Electric Fan Conversion

[boostdemon]

By: Dave Barton

Description: This page will outline a simple and inexpensive primary electric fan conversion for the Volvo 240 and 740. While there are many options for your Volvo when it comes to keeping cool, this one is presented at face value with no specific claims, other than my own experiences.

http://www.turbobricks.com/mods.php?content=art0008

[Jordan]

I am ready to do this conversion, and I think I've found a good candidate. I dont like buying used if I can help it, so I've found this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/14-IN...QQcmdZViewItem

I am just worried with the drain it will put on my alternator... will it be able to handle it? I am going to be running Sirius Satellite radio, and a 52x4 watt CD deck.

[AJS]

What alt do you have? What condition is it in? Did you ask them the current draw of that fan? what fuse is fitted to the deck? 10amp?

[Jordan]

i have the stock Volvo Turbo alternator i was having some grounding issues with it, whenever it grounded it would charge fantastically. I JUST finished the wiring harness and put on a spanking new ground wire so it should be up to the task. its a 12V fan so i would think that it takes 12 Volts. i have NO idea about the fuse, i was going to ask about that when the fan came, or search i remember someone talking about them going to best buy and buying fuses for it.

[240Psycho]

in this article there is no mention of a electrical relay or switch to turn on the fan at a certain temperature.

These relay/fan thermastat kits can be bought for $60 at a local auto zone or Discount, these are adjustable and come with a relay and all the wiring to hook it up, however i have had an electric fan on my car since 2003 and it has failed me 3 times, 2 used GM fans and one brand new Imperial Fan and 2 relay kits have gone out on me.

-one thing to note is to use a big relay, such as a 30 or 40 amp relay(at least) for your fan. these can be picked up cheap at junkyards out of volvos just remember to get the 5 pronged relays or 4 with 87A missing(this prong gets power all the time until the relay clicks)

Here is a diagram of the relay of how it should all go together:

[volvostud]

Any thoughts on mounting an LED to this circuit? How about an LED that turns off when the fan is on. That way when you see the light on, you know that the fan is off. If the fan is off for too long you know something is wrong.

[745TiGene]

not to get off topic, but i wired my efan to the ac fan (has been eliminated) wires and it works great

[ShadowofBob]

Originally Posted by 745TiGene

not to get off topic, but i wired my efan to the ac fan (has been eliminated) wires and it works great

Are you sure you aren't running too hot now? I know the fan was originally there for extreme heat and in case the clutch fan failed. Do you know what the temp switch that is in the radiotor(or coolant hose) is rated at?

[240Psycho]

Originally Posted by ShadowofBob

Are you sure you aren't running too hot now? I know the fan was originally there for extreme heat and in case the clutch fan failed. Do you know what the temp switch that is in the radiotor(or coolant hose) is rated at?

I had a small fan infront of the condensor, the wires never got power and the fan when hooked up to a battery failed to come on, so it wont work for every one.

I hook my relay's ground up to the t-stat in the radiator, it does indeed come on too hot, but not enough to really hurt anything, i had the fan set before to 165, the t-stat in the radiator is set to 180 i beleive. at anyrate i was driving the car around with no fan for about 4 days, so this new set up makes me feel more at peace

[240Psycho]

Originally Posted by volvostud

Any thoughts on mounting an LED to this circuit? How about an LED that turns off when the fan is on. That way when you see the light on, you know that the fan is off. If the fan is off for too long you know something is wrong.

And this is very possible but the fuse for the relay/fan could fail and the LED would never come on,
at any rate, if you wanted to do this you would hook a wire up from the relay at terminal #87A and have it go to the LED then a ground from the LED, as soon as the thermastat closes in the radiator and makes a ground, the coil in the relay will become charged and pull the magnet over to the other poll(87) and turn the fan on.

Thats a good idea you have there, maybe placing it under the temp gauge would be a good place for it.

[Sinbad the Sailor]

If you wanted the fan to stay on regardless of whether the car is on or not could you hook the ground for the fan to the thermostat and the positive straight to the battery. Would that burn out something? What is the best way to hook the fan up for this? Also what is the best temperature thermostat to use for this? Would the stock 740 thermo that mounts in the rad be okay?

Thanks

Spencer

[swedefiend]

Originally Posted by hormone83

If you wanted the fan to stay on regardless of whether the car is on or not could you hook the ground for the fan to the thermostat and the positive straight to the battery. Would that burn out something? What is the best way to hook the fan up for this? Also what is the best temperature thermostat to use for this? Would the stock 740 thermo that mounts in the rad be okay?

Thanks

Spencer

High amperage current should never flow through a switch

Relays are your friend... (They are there for a reason)

[swedefiend]

Oh yeah, I use a Saab Relay. 50 amps. Cost about zero dollars from the junkyard.

[faster4_tec]

The fan that is driven on a pulley on the front of the engine, is that fixed to the shaft, or does it only turn upto a certain rpm, then stay there whilst the engine continues accel?

Just it seems to be stopping any sort of top end 'go' out of my engine.

Could I remove it and have a nice electric set up, to compliment my electric water pump etc that i am also fitting (more reliablity and trustworthy ness then performance orientated).

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by faster4_tec

The fan that is driven on a pulley on the front of the engine, is that fixed to the shaft, or does it only turn upto a certain rpm, then stay there whilst the engine continues accel?

Just it seems to be stopping any sort of top end 'go' out of my engine.

Could I remove it and have a nice electric set up, to compliment my electric water pump etc that i am also fitting (more reliablity and trustworthy ness then performance orientated).

Electric water pump is more reliable than a belt? I don't know about that. I mean moving air is one thing. The electric fan only has to be on when the car is sitting in traffic basically. But the water pump is on all the time. Also that electric water pump is being run by the alternator which is also turned by a belt.

