Guys just wondering how I can check that my clutch fan is working correctly, Had many mixed answer from searching. Sits at about 88 degrees cruising, but if i give it a flogging it rises to 92-95 degrees and going up steep hills. Its had a new thermostate and the radiator was cleaned and cheaked but they said it was fairly new.

those temps are acceptable. fan should be free when cold and locked when hot. start car when cold and stick your hand in blades you should be able to stop it( might hurt a bit). when it is hot you shouldnt be able to stop it

i hear that the factory fan is better then electric fan/s as the cooling is related to what the engine is doing

Standard fan is fare better then thermos. Thanks for that benny had it in my head thats how it should be. So if I give it a good driving (opperating temp) then turn the engine off the blades shouldnt be able to be move?

yeah when u turn it off it will be stiff but not immovable Quote: Originally Posted by NZ VL com i hear that the factory fan is better then electric fan/s as the cooling is related to what the engine is doing hence the reason fans are connected to a temp switch and have a high/low speed

Apparently nothing works better on a vlt then the factory clutch fan, going from what Ive been reading.

both are fine if setup properly all the have to do is lower the temperature a set amount when it reaches a set amount

Quote: Originally Posted by Benny01 start car when cold and stick your hand in blades you should be able to stop it( might hurt a bit). when it is hot you shouldnt be able to stop it Please remember people that know little about cars read this forum as well, you and I, and some others on here may know how this can be done without hurting yourself, but i hate to think of the young VL owner that smashes his/her fingers up in a fan after reading this post. Maybe hold the fan stationary with a stick or long screwdriver etc (anything but fingers) and then get someone to start the engine, or use a bit of rubber hose but NOT your hand. A look at how long the fan spins for "after" you turn the engine off, can also give a indication of clutch condition. Sticking hands in a moving fan is VERY BAD practice ! MT Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

^^ Yeh had planed not to use me hand Im sure there are people out there that would try So with the engine hot I should have a hard time stoping it? Also I was going to stop the engine when its hot and try and spin it, thinking it would be locked up when hot but apparently it should just have more resistance on it. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by rusty577 Standard fan is fare better then thermos. Thanks for that benny had it in my head thats how it should be. So if I give it a good driving (opperating temp) then turn the engine off the blades shouldnt be able to be move? thats right, the clutch fan is does the job perfectly when working. Half the time thermos flow less than the clutch fan anyway, and even when the flow more theres no point because nissan designed the fan to flow the perfect amount so putting a fan on there that flows more then factory specs isnt going to do any good for your motor UNLESS you have overheating problems in which case thermos are just a band-aid solution anyway! Thermos are good for 1- looks, 2- saving room and 3 sapping less power from the crank

Quote: Originally Posted by airbagsVL thats right, the clutch fan is does the job perfectly when working. Half the time thermos flow less than the clutch fan anyway, and even when the flow more theres no point because nissan designed the fan to flow the perfect amount so putting a fan on there that flows more then factory specs isnt going to do any good for your motor UNLESS you have overheating problems in which case thermos are just a band-aid solution anyway! Thermos are good for 1- looks, 2- saving room and 3 sapping less power from the crank I don't know about you, but the thermos are fucking huge, and take up lots of room. Space on either side of the radiator is virtually non-existant! Although, space between the fan shroud an front of the motor is increased (perfect for no holes intercoler kits on twin cam conversions). Quote: Originally Posted by Benny01 both are fine if setup properly all the have to do is lower the temperature a set amount when it reaches a set amount Exactly right. There are a number of reasons people choose to run thermos, like: Less mechanical strain on motorBigger capacity cooling system to cool (like a twin cam head/motor)When building a farily powerful setup, but continuing to run stock accessories (like air con)Greater flow (this has been proven)

They only way thermos will work on a VL (or any car for that matter) is if they can match the CFM rating of the stock clutch fan. Many have tried the 16" Davies Craig thermos (me included) without success. I used one inside the factory shroud, but it still got hot in traffic. EL/AU thermo's on the other hand are apparently pretty good.

