Not for airflow.

Actually, it is your second quote is the reason most new cars have electric fans.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Incorrect, one of the reason you don't see many cars on the side of the road overheating any more is because an electric fan can can run at full speed, and provide more CFM at low speed, during traffic jams and stop and go traffic.

And heat soak is a major problem in under hood temps in newer cars (many have cats in their exhaust manifolds), an electric fan that runs after the car shuts off not only reduces under hood temps, but it also cools the engine coolant. The cooler fluid in the radiator moves through the engine by convection, and further cools the engine.

Sometime I think that if W123's came with bias-ply tires and wooden wheels, that some of you would be debating the benifits of alloy wheels and radial tires

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Karl B
95 E300 D
2006 Mazdaspeed 6
2001 GMC Yukon XL
1997 Contour SVT
Mazda RX-7 SCCA race car

Incorrect. That is the job of the visco clutch, to provide high CFM at low engine speeds but limit fan RPM at higher speeds. The reason you don't see many cars on the side of the road overheating any more is because most of the poorly designed and inefficient 70's/80's junk (With the exception of MB) is off the road and replaced by 90's and newer cars. Their engines and cooling systems are far less haphazardly designed and the engines run more efficiently (less heat).

These are not newer cars and they don't have cats at all. The coolant may hit 100*C soon after stopping the engine but it always comes back down within the minute of starting the engine and does not cause any problems.

Bias tires do have their advantages....

Incorrect, because of emision controls cars now run HOTTER than ever.
Most newer cars run 190-195 degree thermostats, a standard performance modification is to replace the thermostat with a 160 degree unit.
An electric fan running at full speed moves more air at idle than a clutch fan at idle, and is more effficent. It uses more HP to turn the clutch fan than it does to increase the output of alternator to run an electric fan.

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Karl B
95 E300 D
2006 Mazdaspeed 6
2001 GMC Yukon XL
1997 Contour SVT
Mazda RX-7 SCCA race car

Artificially hotter, as you pointed out below. They pump less heat into the cooling system due to higher thermal efficiency and cooler combustion (to reduce NOx).

Higher temperatures also mean a larger temperature differential and less effort to exchange heat.

Proof please, that is basically one of those "free energy" problems.

My god, the hypocrisy. Is this the same guy with the MOST HACKED car on the forum complaining about a freaking electric fan?????

Glass Houses, Pot calling the kettle black... do either of these mean anything to you??


Good for you Yoterbenz, electric fans rock! Keep on moddin'! My only suggestion would be 2 smaller puller fans to cover more of the rad and for redundancy. And a 3rd pusher fan in front for extra cooling for anyone who is considering this mod for the 3L turbocharged engines and/or A/C equipped vehicles.
Additionally I would suggest manual override switch in addition to the thermostat, or if you are a compulsive gauge watcher like me, no thermostat, I turn the fans on if the car gets hot (95C so that I know the oil cooler is in full effect) and I let them run for 30 seconds after I shut the car off (Again, only if heat conditions warrant it) 99% of my driving requires no fan whatsoever, but its still very cool turning on the fans and watching the temp gauge drop.

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Cheers,
Robert

Take a chill pill dude. The difference is I know exactly what I have done to my car and I'll never be selling it.

Formula for calculating alternator power requirements...

((AMPS LOAD x VOLT CHARGE) / 745.7) +15%

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Cheers,
Robert

on a 240, you'll take all you can get.

The electric fan on my race car moves 2800 CMF and draws 9.5 amps. So acording to the formula it takes less than 1/2 HP to run. I would say it's less than a clutch fan.

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Karl B
95 E300 D
2006 Mazdaspeed 6
2001 GMC Yukon XL
1997 Contour SVT
Mazda RX-7 SCCA race car

Depending on the car, an electric fan might work fine, especially in an area that does not see high temperatures, BUT.....

on a truck, an electric fan cannot move enough air to sufficiently cool the engine per two fan manufacturers that I personally contacted with respect to my F-350 PSD.

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87 300SDL - 215K Miles !!
99 F-350CC Dually PSD - 190K
86 300SDL - 189K
All on B-100

Well after installing my electric fan I came to a few conclusions. The trip I took today was 300 miles of 90% highway driving. The drive took me over 2 mountain passes and the outside temp was about 80-85 degrees. One of the passes was 3300 feet while the other one was 4000 feet. With that said these are the conclusions I came to.....

Stop and go city driving the fan performed flawlessly. The temp never climbed over 175 degrees.

I gained almost 2 miles a gallon compared to the belt driven fan. I took a simliar trip with the belt driven fan and I averaged 25 mpg.

This is where the drawback comes in. Going over the mountain passes the temp climed to the line after the 175 degree mark. I'm not sure what that exact temp is, but it's a little too warm for my comfort. I'm sure most N/A diesels like the 240D get pretty warm going up long grades like I did today. From my experiences driving military humvees with the 6.2 N/A diesel, they get really warm as well.


Overall I'm very happy with the results. Todays trip isn't your typical commute to work by any means but I tested the cooling system pretty well. Only towards the top of the mountain passes was I nervous but other than that I was confident in the electric fan. If I were to take a long road trip over similar driving conditions I.E. going over high mountain passes in the summer, I would re-install the belt driven fan. I have a feeling the mechanical fan would cool the engine better under those conditions. Other than that..... electric IMHO is the way to go. For 617 guys... I wouldn't bother. You have enough power anyways

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1977 Mercedes 240D... 4 speed manual... soon to be host to a lot of mods..

1984 Toyota 4x4.. Weber 32/36 DGEV carb, Offenhauser Dual Port intake manifold, TRD cam, MSD 6A ignition, MSD 8.5 wires, MSD Blaster coil, NWOR Tri-Y header, cat-back exhaust, NHK 3" lift springs, Black Magic electric fan, LC Engineering crank pulley,traction bars, LockRight locker, oil cooler, manual water temp gauge, oil temp gauge, vacuum gauge, and 394,000 miles on the clock with one motor change.

Nice assessment.... I wonder if adding an additional electric fan to the front of the radiator help (push & pull) effect, help at cooling under those strenuous circumstances?

in those grade conditions, the clutch fan will have just as much trouble cooling the car as the electric fan would...
and you would have less hp available to pull the grade.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!