Ok guys, as much as you might not believe this I need a little help again!

I've got my V6 Taurus fan ready to go in, and I picked up a cheapy wiring kit with a thermostat at Advance Auto Parts.

The kit has the thermostat with a long wire and then a probe at the end. The probe is the shape of a small pencil covered with metal, and I'm guessing its the kind that is supposed to go directly in the coolant flow?

My question is, do I just take off one of the coolant hoses, stuff that mother in there, and then tighten the hose clamp back down so she doesn't leak?



Also, what if that stupid thing breaks off in there?? Am I screwed? That is some pretty thin wire holding it together.

Anywho, please let me know if I am on the right track here. Thanks in advance fellas!

 

I'd suggest putting it on the lower radiator hose. The water from there hasn't been cooled yet causing the fan to kick on sooner. I had alot of problems with my engine overheating because of the thermostat being placed into the exiting radiator hose.

 

Well, not sure exactly about yours, but with teh black magic fan the little probe gets pushed through the fins on the radiatior, anywhere towards the top will work, just be sure not to spring a leak in the rad doing this. Thats how the black magic is anyway, yours might be different.

 

are you sure about that O 16581 72452 5, I was under the impression the top hose was the hot one and the bottom the return line.

 

Mine came with a little clamp. I put the probe up against the back of the radiator so it senses the temp of the radiator/heated air after it passed thru the radiator. Then adjusted the thing so the fan comes on at the proper temp. Its not really critical to put it into the coolant itself as the adjustability of the thermostat will allow you to use the rad temp/ exit air temp to cycle the fan for you. Just my $0.02

 

You are correct 82.

 

... the adjustable thermostat kit I got was from Advanced Auto - the probe pushed through the fins. It had a foam pad on the back side (engine side of the radiator) and a small plastic locking gizmo on the other. It's a little freaky pressing something into the radiator, but it's easy - just take your time. Once I adjusted the temp, it worked flawlessly...

Unless it specifically instructs you to put the probe into a hose - I wouldn't even begin to try and Mickey Mouse something into a pressurized coolant hose...

Good luck!

 

to bump what RXTbone said up a notch, there is no possible way that you should run a wire through the seal area of a water hose.
none.
zero.

when you put the probe between the fins you want to try fairly hard to rig it so that no air flows through those fins.
the idea being that if the air is stagnant the temperature of that air will be almost exactly what the water inside the radiator is, at that spot.

yes, you lose the cooling of that bit of radiator, but the fan should more than make up for it.

actually, you could thermal epoxy the probe to the thermostat housing cap, and glue some closed cell insulating foam on top of it, and NOT lose that bit of radiator.

 

Does anyone have any pictures of how this probe actually goes through the rad? On the pictures that came with the wiring kit, they show the probe just sitting in front of the radiator, which seems pretty useless to me.

Are you guys just stuffing this thing through the radiator, perpendicular to its surface? This probe is longer than the radiator is thick, so if I do that I'm gonna have some extra sticking out....

A pic woud be really really helpful!

 

Carl, your setup sounds closest to what I am trying to do here. It's more or less a bracket that just holds the probe close to the radiator, right? What is the purpose of the foam pad that goes between the radiator and the probe? Is it just to keep from bending up the fins or what??

 

Yea, the bracket came with the t-stat kit. The foam is so the temp bulb doesnt rub a hole into your radiator from vibration.

 

Here is a pic of what mine looks like. This is from a Black magic fan install.

 

It's mainly protect the fins - and may be used to create a dead airspace, for a more consistent tempature reading...

I've read down this thread a couple of time - I'd hook it up outside the raditor, if the instructions are telling you do so. It could be because the probe is too big to be put through the fins. I would, though, mount it engine side of the radiator. That way, you can block the moving air with the foam, and get a fairly consistant reading...

The one thing you haven't mentioned is whether your switch is adjustable. If it is, it's not going to matter whether its in the fins, or not. Let the car warm up, then adjust it to kick the fans on. The fans should kick on at that spot everytime.

 

Yeah, that's what just occurred to me. It doesn't really matter how warm the probe is, as long as it is the same every time in ratio to the coolant.

Yes, my thermostat is adjustable. Now I'm trying to figure out what wires are what on the Taurus fan. I'm not sure if this is the 2 speed fan or not. I pulled it off of a V6 Taurus, not sure if it was a SHO or not.

I've heard that the SHO Taurus has one constant kick@ss fan speed. Is this the same fan that was on the v6's?

Also, I'm curious as to how most of you guys mounted your fans to the rads. I've heard that zip ties are what most people use, but I can't get my fat fingers in there to zip them together? Which holes on the radiator did you zip tie the fan to??

Thanks for helping me figure this all out guys!

 

My probe looks exactly like that. I guess I just can't imagine stuffing that through the fins on the radiator. I think I"m just going to use the foam pad that came with it and go that route.

 

personally, I think the rubber coating of the probe will protect everything enough.

I would take something and bend the fins between two of the coolent tubes so there is a 'nest' for the probe. then ziptie it to the radiator with the foam pad on TOP of the probe to insulate it and keep it from giving a false cool reading when the fan kicks on.

part of bending the fins is to get the edges blunted so they don't wear through the probe insulation.

 

Heh, i don't know why i was thinking water was taken from the top and returned through the bottom. Lack of sleep does strange things.

 

thinking about thermal convection through the engine ?

 

my instructions said to put it in the rad hose.

 

That probe has to go inside the hose for it to work properly.
The way to do that is to take the top hose off and put the probe in the rad and bend the wire and bring it out from top. then put some sealant tape between the wire and the rad connection. then put the rad hose on and make sure it doesn't leak. They usually leak though, so u have to play around with it.

 

Here are some pictures, they are second gens, but it's the same.

Here is the sealant tape:


Here is the final product:


Hope this helps.

 

OK guys.

I'm one step closer, and one step farther from being done.

I've got my taurus fan mounted along with the probe and the thermostat. I've got the fan running on a 30 amp fuse. The fan is grounded right to the battery, and the thermostat is getting power from the battery through the fuse.

For some reason I can't get the thermostat to make the fan shut off. It runs all the freakin' time! I started the car up and cranked the thermostat all the way down to see if the fan was getting power. The thermostat is sensitive down to 32 farenheit, so of course the fan kicks on. When I cranked it back up the fan wouldn't turn off! I thought maybe it was on some kind of timer, so I cranked it all the way up (235 F) and waited for a little bit. Still never shut off!! So if I want to shut the fan off I have to pull the negative cable on the battery.

I let the car idle for a while and the temp gauge never passed half. It's running nice and cool now, but I'm having troubles with my wiring. The fan looks like a factory piece, and I'm really happy with it, just can't get it set up right. I'm thinking about putting it on a switch even though I've been advised against it.

Also, my rex can't start when the fan is running. I'm running a cheapo Autozone battery right now, and my gauges are reading about 8 or 9 Volts when I'm cranking. She'll fire right up if I disconnect the fan.

At this point i'm thinking about just wiring the fan into the ignition, so that it comes on with the key.

 

sounds as if the thermostat you got is not working,,it should be breaking contact untill a certain temp is reached, not the other way around,,, take it back and have them ohm it out, should read open when cold,,,,,