kcox506
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Concord, NC
I wouldn't consider this a generic how-to given my situation is a bit different, but the concept is the same. This is for those who want to know a little more about what the electric fan conversion looks like.
Since I decided to be that guy and put an 06 TJ 4.0 in my XJ, I had to play with cooling options. My original idea was to keep the TJ setup, and run the mechanical fan with an aux fan. However, due to the lack of an efficient fan shroud and proper CFM, my first wheeling trip at the SEC crawl at Harlan KY was met with utter failure. Live and learn.
I grabbed a Dirtbound Offroad electric fan shroud and paired it with three electric fans I got from K Supsensions & Auto. Along with a complete fan controller harness.
I was concerned with the fitment on the shroud at first, since the bolt holes were clearly not the same on the fans to the shroud, but it all gave enough movement to make it work. I was able to successfully use the provided hardware from dirtbound to mount the fans.
The only shroud modification I had to make was to grind down a little bit of the bottom edge of the vertical reinforcement pieces to fit over the bottom lip of the radiator. Holes had to be drilled at the top of the shround to accept the provided brackets that grab the radiator support bracket thing.
The shroud with fans installed was relatively easy to fit. You will have to bend or cut off the bottom tabs that the original OEM fan shrouds mounted to. Mine were already cut off because of TJ things, but don't let that be a surprise.
Now comes the fun part. The wiring harness provided by K Suspensions, I will say is very well thought out. It may be "chinese" relays, but nonetheless very stout. I would recommend taking a hot glue gun and filling in the bottom of the relays and in-line fuse for better waterproofing. I was given an additional relay harness for the third fan that I did not end up using. However, it is perfectly ready to roll for an additional accessory, like a light bar, OBA compressor, etc. Its pretty nice to have that laying around for a future project.
The first thing I did was place the Temp Sensor. Its a prong that you stick into your radiator. Interesting approach to grabbing a core temp reading. Reminds me of my enlisted days lol. I am concerned on how loose it fits. I will have to go back and try and hot glue or silicone it in for a more secure fit (giggity).
The wiring is very simple. Run the orange wire to a fan, and the blue wire to a fan. If you are running dual fans like I did; its orange to fan 1, blue to fan 2. If you are not, ignore the blue and just run orange to a fan.
I then made a ground wire to grab both fan 1 and 2. This was not provided, I used my own wiring and connectors to make it happen.
The third fan I simply plugged into my stock Aux fan harness that was already spliced and and ready to roll from my previous setup. I have coming off the stock harness and on a fan override switch. It kicks on when the computer tells it to, or when I turn the switch on.
Now comes wiring in the controller. The controller can be adjusted from 160*F, to 250*F. It comes set to 160*F which is what makes sense to me. It takes a phillips screwdriver to adjust the setting on the back of the controller.
The Yellow wire needs to be connected to an ignition power source. Meaning that when you turn the key to ACC or start the vehicle, it will only then get power. I took a Multimeter to my PDC to find a wire that did just that. I believe I found the fuel pump relay wire (a solid blue wire which looks to be 10-12g) as my ignition source. There's a splice-in connector provided which I hate with a passion, so I opted for a waterproof buttend connector, because I'm normal.
(I had to extend the yellow wire, hence the red shown)
There is also a green wire that you splice into the A/C compressor to turn on when you turn the A/C on. I do not have A/C, so I do not care. I terminated it with what I had. Do as you wish.
Thats it. You're done. Turn Ignition on, test Fan 3. Start and let it climb to temperature and fans should kick on. They're loud and let you know they're there. If they are not kicking on, make sure the sensor is set to 160 and not 210 like mine was. I was chasing a wiring gremlin for 15 minutes until I realized mine was set correctly.
Test drive that bad boy and hopefully don't burn into a fiery pit of death.
Closing remarks:
This is the only correct way IMHO, to run an electric fan setup. If you do not have a fan shroud....you will not cycle in the air efficiently and you will die. If you do not have them relayed and fused, you will die.. Probably not, but it won't be 100% correct and you may have issues.
I believe its 1600 CFM across the radiator.
They're loud.
I did not use all of the provided pieces by either party.
It works..so far.
