E39 Electric Fan OEM Style!

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Here are the parts that needed for the mod. I ordered them though Summit Racing.

1- SUM-G4904 - Electric Fan, Single, 16 in. Diameter, Reversible, 2,010 cfm, Black, Plastic, Each $84.95
- I went with this because it's a curved fan which will lower the noise level, and I'm very please with the outcome, also it is reversible for puller or pusher type of use.

2- DER-16749 - Fan Control, Thermostatic, Adjustable, 150 to 240 Degrees, Kit $39.95
- I picked this because temperature setting to activate the fan is adjustable.

3- ATM-2283 - Radiator Hose Adapter, Aluminum, 1.5 in. to 1.5 in., Kit $37.95
- Aluminum and they are the only place that I can find to carry 3/8 NPT port.

I also bough a new fan shroud, so I can take my time working without hurrying.

I went to work at it, to begin I cut the top porting of the shroud to make it even. Here are some pix.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Then I went to work on the fan itself

Remember, the fan is shipped as a pusher, there will be instruction for you to turn it to a puller.
While you're at it, look at picture #3 remove the motor, rotate the motor about 60 degree to find the higher mounting points using the same screws, this helps reduce the profile of the fan, the more profile the better.

Here is a picture of the fan itself has to be cut in order to accommodate the shroud. I had to cut about half an inch from the top center.

Sroor9001 · May 19, 2014

16valex said:
Then I went to work on the fan itself

Remember, the fan is shipped as a pusher, there will be instruction for you to turn it to a puller.
While you're at it, look at picture #3 remove the motor, rotate the motor about 60 degree to find the higher mounting points using the same screws, this helps reduce the profile of the fan, the more profile the better.

Here is a picture of the fan itself has to be cut in order to accommodate the shroud. I had to cut about half an inch from the top center.

Hi friend I forgot this step and I lost my instruction paper
I need to reverse the fan
It's pulling air from engine bay to outside
Want to reverse it to make it pull air from outside to the engine bay
Would you please tell me how to reverse it ??

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Now it's time to fasten the fan to the shroud I chose.

Need 5 M6 by 30 mm long. Need 5
Need 15 M6 nuts.
And 10 lock washers.

I had to grind the head of the bolts down a little to fit inside the fan slots. Take a look at the pix.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Time to drill holes and install the fan inside the shroud.
I put the fan on top of the shroud and then eye ball for even gap all around.
With magic marker, I marked the 5 positions where I will be drilling and about 1-1/4 inch depth.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

I thought it would better to give it some re-enforce strength so I went and bought some 1x1x1/16 thick aluminum angle bracket and some JB Welder from Home Depot.

I also went wild on the JB welder. Hey no such thing is over engineer!

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Now for the thermo sensor switch adapter in the lower radiator hose.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Hooking up electrical. Almost there!

For always on 12 V battery power is blue color tap connector RED wire.
For ignition switch ON power to activate the relay circuit ( look for a switch 12V here).
And lastly for the Override toggle switch I also tapped into this GRN/WHT wire.

gjvah · Jan 4, 2011

Wow, nice write up. Would the same parts be used for a 540? Or does the bigger engine need a different fan? I've wanted to do this for as long as I remember myself.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

I'm pretty sure it would be fine. I think the V8 has more access than the I6, so this will probably a plus for the V8 guys.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Start the car up make sure you top off cooling water and bleed the system. Take her out and give it a nice spirited drive to bring up the temperature, you know when your car is up to operating temperature is when your lower radiator hose is nice and warm.

Now let the car idle, unlock your OBD and monitor your engine temp.
I adjusted mine to come on at 96 degree Cesius but this will change when the Summer is here.

Some more pix and enjoy.

CoreyMNK · Jan 4, 2011

Awesome write up! I need to change my fan ASAP! The bearing has gone bad and my fan wobbles pretty bad. When ever I go over a speed bump you can hear the fan hit the shroud, or when I hit the brakes. Sometimes when I'm sitting at a stop light you hear a god awful grinding noise because the fan is wobbling and hitting the shroud. On top of the bearing being bad one of the blades is cracked, to the point where I feel it may fly off if something were to hit it when it's spinning. Once Spring rolls around I'm going to be using your write up! :thumbup:

cn90 · Jan 4, 2011

Don't delay this any further unless you want to pay $2K for the hood repair! Replace the Fan Clutch (use Sachs) and Fan Blade (BMW only) now, then cooling overhaul later.

Your Water Pump bearing may be going soon.

Best is to do a complete cooling overhaul NOW! It is not that hard, just gather the parts and spend a Saturday doing it.

194449 · Jan 4, 2011

Wow 16valex, you took this a step or two further than I anticipated. Looks great, can't wait to read your first in-depth report on all the noticed benefits.

bluebee · Jan 4, 2011

pleiades said:
can't wait to read your first in-depth report on all the noticed benefits.

To put the pressure on you ...

...

