I had a 1990 V6 toy 4x4 that I ended up putting the flex a lite elec fan in, worked fine for me. Really, the only reason I am bringing this up is that my original fan came apart while driving and destroyed my radiator, hoses, belts, shroud, battery, resonator, windshield wiper reservoir, coolant reservoir as well as put 4 large holes in my hood. This happened at about 120,000 miles. I then found out the fan should be replaced even if it works fine, but I do not know at what mileage.
Has this happen to anybody else out there?
JMach1

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree there are plenty of other mods of much greater worth than the FAL 165. I further agree that it isn't the greatest design (or mod) because of the problem people have with them. If you're looking to get rid of the belt fan look into the Taurus or permacool fan (maybe FAL has it figured out with the 180).

I do hovever, have to say there must be something to change or fix ChickenLover's fan. To have problems at 85 degrees begs the question of the unit/probe being bad. Last month was the hottest july on record in the Las Vegas valley. For two weeks we had highs constantly in the 115 area of the thermometer. We even had lows as high as 96 degrees. I had a co-worker point a thermometer check thing at the ground and it said 148 degrees. Through this I only had mine (start) overheat going uphill at WOT after I had driven around and been on the highway for a while. The air stopped working, I slowed down, and left the air off for a few minutes. When I exited the freeway, everything was back to fine.

It did overheat a bit when I originally installed it on my 94. But I heated it up a few times with the stock fan as well.

I'm not saying you haven't overheated or that the 165 is worth it (I'm actually glad you've let others know about this). I just think that 85 degrees is waay too low to have problems.

 

You have to take into consideration the thin air at 5k+ and the fact that we have some really steep grades up here. I've never had an overheating issue with the OEM clutch fan. Not even this past July when we were hit with the same heat wave as you. Although, not quite as hot, but 100+ for two weeks none the less. I doubt my truck would have made it around the block with the flx-165.

It may be possible that I got a bad unit. However, it appeared to run just fine. And the fact that there are quite a few YT members with the same problem leads me to believe that it would be worth one's while to stay away from the 165.

 

200 bucks and i got a derale dual electric fan for my F-150 it was only a 4.2 but i hooked the fans up to an ignition source to have them run all the time NEVER had any thing close to a heat up, pulling trailers, mudsligin all sorts of stuff..this unit also pulls 4,000 CFM's of air and it fits all the way across the radiator comes in diff widths too, just my .02

 

i love my taurus fan

 

When you folks talk about taurus fans are you talking about pulling a fan from a ford taurus? The fan on my 87 4runner is junk and I'm looking at cheap options..

 

yeah, search you'll find lots of info...

 

yeah, sorry about that, I posted that and then googled it. I do things backward sometimes.

 

I only had one issue with mine. Swapped out the adjustable thermostat for a new one and that took care of it. No over heating except when I forget to turn it on after going through water. Not sure I would spend that much again though. Probably would do the Taurus fan next time.

 

I recently purchased a fal fan due to my oem one being damaged in a wreck and previously having overheating issues with the clutch. I have been very pleased with its performance it has never overheated and it makes the ac work a ton better since the fan kicks on when you turn the ac on. although it is slightly louder it does pull aton more air than my clutch did you can feel the difference.

 

did you do any mods to fit that 180 fan in there?? iam debating on bying a black magic flex alite for my 89 pick up 3L sr5

 

So I spent about an hour writing about the Black Magic fan #674 I recently installed in my 88 3VZE 4Runner and how impressed I am with it so far. But when i hit post it kicked me out to the log in screen after I had already logged in the first time and of course all that typing I did is now lost. I don't have patience for that kind of BS so i'll just say I had overheating problems, installed Black Magic 674, now I don't. I live on the edge of Death Valley and run around with the A/C on all day, my temps have never gone above 200 which is where I have the adjustable thermostat set. Still a new setup, will post again as it gets hotter or if any problems. Don't believe every negative post, lots o ppl have other issues with their vehicles and are just angry an expensive fan change wasn't the "magic bullet" that fixed it.

 

I recently had the fan shroud crack while I was driving and damage the fan. The replacement shroud was going to take five days to arrive so I opted for an electric that was available locally. I have had issues with overheating now. I am thinking about setting the fan to come on at a lower temperature. Any comments on this idea?

 

When my clutch on the fan gave up, i thought time to up grade. So i got an electric fan. It lasted about an hour on the trial, the blades broke off after a hard hit on the front axle.I replaced with a different brand, same thing after a couple of days.
To fix this i drilled holes through the hosing of the clutch in the toyota fan and put bolts and nuts. Its lasted 6 years even at high rpm. I am carefull in water.

 

Have the Black Magic. So far so good. Only above normal temp was when i had my runner in sand up to the rocker panels. I was revving my truck to redline to keep from getting hung. It was about 8 minutes of torture on my little ole 3.0. but the truck warmed up slightly. So i like mine