Official Electric Fan wiring thread!

[mpowerful]

Did you put a 30amp fuse in?

[E30Pacman]

ya i put a 30 amp fuse. should i be puttin a bigger one in?

[mpowerful]

Nah id think that would be plenty. Maybe someone with a spal can chime in on that but i cant imagine it pulling more amps than that.

[bmk]

Simply have the power wires that went to
The stock fan fire the relays built into
The Volvo fan, then run fused power and ground to the fan relay

Since its a low and high speed do I need to order the 3 prong coolant temp sensor? (im using a e36 radiator with the volvo mounted as a pusher for clearance)

[2mAn]

so I am tackling the pusher fan project and I have some questions, but first the pics of what Im starting with. My car is an 84



As listed in the OP, this is before the plug. Black/Blue, Black, Green & Brown. Obviously, nothing is connected to it.



Looks like I have to place an order for a 2 or 3 prong temp sensor. If I want to add A/C, i get the 3 prong, correct? 61-31-1-364-272 = 2-prong, so whats the part # for the 3-prong?



ok, I actually sourced an A/C setup (still need the E36 A/C compressor), but this appears to be a late model setup. Not sure what to do with it.

So heres what I know. I need to get the temp sensor to make it work properly, but is there anything I can do in the interim with what I have?? I doubt it, but I figure I'd ask. Fan is already mounted and I tested it to make sure it was setup as a pusher and I know which wire needs to be grounded and which goes to 12v to actually make it blow air.

[raudonis]

cluster tells I'm overheating before electric fan switches on

Can the engine start overheating before rad coolant reaches 88° to activate the temp switch? Cluster tells me engine is overheating before the fan switches on.

Have installed a 16" SPAL puller instead of the clutch fan. It is switched by the 82/88° switch screwed in the top of the radiator. New rad, new hoses, new thermostat, new coolant, new waterpump.

Wiring is good, fan turns on if i jump the wires connected to the temp switch.

Tried two different new temp switches, both activate ~88° in a glass of boiling water with a cooking thermometer. And 88° is really too hot to touch the glass.

I know thermostat opening is good, because engine gets pretty warm, before bottom rad hose starts suddenly getting hot.

Warm coolant is getting to the rad, but judging by the touch it doesn't seem to get nowhere close to 88° before my cluster is telling me that engine is overheating.

If I put the HVAC blower on full hot blast and jump the temp switch wires to turn on the fan, the engine cools down to the point of thermostat closing - bottom rad hose gets cold. My cluster is toasted?

[ArtClassShank]

Can the engine start overheating before rad coolant reaches 88° to activate the temp switch? Cluster tells me engine is overheating before the fan switches on.

Have installed a 16" SPAL puller instead of the clutch fan. It is switched by the 82/88° switch screwed in the top of the radiator. New rad, new hoses, new thermostat, new coolant, new waterpump.

Wiring is good, fan turns on if i jump the wires connected to the temp switch.

Tried two different new temp switches, both activate ~88° in a glass of boiling water with a cooking thermometer. And 88° is really too hot to touch the glass.

I know thermostat opening is good, because engine gets pretty warm, before bottom rad hose starts suddenly getting hot.

Warm coolant is getting to the rad, but judging by the touch it doesn't seem to get nowhere close to 88° before my cluster is telling me that engine is overheating.

If I put the HVAC blower on full hot blast and jump the temp switch wires to turn on the fan, the engine cools down to the point of thermostat closing - bottom rad hose gets cold. My cluster is toasted?

Try bleeding the system again. Also could be your cluster, solder's on the temp gauges like to get worn down and give you funky readings. Easy enough to pull the cluster and check, with cooling, you're gonna want an accurate gauge.

http://www.exx.se/maintenance/fuel_temp_gauges_e30/index.shtml

[raudonis]

System is bled - otherwise there would be no hot air from the HVAC blower.

I've made a remote battery box for the Si-board as one of the original batteries was not putting out any Voltage and there was some minor acid leakage.
Looking for temperature/impedance graph for the cluster temp sensor to track engine temp using Ohmmeter. Sensor # 62110788115.
About to try Si-board delete: http://static.flickr.com/106/294049943_805192b84d_o.jpg
Might try another temp gauge or adding solder to the ground point. The readings aren't erratic of jumpy, just seem incorrect.

[328ijunkie]

Cluster. I have about 100 cluster parts in the back of teh shop and can stick 20 different temp gauges in each different cluster and they all read different. Best thing we do here (when running OBD2) is 'calibrate' the needle to read according to what the ECU is seeing. Middle should be 195 or so depending on your thermostat.