I just added this to the bestlinks thread as the first link to go to for an E39 clutch fan to electrical fan conversion DIY.
- Mechanical fan delete DIY fan clutch to electrical fan (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

What I did was search in that thread (only) for the electrical fan conversions already listed by others as best links - and then organized them into a single line as shown above.

Of course, if you know of better links, just add them to the bestlinks thread.

cn90 · Jan 4, 2011

16valex,

I admire people who do fan clutch delete, but I want to add my 2 pennies:

- I saw a similar fan on ebay for $15 + $16 shipping = $31.
http://motors******.ebay.com/ky.motoring/m.html?rt=nc&LH_BIN=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3911.c0.m283

- Dyno before vs after? In different forums that I have seen, this mod provides no noticeable gain in HP, may be 0.001 HP gain LOL.

- I don't understand the fuss about this mod: is it HP gain or reducing noise? My car runs on a brand-new Sachs Fan Clutch and is dead quiet!

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

Cn90,

Any gain in HP is a bonus for me because that is not my intentions for the conversion.

Too many horrific stories about clutch fan explosion.:yikes:

In case your aux fan take a dump, and now your engine cooling depends on the clutch fan to save it from over heat

( this is where I don't trust it)

Extending the WP's life :thumbup:

More room for easy access to belts and roller w/o having to deal with the clutch fan is priceless

.

And BTW, if Ebay looks too good to be true then it is. The labor is too great and precious to waste with garbage parts.
I paid 84 dollars for the fan from Summit Racing that said made in USA, this alone worth a lot to me.

cn90 · Jan 4, 2011

Of interest is the E30 people installed a Volvo Fan + Volvo 2-stage relay, it fits very nicely too:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20599479

edjack · Jan 4, 2011

cn90, I believe we'll find that 16valex is an engineer, or a rabid tinkerer, and that goes a long way towards explaining this mod.

Nice sanitary installation, though. Only hope the engine doesn't leap forward!

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

I'll take either one above, I've considered it's a compliment.

cn90 · Jan 4, 2011

Haha...edjack is right,

My 2-cent: the fan clutch only explodes if you neglect it for too long like 100-140K miles, and the problem is worse with V8 engine.

So for my I6 engine, I simply replace the Sachs Fan Clutch/Fan Blade every 80K, and I sleep well like a baby.
I think 16valex has too much time on his hands haha...

Sandman9411 · Jun 3, 2015

Fan explosion at 50k miles

I just bought a Z3 with 50k miles on it. Fan exploded two days later causing all of the expected damage including trashing the hood. Insurance covered it at slightly over $5k in damage! Personally, I won't sleep well until it make the fan delete mod. Don't want to go through that nightmare twice.

doru · Jan 4, 2011

This is a good write-up.
Question: for this setup, if you need to change the electrical motor, can you do it (you said you applied JB weld) - remove the fan and access the motor without breaking anything?

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

I think it will last the life of the car but if you have to replace the motor just slide the shroud out to replace the motor.

16valex · Jan 4, 2011

So for my I6 engine, I simply replace the Sachs Fan Clutch/Fan Blade every 80K, and I sleep well like a baby.

That until one day your engine will over heat or the fan will explode on you :rofl:

cn90 · Jan 4, 2011

16valex,

You can wish but that is not going to happen on my watch haha.
Most fan explosion happens on V8, and on the I6 it is on neglected cars.
My car will have cooling overhaul every 80K, so these things don't have a chance to misbehave.

doru · Jan 4, 2011

Actually the BMW techs consensus about exploding radiator fans is because of failed engine mounts. When the clutch fails, it only accelerates the matter. And because the v8 has more torque, the engine mounts fail earlier. There were also quite a few posts with people experiencing the 2nd failed fan and not knowing why. Once the mounts were changed, the fans lasted.

16valex · Jan 17, 2011

Final update

Okay so after a few weeks of having the electric fan and clutch fan delete here is my impression.

Acceleration is definitely an improvement, it feels peppy and nimble.
On the butt-dyno probably 10HP and the Placebo Effect is about 25

Noise wise this is very quiet. If the car next to me have their window closed, they won't hear my fan comes on at all.

Since it is Winter here and the ambient temp is in the teen this fan never comes on I can't wait till the Summer.
However I did the test in the garage, I let it idle, and eventually after 10 minutes with OBC unlocked and test 7 display 97 degree Celsius, the fan kicked on but within 40 seconds it shut off and temperature went down to 95C, this is awesome!
Here are some new pix, and BTW I went and completed the Mrs's 528 too, Check out the pix.

hedshrnk · Aug 25, 2011

16valex said:
Okay so after a few weeks of having the electric fan and clutch fan delete here is my impression.

Acceleration is definitely an improvement, it feels peppy and nimble.
On the butt-dyno probably 10HP and the Placebo Effect is about 25

Noise wise this is very quiet. If the car next to me have their window closed, they won't hear my fan comes on at all.

Since it is Winter here and the ambient temp is in the teen this fan never comes on I can't wait till the Summer.
However I did the test in the garage, I let it idle, and eventually after 10 minutes with OBC unlocked and test 7 display 97 degree Celsius, the fan kicked on but within 40 seconds it shut off and temperature went down to 95C, this is awesome!
Here are some new pix, and BTW I went and completed the Mrs's 528 too, Check out the pix.