Here is the link to Dirtbound Offroad.
https://www.dirtboundoffroad.com
Here is the link to K Suspensions.
http://www.ksuspensionlifts.com
Since I decided to be that guy and put an 06 TJ 4.0 in my XJ, I had to play with cooling options. My original idea was to keep the TJ setup, and run the mechanical fan with an aux fan. However, due to the lack of an efficient fan shroud and proper CFM, my first wheeling trip at the SEC crawl at Harlan KY was met with utter failure. Live and learn.
I grabbed a Dirtbound Offroad electric fan shroud and paired it with three electric fans I got from K Supsensions & Auto. Along with a complete fan controller harness.
I was concerned with the fitment on the shroud at first, since the bolt holes were clearly not the same on the fans to the shroud, but it all gave enough movement to make it work. I was able to successfully use the provided hardware from dirtbound to mount the fans.
The only shroud modification I had to make was to grind down a little bit of the bottom edge of the vertical reinforcement pieces to fit over the bottom lip of the radiator. Holes had to be drilled at the top of the shround to accept the provided brackets that grab the radiator support bracket thing.
The shroud with fans installed was relatively easy to fit. You will have to bend or cut off the bottom tabs that the original OEM fan shrouds mounted to. Mine were already cut off because of TJ things, but don't let that be a surprise.
Now comes the fun part. The wiring harness provided by K Suspensions, I will say is very well thought out. It may be "chinese" relays, but nonetheless very stout. I would recommend taking a hot glue gun and filling in the bottom of the relays and in-line fuse for better waterproofing. I was given an additional relay harness for the third fan that I did not end up using. However, it is perfectly ready to roll for an additional accessory, like a light bar, OBA compressor, etc. Its pretty nice to have that laying around for a future project.
The first thing I did was place the Temp Sensor. Its a prong that you stick into your radiator. Interesting approach to grabbing a core temp reading. Reminds me of my enlisted days lol. I am concerned on how loose it fits. I will have to go back and try and hot glue or silicone it in for a more secure fit (giggity).
The wiring is very simple. Run the orange wire to a fan, and the blue wire to a fan. If you are running dual fans like I did; its orange to fan 1, blue to fan 2. If you are not, ignore the blue and just run orange to a fan.
I then made a ground wire to grab both fan 1 and 2. This was not provided, I used my own wiring and connectors to make it happen.
The third fan I simply plugged into my stock Aux fan harness that was already spliced and and ready to roll from my previous setup. I have coming off the stock harness and on a fan override switch. It kicks on when the computer tells it to, or when I turn the switch on.
Now comes wiring in the controller. The controller can be adjusted from 160*F, to 250*F. It comes set to 160*F which is what makes sense to me. It takes a phillips screwdriver to adjust the setting on the back of the controller.
The Yellow wire needs to be connected to an ignition power source. Meaning that when you turn the key to ACC or start the vehicle, it will only then get power. I took a Multimeter to my PDC to find a wire that did just that. I believe I found the fuel pump relay wire (a solid blue wire which looks to be 10-12g) as my ignition source. There's a splice-in connector provided which I hate with a passion, so I opted for a waterproof buttend connector, because I'm normal.
(I had to extend the yellow wire, hence the red shown)
There is also a green wire that you splice into the A/C compressor to turn on when you turn the A/C on. I do not have A/C, so I do not care. I terminated it with what I had. Do as you wish.
Thats it. You're done. Turn Ignition on, test Fan 3. Start and let it climb to temperature and fans should kick on. They're loud and let you know they're there. If they are not kicking on, make sure the sensor is set to 160 and not 210 like mine was. I was chasing a wiring gremlin for 15 minutes until I realized mine was set correctly.
Test drive that bad boy and hopefully don't burn into a fiery pit of death.
Closing remarks:
This is the only correct way IMHO, to run an electric fan setup. If you do not have a fan shroud....you will not cycle in the air efficiently and you will die. If you do not have them relayed and fused, you will die.. Probably not, but it won't be 100% correct and you may have issues.
I believe its 1600 CFM across the radiator.
They're loud.
I did not use all of the provided pieces by either party.
It works..so far.
Here is the link to Dirtbound Offroad.
https://www.dirtboundoffroad.com
Here is the link to K Suspensions.
http://www.ksuspensionlifts.com
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