Clutch fan to electric conversion

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Khoover1988

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1997 1500
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Little engine that can (3.9) lol
Question, i have the 3.9l v6 in my 1998 dodge ram. Ive read alot about people switching to an electric fan and ditching their clutch fan setup. Theyve talked about a big improvment in acceleration and gas mileage in the 3.9 since doing this. Is this really legit? Has anyone on here done this, and is it that noticable, does it really free up to 10hp like some people say? Im debating on doing this, only if its that big of improvement. I know switching to electric fan would put about a 1hp more of a draw on the alternator.
 

Gr8bawana

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I don't know people claim to get 10 extra hp by going to an electric fan. Once you reach a certain rpm your fan clutch just free wheels any way and there is almost no drag.
 

dudeman2009

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Magnum 360
There is no gain power or fuel economy wise by replacing a properly functioning clutch driven radiator fan with an electric fan unless you do a lot of idling. Then and only then will you get better idling efficiency, but its still only 5-10%.

A properly functioning fan clutch will spin the fan decently fast at idle and under light accel at low speeds depending on the water pump temp. Under heavy load it will spin up for a second or two before freewheeling and settling at a speed similar to a high idle.

If the clutch is malfunctioning and is stuck on, then yes switching to an electric fan will make a significant improvement in how the truck feels accelerating and cruising, but so will just replacing the clutch.

The only things you should consider switching to an electric fan is as follows. You want more room in the front of the engine, or like the look of not having a fan coming from the engine. Need improved low speed low RPM or idle cooling, have a huge trans cooler and A/C performance is suffering, or you want a slightly quieter engine when accelerating.

Installing one is easy enough, i'd recommend getting either a dual fan variant or a large two speed fan. That way the smaller one/low speed mode will run most of the time and use a little bit of power while also being quiet. Then when it keeps heating up the large fan or high speed mode will kick in and cool that baby down.
 

Robocop_9

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Check out the YouTube video engine masters. No it doesn't free up horsepower when the clutch fan is not spinning but that's common sense. When the fan is spinning however it does use horsepower turn it. Some of the fans can use over 20hp depending on weight and materials. Makes a difference when you are trying to squeeze as much as you can out of it.
You can also set your thermostat with a programmer so your e fan comes on a different times. You cannot do that with a clutch fan.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dapepper9

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Electric fans cool more efficiently. At a light cruise when the clutch fan is engaged vs electric fans being on it takes more power from the engine to turn the clutch fan and does use more fuel. Yes, it's not drastic and almost always hardly noticeable. However, every little bit does help. High amp oem style electric fans also pull a stupid amount of air so they're not only more efficient about it they're also more effective. This is great in stop and go traffic.

Some ***** about the higher amperage fans putting load on the alternator and negating a hp gain that way, utter bs. With a good sound system, headlights and fogs on and a constant 30amp fan running you MIGHT take away 1hp from what the engine makes at the crank and that's within the realm of testing negligibility
 

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