This is 100% placebo. I get the exact same butt-dyno results when I wash my car.

.

Graham E39 528i · Jan 17, 2011

Bravo 16Valex! What a great thread!

Should be 'stickied' somewhere (?)

16valex · Jan 17, 2011

Thanks Graham! So when are you going to do your. I tell you some thing, I redline this car all the time now and not even think twice doing it. Best bang for the buck!

van556 · May 16, 2011

Next project: Electric Water Pump.

I believe most newer BMW engines already use electric fan & electric water pump; it's one way for those engines to have more HP than those made of yesterday.

doru · Aug 25, 2011

Hello Valex, not sure if you're still with us, but I certainly hope so.
I am a little slow with electrical. Could you please elaborate in more detail the wiring part of the setup? I am seriously considering the swap, and your setup looked OEM. As I said, the only hard part is the electrical wiring and a step-by-step for "dummies" would be awsome (if you can still remember how you did it), also it seems you sourced some sort of plastic covers for the spliced locations? Do you have info on it?

Thanks

terrystu · Aug 25, 2011

This is one of the most overblown concerns I have ever heard about, on a par with global warming panic. The fan clutch on the I6 will NEVER explode without warning, as you will hear it making noise long before it ever gets to that point.

In addition, if you change the clutch with every cooling system overhaul - which all good
E39-ers are doing every 100k or so, you will always be way ahead of any potential clutch problems.

We have enough issues to deal with on these cars, without creating pointless worries.

On the subject of HP gain - are you serious? Its less than a rounding error!

CSMBlack-540i · Aug 25, 2011

terrystu said:
On the subject of HP gain - are you serious? Its less than a rounding error!

hedshrnk said:
This is 100% placebo. I get the exact same butt-dyno results when I wash my car.

.

Oh, I would beg to differ on both counts and I'm sure we can start a debate on this. I tried this out one winter when temperatures were below 40 for over a month.

The car was definitely more "torquey" when pulling off from a stand still. Not believing it I asked a friend to either take the fan off or leave it on and don't tell me. Let me drive it around and guess. In 5 tries, I guessed correctly because I felt a difference. Of course one can argue I can listen for the fan or not.

Curious as to why it would feel different I looked at the serpentine belt diagram and you can clearly see that when it engages or disengages it affects the water pump, alternator and harmonic balancer. Given the resistance to spinning or moving air when the clutch engages, you can see that it impact belt and pulley movement in the diagram below.

So my butt dyno says otherwise even at the expense of being flamed for my observation.

Will it make me eliminate the fan clutch? Not sure yet. I do have a Ford Taurus fan, relays and temperature sensor ready for a swap but have not done so yet.

I would do it not for the gains of the torque but because I feel an electric fan set up with a self adjustable temperature range can actually cool the radiator at a better range than a viscous coupled fan.

doru · Aug 25, 2011

So Alex, can you please elaborate on the electrical wiring, please? To me the pics you posted, I cannot see which are the wires from the electrical fan and where you spliced them. Could you somehow label them on the pics, both the fan wires and the donor ones?

Thanks

16valex · Aug 25, 2011

Doru, There's instruction that comes with the relay on how to install the fan it's very easy. However, the hard part in this mod is actually fasten the fan into the shroud.

I don't have any access to my stuffs at the moment, but if you have any questions just PM me.

doru · Aug 25, 2011

Thank you guys very much.

satxdancer · Aug 25, 2011

@ 16 valex - If the magnetic clutch on the fan explodes - that will be very rare within 75K miles and not due to lack of maint; unless if it blew up at 150K miles (for example). Freak accidents happen in many areas, not just with a fan clutch..... Remember anything is possible, and accidents are things that were unpreventable.... My friends and I have E39 528i's; all 2000 and on down to 1997. This has never happened to us.... Like I said, if it does - it's very rare. If there is noise while using a brand new Sachs magnetic fan clutch, then oh my gosh, - it's not that bad; and anyone can get over it.... I do a cooling system overhaul every two years or so; new radiator, upper/lower hoses, fan clutch, thermostat, coolant fluid, temp sensors, etc; (I drive a lot, across the West Texas desert between El Paso, TX and San Antonio, TX).... It's Not that hard to take off the fan clutch at all.... As of matter of fact, I dont ever need to use a "fan clutch locking tool" to take off my fan clutch; just a simple adjustable wrench, a sharp knock, and it loosens up. (Never stripped the fan clutch nut either). The fan blades, w/fan clutch, come off easily from under the car - without having to take off the fan shroud. That easy....

I'm not here to say that your mod wasn't nice. It was awesome and very creative! I really did like it. BUT, I'm here to let the other readers know, that it's not going to make a big difference to do this mod; spending the extra cash and time. Readers be assured that your OEM fan clutch is just fine and will work great as long as you change it out when it's due to be changed; and dont be trying to "milk" it.... "peas"!

E39 Electric Fan OEM Style!

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