Thread: Viscous coupling and thermo fan replacement

Landrover want $300 for an aftermarket fan made in oz

They are probably talking Davies Craig and I doubt they are made in OZ but maybe.
IIWY ( Is this a new one -If i were you) I would just buy a cheapo fan from Supercheap in the correct size and make up a mount. Do NOT hold it by pushing those thingo ties through the radiator.
I bought a new viscous coupling from LR direct but again they offer a variety of qualities and only buy the one just below land Rover ie OEM in a plain box.
Regards Philip A

The Supercheap ones are rebranded Davies Craig or at least come from the same factory and branded as Calibre. I have 2 x 10" units in my shed waiting to go in and side by side a Davies Craig unit is identical.
Supercheap regularly have these out for half price. I paid $36 ea a few weeks back.
Maybe just get a 16".
If the wiring is already there you can just plug and play. If you want better control you can get a thermal switch that places a probe into your water system or if you do not want to do that you can get an electronic thermal switch that the probe sits in the radiator fin. You can then wire it up to cut in at a desired temp between 40 deg and 80 deg with the controller. You can also set it up to come on when the air con kicks in, but you will require an additional relay.
This is the path I am taking.
Most defender owners complain the fan does not kick in or stay on long enough in standard form.

The EL falcon fan and viscous are a straight swap and are available from the wreckers for next to nothing. Pat

Some blokes reckon an electric fan can't deliver the airflow of a visco at high revs.

Anybody out there have an opinion of this?

The visco hub on my V8 CSW is shot, hence the question......

Got AU thermos, slight mods to the original shround fits and works perfectly. never looked back and never had issues up here in rocky or on my NT trip

Some blokes reckon an electric fan can't deliver the airflow of a visco at high revs.

Look if you do a search you will find lots of threads on this. IMHO based on no experience on RRcs , is that seeing a viscous is purported to use about 6-8BHP when locked is that an electric fan would have to have a 200AMP motor to match it.
They usually run 8 amps to 11 amps each.
AFAIR ther eare two camps in threads. Those who have tried them and they don't work in hot/heavy going and those who say no problemos.

Note that NEW D4s , and AFAIK RRs have viscous fans as do new Prados , Landcruisers etc while Freelanders have electric. A common theme here?
Regards Philip A

I guess Im keen to keep both systems, both mechanical and electrical. I would have thought at speed there would have been enough airflow to avoid both but I guess not. I will replace both and hopefully that will be the last of any heating issues unless the head is stuffed, but this is last resort.

Will drop into super cheap on way home, raining now so no worries, typical.

we did the calculation with a skyline--
3-5 horspower was equal to a 3000 watt fan motor

falcon-holden use aerodynamics venting high pressure air through the radiator.most modern cars the fan switches off above 80kmh to reduce the restriction of air.

electric fans like volvo-audi etc are good but these arent designed to runn flat out and use pusle speed control.

i like the hydrolic fans used by toyota.these use powersteer oil pressure.
flat out the pass some air.