tweetyduck Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 So even more things to consider,,,leave it off for now,,,fit the 2nd hand electric one i have to hand,,,use "Mikes Parts Shed Ltd." for a 2nd hand viscous,,,buy a new one from Padd/Cradd/etc I'll see what happens with my revised quote on Monday. Did i mention the transfer box is knackered and i need two half shafts and a new steering box. If it all comes under my origional budget for the Defender i'm pretty happy. At least it will all be new. Thats not the entire list BTW,,,but i digress. Cheapest option i think is to fit the electric I have, but arn't the thermostats expensive? Easiest option is to fit a viscous i think. Price or ease, hmmm? This thread could easily run into a hundred posts. Sorry. Did someone mention worms? I'm just in it for the easy life,,,now have i just made the descision without realising. Beer Time...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petethepilot Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Just to add some spice: I have electric fan, and I have reasoned it to myself by the fact that I still have to live in f...n cold Finland and unfortunately own a TD5 Defender. Added together that means that it´ll newer warm up in the wintertime that stiff viscous fan cooling the engine fresh from the start. Also I do believe it will affect my fuel economy at least 0.5% or so and gives me unbelievable amount of torque and peak power (at least 0.25 hp on my arsedynamometer) so I am a victim and a believer of an advertisements. But it has worked well and I´m satisfied. Honestly, be it England or Finland, the notorious TD5 seldomly gets so hot it will need additional cooling. Some real offroading maybe, or a very hot day in urban traffic jam where your clutchfeet is begging mercy as one can drive half car lenght at a time... But for overlanding, sure. And install two independet systems side by side if not confident about their reliability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landypc Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Do your self a favour and contact Kenlowe direct. They saved me a bundle and I haven't looked back. More power & fuel economy. Well worth it. If you are doing more than just road and/or light to mild off road work then stay with original cooling. landypc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Do your self a favour and contact Kenlowe direct. They saved me a bundle and I haven't looked back. More power & fuel economy. Well worth it. If you are doing more than just road and/or light to mild off road work then stay with original cooling. landypc What do you mean they 'saved you a bundle'? Arent the ads in LRO from Kenlowe direct? Will they knock 50% off the price? How does your economy compare before and after? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Nooooooooooooooooo not kenlowe! Their stats are rubbish and WILL fail if exposed to water. An X-Eng fan switch is not going to break the bank, and OEM fans from scrap cars are better made than Kenlowes anyway. P.S: Just stumbled over this post which does highlight the pros and cons of viscous fans... including how to lock them up when they fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 as for power 'four times more powerful' seems like a figure plucked somewhere from the air. . Based on the diameter, disc solidity (the fact that all the blades overlap, indicating that it has a high number of blades with big chord) and the angle of attack of the blades, it's a reasonable estimate. clearly, the airflow from the viscous fan will vary with engine rpm, unlike electric fans, but this means the airflow could be significantly more than four times that of an electric fan if the rpm is increased. Electric fans can't have that level of disc solidity or angle of attack because their comparitively puny electric motors will overheat or will not have suffucient torque. The capability of the electric fan to run on when the engine is shut down is its solitary major advantage, but an engine that is idling to turn its fan is unlikely to generate sufficient heat to counter the cooling effect of the fan and radiator. An electric fan, though it can run with the engine shut down following an overheat, will do little to help the engine cool because the water pump will be static, resulting only in a minimal amount of convective coolant flow through the radiator. I have heard of Mike's misfortune with the viscous fan coming off before, but that is the only time I have heard of such an event. If the fan is correctly tightened on the water pump shaft or idler pulley, its left hand thread will only serve to tighten it up even more in use. It would have to be left very loose in order to spin off when the engine was stopped. If you have such a concern, use some threadlock. To test the viscous unit, simply try turning the fan by hand when cold - it should move with a small amount of smooth resistnce, and then try again with the engine fully warmed up - it should then be locked to its shaft and not turn unless significant force is applied (you'll probably get the belt to slip first). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 @Snagger, Now that all sounds pretty sensible to me. Not that all the other stuff before is incorrect but your logic seems sound on the Engine not running bit. Mikes not the only person quoting "destruction by fan" stories. Considering my viscous will be new as will the entire fan assembly i'm not going to panic over what might be. If i did that i'd not be going on my trip. All considered I think i might still go for standard. I always listen to the horror stories though and am usually over cautious. I can honestly say everyones advice has been listened to and at least no arguments have developed this time. Some people just can't take it if you don't accept their advice on face value. I think the moral on this one is both have their merits. I'd rather not destroy my radiator but then again i'd rather not have to think about any of this at all. Who thought this would be so complicated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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