Wiring in an aftermarket fan - best way....

[JMC 0]

Just got an aftermarket radiator fan for my G60. Opened it up and noticed it only has 2 leads so presumably is single speed. Now what's the best way to wire this in to my current G60 wiring (which has 2 speed settings)?? Any advice from someone who's already done this would be great.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Just wire it into the 1st speed off your stock loom.

 

My VR has/had 3 speeds, but my SPAL fans are only single speed also, so made sense just to wire them into the single speed wire so that they come on as soon as possible.

 

The standard fan motor on the VR and G60 is just "slowed down" with less current for the lower speeds, speed 2 (or 3) is the motor's normal running speed.

[fla 9]

Is there any way to link the fan to come on to speed 2 at the speed 1 temp setting?

[JMC 0]

Just wire it into the 1st speed off your stock loom.

 

My VR has/had 3 speeds, but my SPAL fans are only single speed also, so made sense just to wire them into the single speed wire so that they come on as soon as possible.

 

The standard fan motor on the VR and G60 is just "slowed down" with less current for the lower speeds, speed 2 (or 3) is the motor's normal running speed.

 

Cheers Kev, Thought that would be the case, but wanted to check first.

[DanVW 0]

My standard fan stopped working on speed 1 (suspect because it was rubbing on the top rad hose for a while) :(

 

I had recently replaced the Rad fan switch and tested the harness and relay so thought sod paying for a new fan!

I just spliced the wires coming from the Rad fan switch together, so now when the temp hits 81deg (iirc) the fan

comes on at speed 2 (where it used to come on at speed 1)

 

So far (3 months on) its not gone over 110 degrees and works fine :-D no need for two stage fan IMO!

 

I also gave it a squrt of WD40 and it did spin a lot more freely!

 

Cheers

 

Dan

[Dutch24V 0]

I have a Pacet fan and that also only has two wires.

 

There are 4 wires going to the standard fan, 2 thick and 2 slightly thinner. Can I just connect the new fan to the two thinner wires?

 

Dutch

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Put a spade onto the live wire of your Pacet and push that into the 1st speed's spade in the main harness plug. From memory, it's the top left one viewed from the front, but you'll soon find out if nothing happens at 95 degrees, then move it to another one!

 

The ground wire for the Pacet can go to ground anywhere.

 

Doing that just saves you hacking the main plug off in case you ever need it again.

 

Fla, not sure what you mean? The slimline fans are only single speed, so if it comes on at Speed 1, the engine won't get hot enough to need Speed 2 if you follow?

[fla 9]

Fla, not sure what you mean? The slimline fans are only single speed, so if it comes on at Speed 1, the engine won't get hot enough to need Speed 2 if you follow?

 

Just suppose the Spal could get connected to speed 3 of the existing fan setup I guess it would receive the full voltage rather than a stepped down value, of say 10.5V. On that basis surely it would run faster? I'm not sure about this at all just stabbing in the dark. I'm assuming the speed contrl for the fans is controlled by the thermoswitch setup, so presumably if we could get say 11.5V (assuming this to be a speed 2 voltage) to come on when the thermoswitch reaches 85C it will come on at a higehr speed than speed 1. Or i may just be talking gibberish....

[DanVW 0]

There are a few ways of doing it, cheesewire's way of doing it is probably best as you dont have to cut the loom

 

However if you dont mind splicing a few wires the best way IMO is to take the output from the rad temp sender and splice

them together, that way when the sender triggers at either temp you get speed 2 (higher voltage) at the fan :-D

have had no over heating issues with mine since doing it.

 

But guess it depends if you are happy about cutting your loom or not.

 

Dan

[Henny 0]

I did it a slightly different way to Cheesewire in that I put 2 spades onto the +ve from the new Pacet fan and plugged them into BOTH switched outputs which used to feed the fan...

 

The reasoning behind this is simple, if the fan switch dies on the lower setting then I'll still have the switched live for the higher temp side of the switch (it's only a 2 temp setting switch as it's a G60) to fall back on stopping my engine from melting.... If the switch is there and works, I think it's worth using the facility as a back up... ;) Plugging into the original wiring also means that the fan-run on will work with your new fan... 8)

 

DanVW, what you're on about doing won't make any difference mate... the fan switch only gives out 12V on any of it's switch temp settings... the original fan motor is the bit with the big resistors in it to make the fan spin at different speeds, not the switch or associated wiring... ;)

[JMC 0]

As a slight aside then, how have people attached their fans?? I was thinking about re-using the cowl from the old fan, but I'm sure I've seen pictures where the fan is just cable tied to the back of the rad....

