Electric fans
I was considering fitting a pair of fans to the radiator on my 300GES as I noticed it was running a bit hot during my recent trip off road. I think the viscous coupling may be past it's best anyway. Has anyone got any suggestions on the best sort of set up?
I have a Mk1 RS2000 on which I have a Kenlowe fan which I've found to be very good as it allows you to adjust the point at which it comes on and also allows you to switch it on manually too. Does anyone rate these for fitting to the G wagen?
Cheers
Dougie
I have one and it’s OK but I really don’t rate the way the thermostat works. That’s actually the only thing that I had issues with so I replaced it with one of these:
http://www.x-eng.co.uk/x-fan.asp
Getting rid of the viscous fan cuts out a lot of additional noise.
Having said that for trips through places like Morocco where the engine is working hard in +40 Celsius I refit the viscous fan as a backup, the Kenlow is a “pusher” fan so you can have the two running in parallel. Well that’s until the dog decided to eat the fan
housing doh :-)
Russ
Hi
Viscous fan coupling is not too bad if it need replacing....
A103 200 11 22 £158.00 + vat 15% should be fairly easy to get off this.
Hope this helps
Gav
Just a bit concerened to hear that you are overheating in the first instance. Overheating can lead to lots of problems.
Rad may be blocked internally or externally.
Lots of advantages to an electric fan but you are going to off road an electric fan will have to go under water from time to time and can fail. At least the Viscous can be locked in place so will allways provide cooling.
I did offroad my 230 GES in 30C plus this year an the gauge hardly moved above normal.
On the subject how do you check if a Viscous coupling has failed?
"On the subject how do you check if a Viscous coupling has failed?"
When it's cold it should spin quite easily when you move it by hand..
So run the engine until it's as hot as possible I.E. leave it idling after a run.
Stop the engine and try to spin the fan by hand. It should be locked.
I struggle to get mine hot enough to do this!
Russ
you mean 20%
couple of things, if you dont intend on going anywhere hot then remove the viscous, id fit twin electric fans behind rad as fitting in front prevents free flow air hitting rad in first place, fittng twin 16" and wiring seperatley means if one fails you have a back up, use the larger type fuses that these guys use for big thumping stereos as the standard fuses I found burn out often,if fans operate often, 463 had inhearent issue with their rads due to horizontal cores instead of vertical, so sediment would lay in pipe and furr up as opposed to vertical where sediment would sit at bottom, given that we very rarely flush our rads out on service periods. Id use de ionised water too.
Thanks for all the advice guys will check the operation of the coupling as you suggest in the first instance. It was my initial thought as this is the only place it has been where the engine has been working relatively hard, going round in low range with little free air flow through the radiator. The temperature was a bit above 100 degrees. Everywhere else, open road driving, in town traffic, it sits between 80 and 90 and never moves.
If the couping proves to be ok I'll maybe still go with a twin fan set up and keep the coupling as a spare. Seperate circuits sounds like a good idea Peter as well as setting them up for pull instead of push. That will maybe protect them a bit better from water splash too?
A flush and change of coolant is probably on the cards too!
Cheers
Dougie
I meant distilled water not de-ionised
Before the expense of new fans etc.
I had a problem with my engine getting too hot as well, turns out it was a couple of pounds of grit, mud and general off road debris that had accumulated!
It was simple enough to fix. Took off the front grill and gently sprayed some water onto the rad. Waited 10 mins then repeated. You will be surprised just how much mud does accumulate and how hard it is - it is literally baked on , and in doing the pre wash will allow the water to soak in. Taking a higher pressure hose, I then blasted out all the muck and debris. Took about 40 mins, but I was left with a big pile of muck under the car and one clean radiator. Temp now back to normal.
Ohh I forgot to add if you do this, best to do it when the negine is cold.
*** Please note - when blasting away with a high pressure jet wash DO NOT put the tip right up close to the radiator as you will bend the little cooling fins.
Hope that helps
Spider1V
"I meant distilled water not de-ionised" PP
.. and 90% of the benefit can be gained by using water from a dehumidifier .. if you have one.
Free "better than tap water" so good for me!
hi dougie,
have to agree with spider and russ here, I had my 300 in greece twice and offroaded it up very steep mountain tracks. It was only there that I noticed my viscous unit was broken! Having spent the 30mins to replace it (between drinking water - so quicker is possible), I never had a problem with the engine heating up ever again. Yes, it isn't the quietest of fans, but it really does do the job: even in hot, dusty, low-range/high-rev work.
ph
JOIN THE GWOA
This website and forum are provided for the benefit of enthusiasts and owners of all Mercedes Benz off road vehicles, in particular the G Wagen. The costs of development, upkeep and provision of the site are met entirely by the annual subscriptions of club members. If you are using the site and are not a member of the G Wagen Owners Association please consider joining. You will have access to areas on the site that are not open to non members, to club trips and meetings and to technical assistance. In addition your contribution (only £25 annually) will help us maintain and develop our website for future users.
Who's new
- Jaffa_JIM_23
- Wrabstar
- GG
- KTMSCANIA22
- 280ge
Thanks for that, will have a look at that as an option. As you say the viscous fan is quite noisy so that would be an added bonus!
Cheers
Dougie