Fan Realy

[John Vardanian]

I installed an electric fan on my 250 about a year ago. The relay came from NAPA, off the shelf. One of those black cubes, slightly bigger than a sugar cube. Nearly had a heart attack when I got a glimps of the water gauge today. The fan had stopped cycling due to the relay.

Needless to say, I am not buying another of these unreliable pieces of garbage. Would anyone recommend a heavier cycle relay? Thank you.

john

[tyang]

Hi John,

Bosch makes some good relays.

Tom

[Art S.]

I alway knew NAPA as Never Any Parts Available because they never have what I need but considering John's situation, we'll have to come up with a new acronym.

Regards,

Art S.

[Jimmyr]

John, when specifying a relay be sure to inquire if it is a continuous duty relay and not a horn relay. Horn relays are not able to run continious and will soon fail. Note they all look the same, so be sure to get a fan or headlight relay. Jim

[John Se]

WWW.Madelectrical.com I think they reccomend two relays for a High amp fan. They have lots of good methods for old cars.
JLS

[shill288]

I've had good luck gutting my old relays when they fail and putting in a new bosch relay unit inside the old, original, relay housings. Looks great and fools the Judges.

Steve

[xs10shl]

JV, heres another electric fan option, in case you continue to have relay issues -

I installed this thingy in my 250 which has a copper temp sensor and a box with an adjustable temp gauge in it - my mechanic got it for me, so I can't remember the brand. Temp sensor goes into coolant return hose by the radiator, and is then snaked underneath the radiator lip over to the sidewall. Box is then hardwired over to the fusebox and new electric fan - I recall piggybacking of the wiper fuse, or something like that.

It basically bypasses most of the existing electronics, but I can't speak to long term durability, as I've sold the car. I do recall it working pretty well under testing. The adjustable temp sensor is a nice feature.

[John Vardanian]

This is how mine is done:

These inside plug cars have a sensor plug screwed into the top tank of the radiator. The sensor is wired to a panic light on the dash labeled "T" (for temperature). I removed this plug and screwed in a Lusso style clutch fan sensor, which happens to be the same thread size. Then, wired the sensor to an (ebay) fan via a relay. When it worked, it worked very well, as the fan cycled as needed.

john

[tim]

Greetings... Flexalite makes a really cool fan controller-realy. As temps approach your set temp, it will come on and waft a gentle zephyr through you rad. If the temps continue to rise, it will huff and puff harder until blowing for all its worth when it reaches the set temp. Another cool feature is the soft start. The fans max draw will be as it comes up to speed. With this unit, the fan draw starts low and makes it easier on the charging system. It also doesn't start til 5 seconds after you start the engine again lightening the load on charging system. It can also be set to run for 30 seconds after key off. The feature some may not like is the sensor is a copper tube placed in the fins of the rad. I will fitting one on the Ferrari and probably one of the Morgans this summer. Check it out on the flexalite site. It is item number 31165VSC. Tim

[John Vardanian]

The NAPA lady let me rummage through the relays in their storeroom and this is what I dug up. I do not know what it goes to or what the ampacity is. It looks plenty beefy and it has made in USA stamped on it. You can see it is quite the muscle man compared to its wimpy Taiwanese counterpart that served me just 500 miles before pooping out. Let's see how long this one will last.

john