[2mAn]

so I am tackling the pusher fan project and I have some questions, but first the pics of what Im starting with. My car is an 84



As listed in the OP, this is before the plug. Black/Blue, Black/Green & Brown. Obviously, nothing is connected to it.



Looks like I have to place an order for a 2 or 3 prong temp sensor. If I want to add A/C, i get the 3 prong, correct? 61-31-1-364-272 = 2-prong, so whats the part # for the 3-prong?



ok, I actually sourced an A/C setup (still need the E36 A/C compressor), but this appears to be a late model setup. Not sure what to do with it.

So heres what I know. I need to get the temp sensor to make it work properly, but is there anything I can do in the interim with what I have?? I doubt it, but I figure I'd ask. Fan is already mounted and I tested it to make sure it was setup as a pusher and I know which wire needs to be grounded and which goes to 12v to actually make it blow air.

I guess nobody saw my post??? Its been 100 degrees here this week, so I wired up the fan to get switched power. It runs all the time now when the car is on, which I hate, but not as much as I would hate for my car to overheat. I want to buy the sensor but I dont know if the 2 prong will work if/when I install A/C. I also couldnt find the fan switch wiring either the other day, but it was kinda dark. I'll have to look again

[raudonis]

Reading about e-fan conversion for teh mighty Euro S50, got another idea about my problem.

All factory BMW rads have AC-fan switch holes on the cool side of the rad (above bottom hose).

Thermostat is 80°, thus temp switch for the fan must be no more than 80° and mine is 88°.

Found 2 other switches to try with the same thread and wiring contacts:
FAE 36310 (Rover OE # PEJ 10006) 77°-72°
FAE 36320 (Saab OE # 88 57 443) 60°-45°

[328ijunkie]

You want the fan switch slightly above the thermostat like the suggested setup (80c thermo 82c switch) or it will be running near constantly

[2mAn]

Can someone answer my questions? Here are some stupid ones:

#1 There is only one "group" of wiring for the OEM fan. the bk/grn, bk/blue, brown BEFORE plug then red, black, brown AFTER the plug, yes?
Technically, yes. There is two groups though. One for the fan and a second for the fan switch

#2 Since I have nothing AFTER the plug, can I simply use the BEFORE plug wiring (bk/grn, bk/blue, brown)?
Yes

#3 the fan wiring (2 wires, ground & 12v) can NOT go directly to the plug wiring, so the switch needs to be utilized, correct?
The electric fan wiring will go directly to the fan wiring, sounds like common sense now that #1 is answered

if the answer to ALL of the above questions is yes, then how exactly do I wire it up. If any of the questions are NO, please shed some light on what I need to do.

After reading the original post several times, I get lost after one part. It says to wire the electric fan to the AFTER plug wiring. 12v fan -> Red, ground -> brown. If I dont have the AFTER plug stuff, would the equivalent be 12v fan -> bk/grn, ground -> brown? So now, where does the switch get wired into???


Now, If any of my stupid questions has the answer NO, heres the next set of questions that I have.

#5 Is there a second plug that I cant find somewhere?
Yes, there is the wiring for the stock fan (shown in pics as the before and after plug wiring), the second group is a black/green, black/brown and black wire for the fan SWITCH wiring

#6 Do I need to hack the AFTER plug wiring I have from the late model stuff so the fan is wired per OP, 12v to red and ground to brown?
No, you can use before plug wiring

#7 where do those corresponding wires plug into my early BEFORE plug? bk/grn -> red, bk/blue -> black, and brown to brown?
not applicable as you can use the before plug wiring

The other part would also mean that I am not finding the second plug, and thats the wiring that goes to the switch?

Im lost, and its been hot here so the fan is wired to an external switch and I can power it up whenever, but I want the car to decide when it wants the fan on so I can focus on driving.TIA

my problem was that the car had already been modified and when I got it back I got confused because there are two black/green wires, one on the plug but a second one which was for the fan switch. and its actually green/black on the plug and black/green on the fan switch wiring. Hope this helps others who get confused

[328ijunkie]

Just wire your aftermarket fan to the stock fan wiring you still do have there basically :P

As far as running an additional manual switch basically tap into the fan switch wires and run them into the cabin and just have it short around the switch. Low amperage trigger wires

[nyChris]

I am having an issue I haven't seen anyone else having in this thread, or any other that addresses electric fan installs.

I have a 16 inch SPAL fan installed exactly as described in the first post. The fan comes on as expected just before 1/2 on the temp gauge. The issue I am experiencing is when the fan kicks on it puts a serious load on the alternator to the point that you can hear the alternator struggling, and the interior lights dim. Additionally the idle starts to surge.

I am in the process of troubleshooting, but was hoping that someone has seen this before, and can point me in the right direction.