Flex fan - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

xd351ute · 10-14-2004, 20:37

Has any one had any experiences (good or bad) with the Ford flex fans as fitted to XB's. I have just put one on the XD i had lying around and it seems to be sucking a lot more air through at idle than the original fluid clutch fan. Temp gauge now stays below 1/4 at idle.
How many engine rpm can they handle?

Dellboy999 · 10-14-2004, 21:07

I thought a flex fan worked by the blades flexing flatter as rpm increased so in effect worked less and reduced drag/load on the motor, so I would assume all being good as much as you can throw at them they should handle it.

mantaw2612 · 10-14-2004, 22:38

ive never had any trouble with flex fans, had them on every car ive owned... 7 blade is good if you have a/c but if not a 5 blade does just as good a job. only thing i have noticed is a lot more noise than a stiff fan.
Im was even running a smaller pulley on the waterpump in my old xd and still revving it past 5000rpm, was spinning so fast all you could hear was the roar of the fan over the motor, and still never broken one. cracked yes but not broken

smciner1 · 10-15-2004, 01:24

I had the original flex fan on my XB GT when i purchased it. A month down the track giving it a boot full at around 4000 rpm, one of the blades decided to part company with the rest of the fan. It wasn't pretty. Said blade put a hole in the bonnet, innner guard and slashed A/C hose. The remaining part of the fan wasn't happy with this, deciding it wanted to say hello to the radiator along with half the water pump.

Traced the problem back to a tiny pulley fitted to the water pump that was making the fan spin at 1,000,000 RPM.

Fitted a new Clutch fan and correct size water pump pulley after that and it has been as good as gold.

Soxx · 10-15-2004, 02:37

I don't like them because of what 'smciner1'' said, it happens regularly.
Clutch fans are better, and electric fans are better again.

Rick.

xcgxl · 10-15-2004, 04:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by smciner1

I had the original flex fan on my XB GT when i purchased it. A month down the track giving it a boot full at around 4000 rpm, one of the blades decided to part company with the rest of the fan. It wasn't pretty. Said blade put a hole in the bonnet, innner guard and slashed A/C hose. The remaining part of the fan wasn't happy with this, deciding it wanted to say hello to the radiator along with half the water pump.

Traced the problem back to a tiny pulley fitted to the water pump that was making the fan spin at 1,000,000 RPM.

Fitted a new Clutch fan and correct size water pump pulley after that and it has been as good as gold.

I thought a small pulley behind the fan would make it go SLOWER?? A standard flex fan is all I have ever had on my car, and it had done 400,000 hard KM. My motor revs to 6,000 RPM. BEWARE of buying second hand thermofans. The AU set I have has brushes that are completely worn out. I am sure they came off a taxi. They came from here: http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayI...id=scorpiongas At least I didnt pay $157 for them like the guy after me.

STROKEXD · 10-15-2004, 04:12

I always thought flex fans were a tad better than a straight fan, but nowhere near as efficent as a clutch fan, and not as robust.

The clutch fans do loosen up eventually and you can buy replacement clutch assemblies from Davis Craig.

xcgxl · 10-15-2004, 04:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by STROKEXD

I always thought flex fans were a tad better than a straight fan, but nowhere near as efficent as a clutch fan, and not as robust.

The clutch fans do loosen up eventually and you can buy replacement clutch assemblies from Davis Gray.

Is he the guy in America who writes all the long posts??