting any either), and I also replaced the one-stage controller with a two-stage controller probably about a year or so in.

 

Been running an electric fan here in the desert since '02. I have not had one issue....

 

My 04 had dual Flexalite e-fans installed by the previous owner when I got it, they never worked well. Engine would run too warm and excessive time spent in 4lo (especially climbing) would make it start to overheat. Forget about using the A/C when in 4x4, at least on mine. Finally ditched them for a stock fan clutch setup and it's been perfect ever since, no overheating issues under any of those conditions anymore.

Oh and I was forced to take the e-fans out when the wiring harness caught fire one day on my way to work (thank god it wasn't out on a trail). Don't know if it was an install error from the PO but the e-fans had been on there for years before that happened. One less thing to worry about with the stock fan clutch.

 

Just realized in the heatwave today how thankful I am for the clutch style fan, Makes the Tacoma not sound like a cheap leaf blower is running under the hood like most cars when the AC is running/engines hot. Plus reliability. It’s the little things that make me like this truck more everyday...

 

Wut? Hot days in slow-moving traffic is where a clutch fan shows its biggest shortcoming - the fan turns too slowly to cool the AC condenser. That's why Tacomas sold in Mexico have an auxiliary electric fan in front of the condenser. There's a TSB to shoehorn it in US trucks: https://imgur.com/a/0PpKgw7