Running with no fan?

[CDX825]

I know this has been covered a few times before but I'm wondering how many people are running with no fan in the colder weather?

Ive got about half my radiator blocked off and it's still barely hitting 190. At idle it will drop off to 180-185. Pretty sure my thermostat is stuck open. I'm going to change it when I pull the engine this winter. But that's probably not going to happen for at least a month or so.

Id like to try and run without the mechanical fan in the meanwhile but I'm a bit nervous. Any input would be great!

 

[jay_t]

I am not. I bought my 1992 with the fan of because it was locked up. The guy tossed in a 12 inch electric fan. I drove home 75 miles in the summer with no problem, not through any major cites, no traffic. I installed an electric and have it on a manual switch and barely run it in the summer. Only for long idles or slow moving traffic. The truck is used to haul a truck camper and a trailer with a couple of motorcycles. In winter, just to get around, empty. Had it out today in the nice balmy 9 degrees. Just ran around town, no cover on radiator and factory temp gauge was at about 1/4, in summer less than half. Don't know what temp that equates to.

 

[chris142]

If you don't have a fan the ac will have too much pressure and would pop a hose or lunch a compressor. Even in winter it would still have too much pressure waiting for a light to change.

 

[CDX825]

No ac on my truck so that won't be a problem.

 

[79jasper]

I seen a few people say they are.

If your t-stat was bad, I doubt you'd be seeing 180 at all.

Most people said 125°F for stuck open t-stat, iirc, in fall time.

Really all you can do is try it.

Could be that someone put in the wrong temp t-stat.

Sent from my USCC-C6721 using Tapatalk

 

[CDX825]

I changed the stat about 4 years ago or so. The rubber ring had come off stopping it from shutting all the way. I'm thinking this one probably failed the same way.

 

[79jasper]

Remember what you put back in?

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[CDX825]

Motorcraft

It only started acting up this year and the old one witch was probably the factory motorcraft behaved the same way.

 

[ADV]

I just change my thermostat and water pump, in the process of that i put my clutch fan on the work bench nut side down and it leaked the fluid out of it. Well fan junk so I never put it back on. My truck warms up a bit faster but I still have no problem letting it sit and warm up for 10 min before I drive it. Driving around in town at 25 or country roads at 55 it hardly gets above 190 but i seen it get to 200. I have not towed anything with out a fan and i have no AC. Temps have been between 2 and 45 over the last two weeks i have been with out a fan and no problems. I am thinking about electric come summer but this winter I will be with out.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

i run the dual windstar fans on the f250,and in the winter if she hasn't got the snow plow on,them fans don't work.
(you can't hear them of course,but iv got a indicator light in cab that shows when they're on,low/med/high ranges.)
running through a drive through or sitting for a bit working the truck off road etc,of course the fans need to work then,but as far as just going down the road.......pretty rare.

iv never run one of these with a working fan clutch.im gunna test the one on the f450 and if it works,im gunna run it.i wanna know what they sound like when they lock up and if you really feel the power drain when hauling the mail up the grades.........before swapping to the e-fans lol.

 

[jay_t]

If you don't have a fan the ac will have too much pressure and would pop a hose or lunch a compressor. Even in winter it would still have too much pressure waiting for a light to change.

A bit more info on my set up.... I have no Ac.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

well for those who do have a/c,you wont be running the a/c to keep cool of course,but the compressor will still run with the mix and defrost settings.to avoid failure,simply unplug the low pressure switch up on the dryer.
sure,it wont clean the air up as nice,but oh well.there are lots of vehicles without a/c.beats risking burning out the a/c pump when experimenting running without a fan.
this is how id go about it.in fact i always unpulg mine every year in the cold months just so the pump doesn't run when i want defrost or fuel economy reasons.
(i guess you should plug it in and use it for an hour or so every month though to keep the seals good.)

 

[FordGuy100]

I ran aroubd with no fan for a year, here in Texas. Usually run sound 190-195* with a semi clogged radiator. 5 minutes of being stopped idling in 105* outside temp would bring me into the 215* range. At aroubd 5-8mph temps will hold, cooling above 10mph at 105* temps. My AC had chit the bed so this is with no AC but I'm sure that would have made it worse. I don't think I ever saw above 215*

If it was 30* out I'm thinking it could darn near idle all day long for the most part, especially if you are parked pointed into a 2+ mph wind (which is very calm and probably pretty common).

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

I ran without a fan in my IDI for three or four summers. If your cooling system is tip top, you'll be shocked how well the IDIs shed heat. I could leave mine idling in the driveway on the hottest day forever and it would never really move the needle with any significance. I will also add that my truck had a brand new all brass radiator in it, and I kept it clean and free of internal and external debris. The only reason I put an electric in was the air conditioning, which will overheat and activate the blowoff valve if you aren't moving enough air around it. You don't have air conditioning, so you'll be fine.

My only recommendation is put in a real temp gauge, and keep an eye on it. I would also add, if you do any heavy towing, be careful. I towed my racecar a couple of times, but I was always pretty short trips and really flat. It got a little warmer on the factory gauge, but cooled just fine as I was going down the road putting air over the radiator. Even with the air on, as long as I was moving it was just fine, cold a/c and all.

Good luck, and remember: if temps start to really take off, just pull over and shut it off.

 

[Kevin 007]

I usually take my fan off during the winter. For just putting around, it will run a couple degrees hotter, same goes for up long steep hills. But when working it hard (towing etc) even in cold weather, I feel better with the fan on. And with the fan off, it puts a lot less strain on the water pump.....thats another reason I like to do it.