Hooking up an electric fan, need to talk to those that have

[bkelsey86]

Ok so my clutch fan is in need of replacing and the car does fine in traffic but when I stop the car heats up and eventually overheats. Since a fan clutch is like $70 I was just wondering what options I have as far as goign electric and how would I go abouts wiring it up. And also is there a way to hook it up to come on at certain temps or when the cars at idle?

[Skafrog]

Do you have A/C?
If not, just use that fan, zip tie it to the radiator, and use the A/C button as your on/off switch.

If you do have A/C, wire the fan into your fuse block on a 12 volt source, then run wires into your cockpit, and put a switch in the dash (preferably in a non-ghetto location). Having a switch is nice to have, as long as you remember to turn it on/off. Its also very simple.

[bkelsey86]

Can I just use a fan off another car preferably a junker? Do you think it will blow good enough?

[Skafrog]

yea, it certainly cools my car off in a jiffy.


Before anyone says anything, I hope you guys realize that it does snow in Ohio, and yes, they DO put salt down, causing all that mess. No, I will not clean my car to take pictures of a fan.

[BMW BMXER]

reusing the a/c fan is smart.

[rs4pro3]

With the m30 swap I installed a 16 Zirgo 3600 cfm electric fan in front of the Radiator. my aux fan never worked(fan was good) so I made a whole new harness with 2 relays fuses and the stock fan radiator switch. I have the fan wired so it will come on once that switch hits 91C on a low speed threw a brand new .6 ohm aux fan resistor, then once the switch hits 99C it will kick in on high speed and run untill the temp drops below 91. So far it works great, engine has never gone above 1/2 on the guage. I'm running a 75C thermostat and am going to swap it out for a 80C as the engine currently is running 2 cold. But you can do the same thing with the aux fan quit easily. I wired my 85 318i's aux fan to a switch to kick in during traffic. If wiring just to a switch and bypassing the factory wiring make sure to add a relay or you may Melt a switch.

[EverWiser]

What rs4 said...Definitely wire the fan supply through a relay and power the relay with the switch.

[thejimlab]

I was thinking about doing the same thing to my car. You can buy the whole set-up. Fan, Wiring, temp thingy, for under $100. Don't ask me where. I can't remember. A little searching should yield some results.

[MR 325]

So using the stock A/C fan works good eh? I think I will do that sicne I am removing all the A/C out of my car anyway.

[Brew]

So using the stock A/C fan works good eh? I think I will do that sicne I am removing all the A/C out of my car anyway.

Yup. Works great. Mine works especially well because I "hollowed" out the AC condensor so its a straight shot through to the radiator. I might actually have to put something in front of the radiator because the car runs almost too cool when I'm on the highway in cold weather.

[Digitalwave]

Yup. Works great. Mine works especially well because I "hollowed" out the AC condensor so its a straight shot through to the radiator. I might actually have to put something in front of the radiator because the car runs almost too cool when I'm on the highway in cold weather.

Why not just remove the condensor entirely?

[Brew]

Yup. Works great. Mine works especially well because I "hollowed" out the AC condensor so its a straight shot through to the radiator. I might actually have to put something in front of the radiator because the car runs almost too cool when I'm on the highway in cold weather.

Why not just remove the condensor entirely?

The fan mounts to the condensor frame, so instead of fabbing up an entireley new frame for it to mount on, I just hollowed out the fins so that it had more direct flow to the radiator.

[Brew]

Yup. Works great. Mine works especially well because I "hollowed" out the AC condensor so its a straight shot through to the radiator. I might actually have to put something in front of the radiator because the car runs almost too cool when I'm on the highway in cold weather.

Why not just remove the condensor entirely?

The fan mounts to the condensor frame, so instead of fabbing up an entireley new frame for it to mount on, I just hollowed out the fins so that it had more direct flow to the radiator.

[rs4pro3]

The Euro m3 has the brackets needed, it does away with the condensor, and has just the aux fan. Brackets new from the dealer are around $10http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...3808d58e4fe76e

[Brew]

The Euro m3 has the brackets needed, it does away with the condensor, and has just the aux fan. Brackets new from the dealer are around $10http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...3808d58e4fe76e

Wasn't aware of that, but cutting out the fins took literally 5 minutes with the die grinder.