2007 4.4 LR3

First, I am not having any overheating issues, coolant leakage, weird noises, etc. I upgraded my engine fan to a quad electric fan set up and it freed up a decent amount of space between the pulleys and the radiator. This made me think about how easily a deeper radiator could fit. I have looked around, but I have not run across any companies advertising LR3 radiators with additional cores or any threads from anyone who has tried this. I am guessing that I would need to take an LR3 radiator to a radiator shop and have them add additional cores, but I wanted to see if anyone has any experience or advice on this.

Thank you,
Eric

Below are two pics of the fan set up I installed on my LR3 for reference.

 

Are you in an extremely hot climate? I mean the default radiator works well even in the desert on the Arabian peninsula although the fan will run almost constantly. I do not think there are deficiencies in the original design. The Nissens radiator looks identical to the LR one. I’ve had them next to each other.

The four fan design looks really nice, how many CFM will those push?

For diesels there is at least one 3rd party intercooler (Allisport) which is supposedly better somehow but I do not think it is very common. I don’t think any updated radiators exist for the diesel, either.

 

I am in the American southwest- New Mexico, Arizona. It does get hot here but the fans handle it without a problem. I am looking into it for two reasons - One, I am just curious. If I can improve the cooling and have the fans run less then that would be good. Two, if the radiator is more efficient then my fans run less and I spare the electrical system. BTW I am running dual batteries with a solar panel trickle charging them. I will install a high output alternator soon.

The fans are 1450 cfm each. I placed them about 3/4 of an inch away from the radiator. They are managed by two Craig Davies controllers. The first pair come on at 198 degrees and the second pair come on at 203 degrees. The engine runs at 195 degrees on average. The highest it has hit with the fans is 206 degrees. I'm very happy with the fans but they are a little loud.

 

Very interesting. One of the cool things with the discoveries and these forums is what people do with (or to) their vehicles. Please do post pictures of your project as it advances 👍

 

Those fans will be a massive drain on the alternator, even if upgraded since alts dont really put out a huge difference at idle. Most are rated, for example, at 1,200 or 1,500 RPM peak. Some are even at 2,000 but they dont say it. And what you will find is the the engine working harder to drive the alt = more heat. Plus when not operating, the fans will decrease the cooling efficiency of the radiator and engine bay by restricting and deflecting heat. People seem to think ONLY the radiator needs air, a lot of work goes into designing an engine bay that moves air across the engine and around the transmission tunnel - for example, people have installed hood vents on some vehicles only to discover higher transmission temps. Nothing is free, basically. Work is work, air is air, etc. The stock cooling system is really, really good on these. You have other issue, its not the fan or radiator unless the radiator or fan is in poor condition.

 

Thank you for your input but you missed the first sentence. I am not having any cooling issues. I am just curious if the system can beade even better. Also, I am running dual batteries and the fans run off the second battery. I am also installing a high output alternator that puts out 250 amps at 1200 rpm. I can add the link if needed. I am not sure how the fans would add heat to the radiator when not running. There is not really any shrouding since the fans cover around 95% of the radiator area. If you could elaborate on that I would appreciate it.

 

Running of the second battery will not matter unless you isolate from the entire electrical system it when the fans run, in which case you run time will be pretty short with the amperage the pull - and that is if the aux battery can even output the amperage quick enough without cooking. In fact, running high power stuff of the the aux, like a winch for example, is never a good idea. You always want high power pulls coming from as close to the alternator as practical. And again that goes back to my point, when the fans run they will pull from the alternator of course because its "job" is to keep the batteries topped off and electrical system running under load. There is no free power or reduced load on the alternator just because there is a second battery. And going back to work is work, nothing is free. The higher amp alternator does not make more amps by magic, working resistance much greater than the stock one. Basically if the stock one could produce 150amps at 1,500 RPM and the "high output" can produce 150amps at just 1,000RPM, the physical working load will be the same to reach that output. Now toss in the fact the LR3 has a smart alternator anyway, its PWM controlled. As for heat, anything in front or behind the radiator that disturbs airflow will reduce radiator performance. This includes light bars, winches, etc. Hell, even the factory grill has a small impact on cooling efficiency. So when the fans are not running they may free spin a bit but they will act like a dam and hold air.

 

What are you seeing as the benefit, besides extra space, of 4 fans vs. 2? I'd think you're actually covering less surface area of the radiator as a result.

 

I actually started with 1 fan, a Derale 17" that advertised 3450 CFM. When I spoke to Derale they said that was more than enough coverage and CFM for the 4.4 engine. Shocker...it's not. As a side note- I have used Derale products for years and always found them to be well built and reliable. I don't believe that anymore. I don't know what has changed but I had nothing but problems with their fans and controllers. NOTE: This was a while ago when I was just playing with the idea of moving to an electric fan setup. I was considering adding just an additional electric pusher fan to flip on when crawling on really hot days.

To be clear- the engine was never running hot. I was just playing with this idea. "I want the engine to not break 200 degrees on a sunny, 110-degree day while crawling uphill in loose sand with the A/C running. Could this be done?"

The radiator area is 23.75"x25". I cut a piece of cardboard this size and then cut a bunch of circles the size of different electric fans to see how I could cover the most area. I even cobbled together a Mad Max looking multi-size fan setup just to see how it worked. It did work pretty well but airflow was too restricted when the fans were idle and the varying CFM ratings seem to decrease efficiency. That being said, the hottest the engine got while running this was 210 degrees. So not bad. I have attached a picture of both set ups side-by-side so you can see the difference. You can't really see through the test idea while there is a lot of open space in the final design.

After this test I found a great article about how CFM ratings are not what is important, static pull is what counts. To really oversimplify the article, static pull is torque and CFM is horsepower. This made me look for fans with minimal supports to minimize airflow disruption, a deep cut on the fan blades to pull air through and the ability to free spin when not in use. I went with 4 11" fans over 2 larger fans because I could cover the most area and have to most passive airflow when they are not on.

I know that was a very long answer to your question. Hopefully it made sense.