A place for more technical discussions. Please make sure you post in the correct section on the site, this way it keeps the site tidy AND ensures you get a more relevant answer.
Looking at my Jimny the other day I was suprised to see it has a viscous fan - I thought they went out of fashion back in the day of mk2 escorts! A neighbour changed his viscous fan for an eletric Kenlowe on his Land Rover which is apparantly a common mod. Is there any point in doing this on my Jimny? Would it make it more efficient? Has anyone done it on here?
Personally I would stick with your viscous. Alot of people swap to electric because when you go wading, the viscous splashes water all over the engine bay.
This is true until the fan's stop in the water as the viscous clutch is cooled by the water and/or the clutch is overcome by the pressure of the fan against the water.
Electric fans can be switched off so they don;t work in the water - the question is, how many times under water is it before the electric fans don't work - electric + water = fan not working and overheated engine = blown head gasket = alot of work.
So I would stick with your good old viscous and as your engine has been nicely waterproofed by Mr Suzuki, unlike petrol Landrover's, who have to resort to Megasquirt/jolt.
If the viscous clutch gives up the ghost, do what Martin has done and lock it up to give you the best cooling possible all the time.
The fuel savings are negligable with an electric fan.
Just my thoughts, I'm sure there will be some who will disagree!
Kirkynut
The underdog often starts the fight, and occasionally the upper dog deserves to win - Edgar Watson Howe.
