What's up guys, I haven't been on here in awhile (been busy with the F*rd and Kota has been pretty good).

Anyway, I've recently started having problems with my electric fan. It's a fan off of a 3.8 liter Taurus and it blew a new fuse about 10 minutes after I replaced it. I'm running it on a manual switch and have it going through a relay as well and have it wired to a 40 amp fuse in the fuse box. Anyone have an idea of what's going on? The wiring seems fine, is the fuse just not big enough? If that's the case, it's just a little confusing to me because of how long it lasted before. I just don't want to keep feeding it fuses, those suckers are about 4 bucks!

I appreciate any ideas

 

yea....I have a 100 amp MAXI fuse in mine, running off 10 gauge wire and a 70 amp relay. If your voltage is high, it will draw more amps.

 

Thanks man, I was waiting for you to come along. I actually ended up finding a wiring issue and did a temporary fix and am running a 50 amp fuse now until I can redo it. I'm running 12 gauge wire, it seems alright now and I'd say it'll be fine until I get the time. Thanks!

 

12 probably works, I ran 10 to be extra safe. After running the fan for about 5 minutes, put your hand on the wire and feel the temperature. If it's anything more than lukewarm (what mine is), it probably isn't a bad idea to bump up. I'm using an 8 gauge MAXI fuse holder, the set screw barely crimps down on the 10 before bottoming out in the holder, but it's a secure connection. Also, what spec relay are you using? Most bosch type with 1/4" terminals are good to 30-40 amps continuous, which the ford fan draws right on the upper edge of that limit. It draws about 70-80 to start, 70 amp was the biggest relay i could find, uses 3/8" terminals.

 

Thanks for the tip, I will do that next time I drive it and see. I forget how many amps the relay is, the one I'm using now is just one I had laying around since the one that was on there before was stuck open when I replaced the fuse yesterday. The one on there now has 1/4 inch terminals though, and I have it wired through the fuse box under the hood. Basically I have two wires running into one of the empty spots for a relay in the fuse box, which corresponds to one of those larger (more expensive) fuses in the under hood fuse box. I forget the technical name for those ones, but not just a normal blade style fuse.

 

yea, I had a 1/4" standard bosch on my transmission cooler fan, it welded shut. Havign the fan come on with ignition wouldn't be a bad thing other than how many of us sit with the key on, engine off? I know i do quite a bit. So mine comes on using the factory fan pigtail as the trigger, and a dash switch for override.

 

I've got a 3.8 taurus fan on my Durango too. I've got a 70amp fuse and relay for the high speed and a 30amp fuse and relay for the low speed. I think I used 12 gauge wire too. I have a dakota digital fan controller to manage it.

Is your fan an oem ford one or an aftermarket one? The first fan I had was a depo new replacement and it was fine for a year, but then the board in the motor burned up and blew the fuse. The one I have right now is one I pulled from the junkyard for $15 or so.

 

Mine is the single speed lincoln motor. The junkyard one lasted about 1.5 years before the brushes wore out, i ordered a replacement online and that's what I have now. I used the factory fan's connector to switch the relay, so the fan will come on at 190 (set by SCT) or with AC. I also jumped my trans cooler fan off the radiator fan wire so both come on together, and I have a dash switch going to the relay coil so I can turn them on at will.

 

Nice being able to switch the fan off for deep water crossings also I've found.
Most people just wire Auto On and Manual On.
Adding a Manual Off comes in handy.

 

I put in a switch to interrupt the a/c turning on the fan for on the highway, but other than that figured that the fan will only be on if the temp is high enough for it to kick on (low speed on at 185°, switches to high at 190°, and off at 183°). I don't drive through deep water, so that isn't an issue for me.