 

Presumably using the cowl means air is drawn through more of the rad, but if the fan is cable tied to the back of the rad, there must be a faster air flow, but over less of the vanes :confused4:

[Henny 0]

mine's just cable tied on using the Pacet fan's mounting points and some "meccano" style strips mounted to the original cowling mounts on the radiator...

 

The pacet fan is about 200% better than the original fan, it's also a larger diameter so covers more of the radiator than a standard fan (without cowling) would... It may not use the whole of the radiator as efficiently, but it is DEFINATELY better at cooling the engine down than the standard fan was... 8)

[fla 9]

DanVW, what you're on about doing won't make any difference mate... the fan switch only gives out 12V on any of it's switch temp settings... the original fan motor is the bit with the big resistors in it to make the fan spin at different speeds, not the switch or associated wiring... ;)

 

I guess this will be the same on teh VR. In that case there will be no need to run the fan at any other speeds as it will be at full speed when it trips in. Thanks for clearing that up Henny.

[JMC 0]

Cool, hadn't though about using punched strip to mount it. That'll make everything easier to do (assuming I can get the old cowl out tomorrow).

[DanVW 0]

Hey Henny

 

It did make quite a bit of difference mate as I had lost speed one so the engine was getting up to nearly 120 degrees

(on water temp gauge) 115 (on oil gauge) before the 2nd seed fan was cutting in :shock: and I didnt like it :-(

 

After my loom hack, it comes on at just over 105 degrees (on water temp gauge) 100ish (on oil gauge)

 

Happy with that :lol: I never ment to give the impression that splicing the loom's would enable you to keep both speeds

but it is a quick and cheap fix if you loose your speed one and dont want to shell out for a new fan :-)

 

Dan

[JMC 0]

Wired the new Davies Craig fan (from G-Werks - thanks Darren) in today. Makes loads of room in the engine bay as it is so much slimmer than the old one. Cheated in the end and used the old cowling and a few cable ties on the fan until I find a more permanent way to do it. For the wiring I connected together the stage 1 and stage 2 inputs, and connected both of these to the live on the fan. Only took it out for a relatively short run, but it kept the temp nice and steady even when I got stuck in traffic. Ends up being noisier than the old one, but flows loads more air. All in all well recommended mod.

[Dec 1]

What diameter fan did you get from G-Werks? I'm looking at getting one myself, but don't have my old fan cowling to hand.

[DANG60 0]

I got a twelve inch fan from Gwerks, it sounds alot healthier than my old one and made alot more room in the engine bay which made boost pipe work fit better.

[Dec 1]

Cheers! Good thing I asked! I had an idea in my head that the standard ones couldn't be any wider than 9" :lol:

[JMC 0]

Yep, mines a 12 inch. Actually fits really well within the cowling, and wired it straight in to the original wiring.

[W3RKD 0]

Yep, mines a 12 inch. Actually fits really well within the cowling, and wired it straight in to the original wiring.

 

Far more efficent also by keeping the cowling Jonathan, Goodwork .

[JMC 0]

Yep, mines a 12 inch. Actually fits really well within the cowling, and wired it straight in to the original wiring.

 

Far more efficent also by keeping the cowling Jonathan, Goodwork .

 

Cheers Darren. Cowling will have to come out again though as it is really rusty. Needs to be stripped down, sanded and repainted.

[JMC 0]

Been really impressed with the fan. Had a couple of journeys now where it's been stuck in traffic. With the old fan the temp would get up to about 106C or even higher on a hot day. Now gets to 100C and that's it, the fan keeps it there. All in all very impressed.

 

Even took the cowling out this weekend to repaint it (as it was reall manky). Nice and clean now though...

[fla 9]

I've just installed two 11" spals into my rad housing (VR). A prtty good fit they need some pads to stop any vibration against the frame. Each one draws about 4amps so two will draw about 10-11 amps at startup then settle down to about 7-8. Is the wiring for speed one okay for this as it looks a bit thin to me? Otherwise if i make a bridge coinnection between speed one and speed two would this also allow the current to flow through the larger wire of speed 2? Does that make sense? My conceren is the current carrying capacity of the wiring for speed 1 (the thin red and white stripe wire). Haywire, are you awake yet? :)

[fla 9]

Not clear on this one - how would you connect both speeds 1 & 2 to the fan ie how can speed 2 be bridged to be in circuit with speed 1 as well? Diagram would be useful. For a VR btw. Thanks