Thread: 3.9 V8i Electric Fan reccos.

Hi 4Bee
You are playing with fire
It will be great while it's cold weather, But as soon as the weather warms up she will boil

You can run it that way ... if your doing Highway driving .. but as soon as you do towing / Heavy traffic or 4WD ... it will "go off"

Fit a ford EL or AU twin thermo fan setup .. complete with auto temp thermo on/off switch ..... and a Manual ON switch fitted to the dash

If she boils ... the repercussions go all the way to ... slipped liners in the block
(Plenty of threads on this subject)

Oh and Yes .. It is quieter with out them

Regards Mike

Thanks Mike.

Yes, I am mindful of these things & am keeping an eye on the temp gauge, but most of my driving is in the Adelaide Hills at apx. 1700' elev. so it's quite "cool" in Winter here.

The other day in the big smoke, it didn't alter & I don't recall the poor old gauge ever being to 1/2 way in it's life. Must have come as a bit of a shock really. "Ok, wtf do I do now?" I can hear it saying.

As an aside, did I read somewhere that the AC fans on the Discov will come on automatically if the temp gets up?

Originally Posted by 4bee

Thanks Mike.

Yes, I am mindful of these things & am keeping an eye on the temp gauge, but most of my driving is in the Adelaide Hills at apx. 1700' elev. so it's quite "cool" in Winter here.

The other day in the big smoke, it didn't alter & I don't recall the poor old gauge ever being to 1/2 way in it's life. Must have come as a bit of a shock really. "Ok, wtf do I do now?" I can hear it saying.

As an aside, did I read somewhere that the AC fans on the Discov will come on automatically if the temp gets up?

You ought to bear in mind that @ 1700' the air is also 'thinner' - and thus the ability to remove heat is reduce.

And yes the AC fans do come on if the engine temp rises to a dangerous level - but I wouldn't be relying on them.

You ought to bear in mind that @ 1700' the air is also 'thinner'

That could explain a lot.

It's also 4 or 5c colder.

Just go the EL AU thermo setup .. BUT make sure you have the manual switch on dash
Nothing worse finding out the thermo didn't cut in properly (at the worst time)

And cold .. Freezing more like it

I'ld say that you have disconnected fans to get the motor to heat up better

A trick to limit the amount of cold air reaching the radiator ... was to place a piece of cardboard in front it (Reduce the amount of exposed area)

Originally Posted by 4bee

I have been running the Discov for the last few days with the viscous fan removed & have found it an enlightening experience. Idles better, more responsive, temp gauge up to 1/2 way, quieter (?)

Thinking ahead a bit whether to leave it off permanently & eventually fit electric fan(s) (1 or 2 ?) before Spring.

What is the collectives views & recommendations on this please?

Thanks in advance.

I put up a thread at www.rangie.com regarding thermofan conversions. At the moment i'm having trouble getting onto the website, but the link is under the cooling tab in the articles section. Look for "thermofan conversion" by Andrew.
I have had no issues with mine at all.
Please read thru the material first before buying anything. Although Falcon and similar fan assys fit, generally for 4WD applications, particularly offroad, the fans dont draw enough air to keep it cool and for offroad you will want a motor that is water resistant/proof.

That's a novel idea. A 4WD going offroad.

Link is still down, but one will peruse it when it's back.

Thanks for the input.

Have been perusing the Davies - Craig site in the interim while waiting for www.rangie.com to return. ????

Their recom. for the Discovery 3.9 V8 is 1 x DCSL16 & they claim one fan is better than two.
On the Discovery with AC, the fan needs to be mounted "downstream" between the rad & the engine, & polarity & fan blade reversed if necessary to draw through.