anyone remove their fan/fan clutch and running an electric Aux. fan instead?
 

Just curious if anyone on this forum has removed their fan and fan clutch and are relying on a temp controlled electric fan and what the results are . . . curious, thanks!

And what are you attempting to achieve by doing so?

noticed that DG has a kit which prompted the question. Drove up a mountain road a few weeks ago and was surprised how fast my temp gauge rose but also not sure if gauge is reading correctly as needle rises and falls back to 80 inconsistently. Coolant is clean, t-stat seems to be operating correctly as is fan clutch - ordering a new temp sender and also running a new instrument panel ground tomorrow to see if gauge stabilizes as a result of improving ground -

Like to hear the results of your instrument panel grounding.
On driving without a fan. Recently had an accident that took out the grill, Right headlight assy including the turn signal, aux fan and one blade off the main fan. The radiator is intact, not even a mark. go figure that one out. two little punks in a gmc van cut me off then slammed on the brakes so hard the rear of their van lifted a foot in the air never touching my bumper that is the same height as his.
Good for me he took off, When the cops caught up with them three tichets were issued. Hit and run, leaving the sceen and undue care.
3 tickets will cost him a grand and his insurance pays it all.
He has to go for re examination and his insurance goes up for three years. Mmmmmm, let see, do I need a whole new paint job.

In order to drive around for estimates I removed the fans. As long as I keep moving at any speed the temp stays at 90. In traffic I run the heater on Maximum, full fan and the windows down temp stays at 90.

Well an electric fan to replace the clutched unit is not the way to cure cooling issues. Old radiators do not help either. I lost 5-7°C in my SDL when I installed a new radiator back around '06/'07.

Not to mention you MUST upgrade the charging system to deal with the increased load. Hell, stock is barely adequate (sometimes inadequate) for stock equipment.

If your temperature is shooting up that quick on mountain grades, something should be amiss unless you are on big inclines for long periods of time. Takes my SD and SDL a long while to get near 90°C... basically near WOT down the interstate.

Lastly, the 617 turbo received many updates near the end of its life. Including larger aux fan, higher heat dissipating AC condenser, different pulleys for increased cooling, different fan for increased flow, etc, etc, etc.

Here's my progress so far on a W123

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/264626-will-i-get-vibration-problems-if-i-remove-my-cooling-fan.html

There was a comment made recently on another thread to the effect that the aux fan does not push enough air to compensate for the loss of the mechanical fan. Electric fans additionally draw a lot of current (mentioned above) and are noisy. The Mercedes mechanical fan with a properly operating fan clutch should cool sufficiently in most conditions without robbing the engine of a lot of horsepower.

Many points for and against - I am going to order a new temp sender as gauge has been acting erractically and possibly do a citrus flush, replace T Stat etc and see what that achieves first -thanks!

Careful with the citrus flush...
I have seen much discussion about trying to circumvent cooling system design around the viscous fan clutch. In my case, I put off the purchase of a new unit to replace the worn, noisy clutch on my 201. Once I caved in and ponied up the cash, I do not know why I was so avert to replacing the thing. The difference is like night and day.

I've done it, (240D) I removed the belt driven fan and replaced it with a SPAL fan I got from Surplus Center. I have removed the A/C from my car, including the evaporator, that reduces the pressure drop thru the radiator. My intent was to see if I would improve mileage. Result - it makes absolutely no difference in fuel consumption. The system works fine, no problems with charging - probably because most of my driving is highway and the fan is not running under those conditions. You be the judge.

I'd stick with the stock 240D fan. No clutch. no sensor or relay or other potential electrical bugs. The stock 240D fans just don't have problems unless you have an accident.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I know that MB promotes the citrus flush as they sell it, however my indy (A MB Guild tech) has warned me in the past that a citrus flush can open up a can of worms on an old system such as creating a leaking heater core where no leaks existed before . . . . I have been paranoid about this but have a pretty clean cooling system as my car had a PO who was meticulous with maintenance, regular coolant changes, etc. I am tempted to do this but may leave well enough alone and not "over repair" Thanks!

UPDATE: Cleaned both sender and sensor and added additional ground to instrument panel. Gauge seems less twitchy and car runs above 80C (about 90c) in high 90's weather here in Northern Calif. Gauge was acting a little erractic with needle rising and then needle would drop quickly for no apparent reason at times, needle would act a little "twitchy" at times -might have been electrically induced. Will keep an eye out and will do a fluid change along with T-Stat change as it has been two years since last fluid service -thanks

The auxillary fan will not replace the mechanical driven fan. the aux fan is a pusher fan and is ok for what it does. a puller fan that is on the back side of the radiator is more efficient. It can pull a lot more through the rad than a pusher fan will.

Today I was at a street rod show, and here was a guy with a Bucket "T", 383 stroker with a Jimmy blower etc.... and pushing 600hp. on the back side of the radiator is this 16" electric fan :eek:. maybe I should have told him he was going to over heat his engine and all sorts of bad things were going to happen:rolleyes:.

this something I posted on ARMY`s thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/2478708-post29.html



Charlie