As of the belt driven fan, it is connected to the engine through a temperature controlled clutch. The air coming out of the radiator heats up the clutch which provides more and more traction for the fan as the temp goes up. So the theory goes. Its a very simple and reliable system. The fan clutch usually fails by keeping the fan permanently connected to the water pump at all temps which creates a fail safe mode. I converted the 240 to an electric fan it was worth it for the reduction in noise alone.

[davidmacq]

I was asking someone about this in another thread. Whether you remove the belt driven fan. They said yes, but that doesn't sound right. If the Electric fan is set up right, it will keep things cool and you will recieve a performance benefit? You don't need to remove it do you?

My old car, I had trouble tracking down where and why it was losing water. Turns out the fan clutch had gone out, and the electric fan was not coming on at all. It would lose water without the temp guage reading anything but straight up and down until the water level got low, then it would show hot. Seems really stupid to regulate the temp guage like that.

[240Psycho]

David, Pm me if you own a 240, i can help you out.

This thread is deals with the Electric fan converson on the rwd bricks.
The conversion removes the noisy, heavy clutch fan, to get replaced with the electric fan that is mounted on the radiator.

The fan that came stock on some cars INFRONT of the condensor is nothing more then an ac cool down fan, this fan was not intended to be used to cool the car down at idle.

Also electric water pumps is a different topic, if you want, you can start an article about how to do that.

Not trying to be an ass, but it would be nice if this stayed ontopic and delt with electric fans only.

[davidmacq]

I have a 940.


There are some things I think aren't clarified about this modification. I was under the impression that the electric fan a lot of people acquired are from 940s.

The link at the top of the page doesn't mention removing the fan clutch from what I could find.
My question was does this conversion use this electric fan from the 940 and does the conversion remove the fan clutch.

I ask because if the fan people use is the one from the 940. Then I could remove my fan clutch to get the same performance benefit.


It was my understanding that the fan clutch did not engage until the engine got hot. So it may also be possible to set the electric fan to come on first for a performance benefit.

So what I wanted clarified, what isn't included in the article. Is the 940 electric fan suitable. Sounds like it isn't from what you say, and does this article suggest removing the mechanical fan, or just setting up the electric one to come on first with a thermostat, etc.
Thanks, feel free to delete any of my questions. Please include this info in the article?

[740Weapon]

even tho you dont believe in using mathmatical models to get a performance edge,

hopefully this helps illustrate using a 940 fan:

http://www.pbase.com/740weapon/electric_fan

[davidmacq]

LOL, don't believe in a bunch of physics crap and talking smack. Models are fine.

I wasn't disputing this mod. Just wanted to know if the 940 fan is used, and if people are actually removing the fan clutch. The article doens't go into that, and person above said 940 fan wasn't the type used.

I'd like to set mine up to come on first, so the fan clutch doesn't engage. Seems like that would give performance benefit also. Maybe near the same as removing the fan clutch. Just some things that I thought weren't answered about this mod. Don't have much of an opinion either way.

[740Weapon]

if you dont remove the clutch fan an electric fan probably wont fit.

and the clutch fan is always stealing power.

just less when its cold.

old clutch fans are usually burt and rob too much power anyway.

so you should also buy a new clutch if your even going to attempt to use both kinds of fans.

dont use both kinds, it doesnt really make sense to do so.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by davidmacq

I have a 940.... Is the 940 electric fan suitable...

I used a fan from a 960 for my e-fan conversion. Works great. I know that others have done this too. I think the 940s had the same fan.

You want the radiator fan, the one behind the radiator. Be sure to take the plastic shroud too. The relay for the fan is on passenger side, behind the headlight. Take that also, and as much length of wire as you can get that's attached to the relay. There are 2 thin ones that are grounded to 'trip' the relay. Red and green power out go to the fan. Heavy red (power in) goes to the battery. On mine, the heavy red wire had a fusible link in it, but I only found that because I traced that wire from the relay all the way to where it ended at the battery and got the whole thing. Definitely worth the effort.

The relay is excellently built. Mine was from a roughly 10-year-old car, and the gasketing on the relay terminals is so good that the contacts in there are still shiny as new. That's a good thing for a fan that can draw maybe 27A. That's another reason I like having the fusible link - I didn't have to bother setting up a high-amp-rated fuse for this project.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by brucepick

I used a fan from a 960 for my e-fan conversion. Works great. I know that others have done this too. I think the 940s had the same fan.

960/940/850 all had the same 2 speed electric fan.

15 months after installing the 940 fan in the 240, it finally blew the 30a fuse this past weekend. I caught it in traffic as the temp gauge (compensation board removed) spike past the half way point but long before the red. I replaced the fuse (always carry spare fuses in the glove box) and I was back in business in 3 minutes.
This is the wiring diagram for the Volvo fan and relay.

[dezquest]

I found a 940 in my junk yard here locally, and I am a little confused. I have an '87 240 DL automatic, and my A/c Sucks when the car is not moving. I added a fan to my A/C Condesor and it was working great until it started getting into the '80s. I want to convert to e-fan. I know I need the relay and the wiring, But how do I remove that big monsterous belt driven fan in front of the B230F engine? and how do I mount the 940 e-fan. ?

[Steve O]

Originally Posted by dezquest

I want to convert to e-fan. I know I need the relay and the wiring, But how do I remove that big monsterous belt driven fan in front of the B230F engine? and how do I mount the 940 e-fan. ?

The easy way out on removing the fan is to remove the entire assembly and replace the waterpump studs with short bolts.

As far as mounting it the e-fan, you could do it this way...
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