Robthebrit said:
One other thing to remember with electric fans (and most stock fans which are plastic) is what happens when you enter water. A plastic fan is very likely to either be sucked into the radiator or structurally fail, either will cause damage. A metal fan is the way to go for any offroad vehicle.
Rob makes a very good point, all things being equal a metal bladed fan with a fan clutch is usually the best option. But it's not a foregone conclusion that a plastic bladed fan will flex into the radiator. As long as the clutch is in working order, the fan will have a harder time turning in water since it's denser than air. IOW, as long as you drive with care a properly functioning clutched fan should not turn in the water (at least this has been the case with all of my Toyotas). It's reckless, but it's possible that by driving into water deep enough to submerge your fan with it turning at full speed you can break blades. So, yeah, the possibility that a plastic fan could end up in the radiator does exist and should certainly cross your mind. But I think that most people who have had this happen drove into the water too fast or will find that their fan clutch wasn't working right and the fan was not being released correctly. Not to mention that my air intake is behind the headlights still and if the water is enveloping the fan, it would be the same height as my intake and would be ingested anyway.
BTW, the Taurus 8C607 fan is supposedly rated in the 2000 low/4000 high cfm range, requires about 100A on start-up and settles down to about 30A continuous at high speed. One problem with retrofitting electric fans that you need to mind is the mounting. If the shroud holes line up, that's great. But if you use those pull through zip tie things, be very, very careful of how they sit on the radiator fins. They can destroy a radiator in no time flat.
No comment on the laws of thermodynamics, radiator capacity and moving air... ;-) Suffusive to say that I have stuck with my stock set-up intentionally. My truck relies on electronics too much as it is, but such is life with an EFI engine. None-the-less, I like having the option to limp home if my charging system dies by swapping batteries with another truck with a good alternator. If I turn off everything, it does not take much to keep my EFI going, so the battery will run down slowly and swapped every couple of hours the battery won't take much to recharge. You can do this for days if required. If I had an electric fan on the trail where it would be constantly sucking lots of energy, it would flat very quickly and the point where the other truck's charging system would fall behind would come faster. That's my logic, for right or wrong.