Well I went for a drive in the vlt and felt the resistance on the fan before I left (cold) then when I got back from a hard drive there was noticeably more resistance on the fan but not as much as I expected. Does 92-95degrees seem to hot under hard driving/burnouts/holding high revs? I thought it was a little hot.

nah thats acceptable. After reading this read i went and tested my clutch fan when hot and its as loose as a goose lol....meh my car never even gets to half way on the gauge so i dont care

My factory gauge slowly gets half way between second and third bar then it shoots up to the red lol. A resistors gone in it.

just an idea, this may seem like a dumb question, but would there be any point in putting an electric fan (manually controlled from the cabin?) in front of the intercooler/radiator, so that it blows air thru the cooler and radiator? (keeping the factory clutch fan). ie would it lower the intake and engine temps at all? my biggest worry would be that it may restrict the air flow that the clutch fan creates (eg if the clutch fan is supposed to be drawing 3000cfm through but the electric one is only pushing 2000cfm, then the performance of the clutch fan may decrease as a result of that?) any ideas are much appreciated Sam

I considered this myself... I believe it would be much more hassle than its worth really. It would probably be more useful if you created a shroud for it to draw more air around it than it would be to put a fan in front. Or install water jets for the intercooler to keep it cool. I dont know what temp my car runs at. But under heavy load it never gets past half way and I have a hicomp VLT. Just sits quite comfortably at half...

Quote: Originally Posted by Munro- I considered this myself... I believe it would be much more hassle than its worth really. It would probably be more useful if you created a shroud for it to draw more air around it than it would be to put a fan in front. Or install water jets for the intercooler to keep it cool. I dont know what temp my car runs at. But under heavy load it never gets past half way and I have a hicomp VLT. Just sits quite comfortably at half... Hmm ok. I was looking into getting twin thermo fans to replace the viscous one, as I have bought a skyline intercooler piping kit which I'm guna modify to fit the VL (in the process of a turbo conversion). the pipes in that kit run right past where the viscous fan is, so I have the option of either chopping them up to run them up and over (or along and under) the fan, or use them as they are and replace the viscous with some thermos. but after reading up on thermos on here, it looks like I may end up keeping with the viscous one, 2 main reasons being 1) there seems to be mixed opinions of thermos in that they don't flow nearly as much as the viscous, and 2) that the thermos will still take up a lot of room so there still won't be that much room between them and the front of the engine. In a way i don't mind keeping the viscous fan, as it would save me the $$$ and hassle of setting up thermos for not much gain. cheers Sam

There is a lot of myth about the viscous fan. The fan is quite adequate for what you want to do. Just the piping is a problem. Seriously sell the intercooler kit you have and buy something thats already designed to fit OR have osmeone make you a custom one. Thermo fans are god and they do flow more air.... The problem is with a lot of cases is that they flow TOO much air. Most people have issues with the daveys fans as they dont bother to put shrouds around them. So doesnt pull the air thru like it should! Now the ford fans are very nice fans. I even bought some to put on myself, the reason I havent yet as I have no been able to divise how Im going to make the relays for the fan which hook into the temp sender. Take the AU thermo fans. Gret fans flow really well. Problem is over flow. They cool too well and you will constantly be running rich as your motor thinks its not warm enough. IF you could find a way of say running only one fan until a certain temperature and the second fan to kick in after say 88 degree's and then cut out again when it drops down to normal operating temps. It would be a very good setup! You need to keep the ecu's happy to get the best benefit from them. Happy playing and welcome to the bottom less pit of cars. OH and if there is an auto elec reading this.... Thoughts and suggestions would be very much appreciated.

You could not use the ecu fan control & just use 2 aftermarket fan controllers (like the ones that go in the top hose) set them at different temperatures, I think the au fans could benefit from a variable speed controller, more then one fan off one fan on thing, as you want to cool both sides of the motor, I would run a low speed twin fan on thermostat opening and then a full speed on high temperature, those au fans draw massive current turning on both at once at full speed, better to start it off easy, im sure they will last for longer.