Installing electric fan on an old car

[Robenstein]

Does anyone know of one of those controller units for them that actually works? Bought the top of the line one with the radiator probe from Advance Auto and well, it plain and simply never worked once. Right now I have the fan hooked up with a toggle switch in the car and I gotta keep a very close eye on the temp gauge around town. I hate it.

 

[expat]

I bought a controller from JC Whitney 15 years ago, works fine.

 

[OVERKILL]

Get the Flexalite controller or the DCC one.

 

[Milkman]

Hey,
Had a similar problem quite a few years back when I stuffed a 455 V-8 into a 1980 Buick Regal.

Short answer is that the toggle switch was the only thing that I found to be reliable. I spent way too much time and money trying to get the fans to run automatically.

Hope this helps...

 

[The_Eric]

The last one I did had a sending unit threaded in the intake, next to the thermostat housing. I'm pretty sure it was a Painless setup bought through Summit. Worked well for me.

Edit: search Summit for Painless Wiring 30103. On at 185, off at 170. It's a single fan setup, but another relay could make it a dual setup.

 

[eljefino]

If your old car's motor series had to endure smog years you'll usually find a thermostat housing with cancerous lumps for various sensors you don't need. Often vacuum switches too! But many take the same thread, and you can find a single wire fan switch for an early 80s FWD car.

As long as you're grounding a relay coil that gets hot from the ignition + source, you can use several different gizmos, including a switch, and if any one of them calls for fan you've got it.

I would set a radiator probe at like 130'F. Rads are supposed to be much cooler than the engine core that's thermostatically controlled. By the time rad temps are rising, the engine is up to temp, why overshoot it?

 

[moving2]

My Derale fan controller w/ adjustable thermostat (which can use a rad. fin probe or inline fluid probe- mine is a rad. fin probe) has worked flawlessly for me for 6+yrs now.

 

[NYSteve]

When I did it, I used a Hayden adjustable controller from Pep Boys. I would hold the top radiator hose to see when the thermostat opened, then adjust the switch so the fans would kick on at that temp. I also placed the temp probe, it was the slip inbetween the fins type, just below the top radiator hose inlet on the radiator. I found the that by the bottom radiator hose, the coolant had been cooled to much to be an good area to switch off of - meaning the coolant was cooled, but the coolant coming out of the engine could be much hotter than the thermostat.

 

[MarkM66]

I actually prefer a toggle switch, especially since having those thermostats fail before.

I always keep an eye on my temp gauge anyways.

So if I'm moving with air movement, I know I'll never need it.

If I hit traffic or city driving. Turn it on.

 

[bigmike]

I had one wired up to an old truck with a toggle and a temp sensor. I only used the toggle if I was sitting in traffic, otherwise the sensor did its job. I purchased the fan with sensor from Pepboys, but this was 10 years ago or so, I'd guess.

 

[Robenstein]

Its my non SS G Body Monte Carlo. Some dip stole the radiator, shroud, fan, and fan clutch out of it. The thermostat housing has two sensors threaded into it. One is a temp sender the other, I have no idea what its purpose is.

 

[Robenstein]

Got it working. Turns out the relay on the controller was shot from the factory. Put a new one in and it works like a charm.