One last update on this. I got very uncomfortable with a recurrence of the exploding fan due to the level of damage incurred. Another forum member lost his radiator, I lost transmission line and rad hoses - who knows what else could have been damaged.

So I have converted mine to dual electric fans (see photos). No exploding fan possibility, and it is also much quieter due to the lack of fan noise. No issues with overheating either as the fans run full speed even when the truck is motionless. I have mine running off of a thermostat to help with early morning warm up so they don't come on until the engine is warm, but after that she stays in the normal range no problem. I suspect another added benefit is the engine drag, but I have to say it really isn't noticable.

For members who may not be familiar with this type of set up, almost all cars are going to this because of space reasons, even larger V-8 powered ones. All transverse engines have to have them, and lots of longitudinal engines are using them as well.



Full disclosure: In doing my research for which fans would fit, I bought a number of different one from the local wrecking yard. Turns out many different ones fit quite well. I will be cross posting a for sale thread in the forum for other members who want to make this conversion.

 

that is pretty awesome! Hopefully I won't need to replace my fan, but would do this instead in a heartbeat.

 

Extinct, Any chance of a write up for what worked well for you ?

 

Happy to provide a write up, although it is pretty simple. I ran an electric fan set up on one of my Chevy 1/2 ton trucks so I had a left over Flexilite thermostatic switch - this one exactly: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-31147/overview/

I taped the thermostatic bulb to the throttle body coolant line where it returns to the overflow bottle, mounted the switch just behind the bottle on the cruise control bracket, and wire it in to the fans. Wired the switch in to one of the Auxiliary power positions in the fuse box, dont' remember which one but I can look if it really helps. The fans I just zip tied to the radiator using normal zip ties (you can buy the flex-lite ties from Summit, but they are not really needed).

Then I just used my little infrared heat gun to measure the coolant temp and set the fan on temperature to my liking with the truck idling. I think I have them set to come on about 190 or so. I have an aftermarket temp gauge, so you can see the temp will go up a bit when idling, then when driving down the road it will go down 10 degrees or so.

Let me know if you want more pics, although there really isn't much to see.

 

What makes you think the dual plastic electric fans will not break up and explode as original?

 

Thanks I was curious on how you mounted. Zip ties work great.

What was your donor fans from or just an aftermarket sized on?

Thanks for sharing your info.

 

Not sure I remember, I posted in the for sale thread the 4 I have left, but I don't remember what the one I wound up using was from but I remember I wound up picking the last one I tried since they were all basically the same.

 

Electric fans turn slower but have more area, hence the equivalent cooling. Google exploding engine fan, you will find it is a common problem on BMW's and Audi's as well. Most of the BMW guys convert to dual electrics after the fan takes out the hoses, shrouds, and other important stuff. Then google exploding electric fan, you won't find any hits.

This is the third vehicle I have personally had the engine fan explode on. If you look at my pictures of the fan I took off of the truck (the unexploded one) you will see fatigue cracks in the center metal support and cracks in the plastic blades as well. We all know the LR plastic is typically too brittle. Stick with your engine fan if you wish, but my experience with fatigue failure is if there are more than two occurences then it isn't a coincidence, they will all fail eventually.

 

I like the dual fan setup though I wonder why people dont just inspect their age old fans and replace them with a direct replacement and go about your way for another 100k before having to worry about it again? Our trucks are over 10 years old and most of them have over 100k on them and the engine bay's tend to get pretty hot for most folks so I half expect that over time the brittle plastics will fatigue and fail if not inspected during service. Also I would think that your climate zone would play a role in your decision to retrofit a dual fan setup vs your stock single fan. In warmer climates where heat can reach the high 80's-100's then I would think that retrofitting to dual fans would be a wise choice to help improve cooling of the engine, but if you live in much colder climates where temps drop well below -20 then I would think you should continue to use the factory setup single fan because you dont want to make it even colder in the engine bay. In colder climates I think our vehicles run better with alittle more heat flow through the engine bay and it may help warm up the vehicles faster. Just my thoughts. I have 148,000 and climbing on my 2004 D2 and so far I have had no issues with my fan. Did not notice any cracks in it either though I will do a more through inspection the next time I pull it apart.

 

Question for the original poster potxoli - did you ever repair or replace the crimped power steering line?