Electric fans suck!

[kennythewelder]

I am also pulling around more weight and have a much more cramped engine compartment. I also have alot more a/c heat load from the condenser than you do being dissapated into the air before the radiator. The 383 also has alot more heat being rejected to the cooling system than a 350. More fuel burning, more power and more heat.

All true, and valid facts. For me, a clutch fan is a POS, for you and E-fan is a POS.

 

[stutaeng]

OP, I thought you were already ran the electric fan setup on your van w/o any issues, no?

If you are not lacking on power and you can't really see any difference driving the rig, why not just go back to mechanical setup? Easy and reliable. Our 3500 Express van doesn't cool (100%) at idle when it's really hot (like 98F+ ambient temperature), just like my 06 2500 suburban also with the mechanical fan. A little tap on the accelerator gets the AC ice cold again if I'm idling a long time like in a drive-thru. My wife drives the Express, and hasn't complained. Other than that, no issues.

Driving around the van will freeze you up though! The fan has like 4 settings. Even on the lowest setting, the blower blows way too much air. Sometimes the kids complain the back is too cold.

It's strange that with all of those combinations you are still overheating though. What did the Duramax Express cooling consist of? You already tested the Duramax fan and it works...That was probably the hottest running setup on those vans with the turbos and all of that extra stuff for the diesel. If I recall, anything in the 8600 GVWR+ has had a mechanical fan. That's true for GMT400/800/900. I'm pretty sure even the newest 2500HD+ trucks (K2XX and the T1XX) are still running a mechanical fan...gas or diesel.

Disclamer: I don't know anything about E-fans. All of my GM trucks have the OEM mechanical fans. Only our Town & Country 3.6 Pentastar has an e-fan, due to the transversely mounted engine.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

This bad boy moves far more cfm than the best electric.

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I may look into trying that on my 88. I did raise the idle a little when A/C is on but it still runs warm when sitting for a while. If I give it a little gas to get it up to ~1500 RPM, it cools back down. I guess I just need a little more air flow, huh

 

[L31MaxExpress]

OP, I thought you were already ran the electric fan setup on your van w/o any issues, no?

If you are not lacking on power and you can't really see any difference driving the rig, why not just go back to mechanical setup? Easy and reliable. Our 3500 Express van doesn't cool (100%) at idle when it's really hot (like 98F+ ambient temperature), just like my suburban also with the mechanical fan. A little tap on the accelerator gets the AC ice cold again if I'm idling a long time like in a drive-thru. My wife drives the Express, and hasn't complained. Other than that, no issues.

Driving around the van will freeze you up though! The fan has like 4 settings. Even on the lowest setting, the blower blows way too much air. Sometimes the kids complain the back is too cold.

It's strange that with all of those combinations you are still overheating though. What did the Duramax Express cooling consist of? You already tested the Duramax fan and it works...That was probably the hottest running setup on those vans with the turbos and all of that extra stuff for the diesel. If I recall, anything in the 8600 GVWR+ has had a mechanical fan. That's true for GMT400/800/900. I'm pretty sure even the newest 2500HD+ trucks (K2XX and the T1XX) are still running a mechanical fan...gas or diesel.

Disclamer: I don't know anything about E-fans. All of my GM trucks have the OEM mechanical fans. Only our Town & Country 3.6 Pentastar has an e-fan, due to the transversely mounted engine.

It was 99°F and high humidity yesterday. I have run both electric setups mentioned above. Under 90-95°F they perform well. Once the needle climbs toward 100°F the inadequate cooling pops up. I thought maybe I would get by with the largest radiator that would fit the core support this time around but seem airflow is the missing piece of the puzzle. The duramax fan is too large to clear without trimming the shroud, which is why I am trying the slightly smaller Ford 11 blade this time. The blades on the Ford fan are 2x as wide and more steeply pitched than the GM 11 blade fans.

The Sanden SD7H15 really helped the idle cooling compared to the old HT6 on my brothers 99 Suburban. It would stay ice cold at idle. The condenser in his Suburban had been replaced with the newer parallel flow style. An upgrade I also made on my Express. That and the idle speed being set for 750 rpm with the LT4 cam and looser S10 torque converter.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I am also pulling around more weight and have a much more cramped engine compartment. I also have alot more a/c heat load from the condenser than you do being dissapated into the air before the radiator. The 383 also has alot more heat being rejected to the cooling system than a 350. More fuel burning, more power and more heat.

more fuel doesnt necessarily mean more heat but i assume its higher compression and of course you have power in mind so prob more advances or leaning where possible?

 

[L31MaxExpress]

more fuel doesnt necessarily mean more heat but i assume its higher compression and of course you have power in mind so prob more advances or leaning where possible?

The physics are really pretty simple on an ICE. At WOT lets say 40% of the heat is sheded to the cooling system. That 40% doesn't change much regardless if the engine makes 150 hp or 600 hp. The ~600 hp engine has roughly 4x the heat output for the cooling system.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

more fuel doesnt necessarily mean more heat but i assume its higher compression and of course you have power in mind so prob more advances or leaning where possible?

There's twice the heat energy in 2 gallons of gas than there is 1 gallon.

 

[User_name]

Anyone know of an aggressively pitched fan for us tbi guys?

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Anyone know of an aggressively pitched fan for us tbi guys?

Whats the opening in your fan shroud? If it is ~20", the same YA429 should work. The fan for my 97 Express list to fit all the way back to 88.

 

[stutaeng]

It was 99°F and high humidity yesterday. I have run both electric setups mentioned above. Under 90-95°F they perform well. Once the needle climbs toward 100°F the inadequate cooling pops up. I thought maybe I would get by with the largest radiator that would fit the core support this time around but seem airflow is the missing piece of the puzzle. The duramax fan is too large to clear without trimming the shroud, which is why I am trying the slightly smaller Ford 11 blade this time. The blades on the Ford fan are 2x as wide and more steeply pitched than the GM 11 blade fans.

The Sanden SD7H15 really helped the idle cooling compared to the old HT6 on my brothers 99 Suburban. It would stay ice cold at idle. The condenser in his Suburban had been replaced with the newer parallel flow style. An upgrade I also made on my Express. That and the idle speed being set for 750 rpm with the LT4 cam and looser S10 torque converter.

So, you have the option of keep trying to run a e-fan with all of the mods...

Or just a mechanical fan? How much trimming are you needing? Did you check what the Express Vans what first generation Express vans TD 6.5 or BBC have? Maybe the Express/8.1 combo?

I've got an 8.1/Allison combo from a 2500HD in my backyard... I forget that thing is back there... let me know if you want to know what fan that combo ran. (I "think" it has the fan?...)

Otherwise, just run the Ford fan if that works...I certainly won't hate!

Edit: I wouldn't say E-Fans suck... maybe just not appropriate for your application?