Fan Conversion and Electrical Question

I have wanted to do an electric fan conversion for the last year, but have always put it off. The time has come, but I am on a budget. I have read several threads on doing the conversion, however, I have some questions I was not seeing the answer to. Maybe I read to fast.

I was planning on using a fan from a windstar out of the wrecking yard, because I want to remove the fan shroud. Is it (A) possible to wire one fan to run at 180-220, and the second to run from 200-220? (B) Would it work that way? I am just trying to think of a way to keep my alternator from working its self to death. I live in southern utah, and in the summer with the AC on full blast, my voltage goes from 16-12(gauge) and my engine reaches 225 idling at a stoplight. I am worried the fan will pull to much voltage with both fans running all the time? Maybe I am thinking about it all wrong...Should I just wire it as a high-low setup not a one or two fan?

Will a windstar fan keep my truck cool enough? Would the Mark VIII fan be better? Lastly, wiring it to a switch, fan controller, or on when the truck is running. Pros and Cons to each one?

I really would like to keep this as cheap as possible, but I also don't want to buy garbage parts I will have to replace every 3 months. Any help would be appreciated. I apologize if its scatter brained, I couldn't gather my thoughts any better.

RustyTruck said:

I live in southern utah, and in the summer with the AC on full blast, my voltage goes from 16-12(gauge) and my engine reaches 225 idling at a stoplight.

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Personally I would fix both of these issues before even thinking about an e-fan setup. Neither one is normal for these trucks.

The only time I've seen either of my trucks over 210 degrees is when the red truck sprang a coolant leak and lost almost half of it. And the only time I've seen voltage drop that low is when my blower motor in the Suburban was on it's way out.

An electric fan setup is just going to make both of these issues worse. It's hard to beat the factory clutch fan for cooling capacity.

Some very good ideas raised here. I don't have a cooling problem, but i hate the noise of that huge clutch fan. My 98 5.7 has a 56mm thick radiator and we tow a 2800kg cargo trailer.

So what size alternator would you all recomend we use?

I will look into the blower motor, and put my multi-meter to it and see what actual voltage is reading.

Overheating was something I was thinking might get resolved by an E-fan. I will do some more digging on my craptacular cooling system, and maybe post a question in a different section of the forum.

Thank you for the help. What is the normal temperature swing you usually see in your trucks? Seems like in the winter mine sits around the first white line(half moon gauges) whatever that line represents...

RustyTruck said:

What is the normal temperature swing you usually see in your trucks?

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Both of mine sit solid at 190-200, which is right on for the opening temperature of the factory thermostat. (195) They never hit 210 unless I'm flooring it and it's hot outside.

i live in texas and its 105+ in summer and i can have my sound system going, headlights on and dual a/c going and my truck never goes above 190* and my voltage never drops below 12.7 i would deffinatley look into the cooling system issue. maybe a clutch fan not working properly and make sure you never run the truck without a thermostat. your voltage going up to 16v is not good either. check it with a voltmeter and see if the guage is giving a false reading

Definitely a false reading. Voltmeter showed a fluctuation from 14.16 (no load) to 13.92 (AC full blast, lights, and music). Guess my gauge reads like its a half Moon gauge with 265k miles on it...weird.

Guess I'll get a temp gun and check actual running temp. Unless they make an aftermarket gauge that is digital?

I appreciate all the help!

I like the HO alternators that come on the denalis.
The gauge I had a similar problem a while back so I went ahead and swapped it out with a Denali that read the 120 MPH.
Both from the same rig at the junk yard .
Now if you have a two fan set up I use a “Y” at the head water test plug passenger side it’s a 3/8 NPT square plug (there’s a kit Fromm HF to remove it ). put both of your sensors in there and they’ll be the ground side of your relay for the fans
But be warned I have a 190-210 switch in mine and it doesn’t let the temp ever get past the 1/4 line on the temp gauge
If I were to redo it I’d go higher temp range my first fan never lets the second kick on so it is a waste unless the shizzle hits the fizzle.
Course this assumes you have the 96-98 interior for the alt

DakotaDigital offers a programmable fan controller that I really like,but it isn't cheap.

A lot of fellas on here (myself included) are running AD style NBS alternators with more output than the CS style factory alternators. Also, there are better factory GM clutch fans that bolt on & fit in the GMT400 factory shroud like they're meant to be there. I swapped from the metal 5 blade fan to a plastic fan from an S10 and immediately noticed less fan howl, cooler engine temp, and cooler AC.