Nice write-up. Couple of suggestions. The fan should fill the complete shroud opening. You are losing airflow and efficiency. I don't know what size the shroud opening is and the fan you used. Next time use a dual stage fan controller (low & high). You know that the reservoir is junk for the 540. Looks good.
ZeroR2 thank you. I would have gotten an 18 inch fan had I known the opening was that big. A write up online told me it was 16 inches. It's worked well over the pat couple months without issue even in heavy traffic. I just replaced the resivior as the old one was leaking.
What kind of temp switch did you use? I am using TS319T from a wide range of Toyota’s.. no idea what the rating of that switch. Also great video.. my temp switch seems to kick the fan on at 93c but it is not shutting the fan off at idle.. I haven’t driven the car yet because it’s primed with bumpers off at body shop.. just curious to what temp switch did you use with that adapter that you spliced in bottom hose.
Thanks again for your response One last and important question, please I see these codes when I check Obd2 p1341 p1357 p1353 When I enter the code details, this message appears to me Misfire cylinder 8 with fuel cut /off Misfire Cylinder 6 with fuel cut / off When I delete the error it comes back two days later
Hopefully you can help. My fan after install is running all the time from the moment i turn the key to pos 2(aux).what am i doing wrong?? When i connect the ground wire to the thermo switch my fan does not run. Any ideas??
It sounds like you have the wiring jumbled. Double check yours against mine. The fan relay should have power going to it when you turn the key, but the ground loop shouldn't close until the thermo switch reaches the correct temperature. Use a scan tool to compare your coolant temperature to when the switch should close.
I have a 2002 e39 540i M Sport 6spd which looks identical to yours. My fan clutch died a few years ago, seizing up and making a horrible racket. The replacement I got comes on at too low a temperature in my opinion, and definitely robs HP. My car already has a built in electric fan in addition to the mechanical fan; does this conversion take that into account, or is the built-in fan adequate as the only fan? Also, your car sounds nice; mine with the factory exhaust doesn't really sound like anything exciting at all. What did you do to the exhaust?
I have a video on how I cut the exhaust. I removed the muffler and then replaced the large factory resonator with a Cherry Bomb resonator. The electric fan I added is enough to cool by itself but the factory electric fan in front of the AC condenser is not. It is only intended to push air for the AC when stationary, but it will help the fan for the engine. The combination should work very well together.
What is the best mechanical or electronic fan? I have a mechanical fan and its sound is annoying because of the clutch. Does it cause harm if you turn it into electronic?
Termikli fan iptal edip elektrikli fan bağlamak motora zarar vermezmi yani mühendisler elektrikli fan koyabilirdi termikli fanı uygun görmüşler belirli bir sıcaklığı korumak için olabilirmi mekanik fan ?
@@autocarcareservice8962 Elektrikli fan her bakımdan üstün olacaktır. Motora daha az yük bindirecek, yakıt tüketimini azaltacak ve ciddi fan arızası olasılığını azaltacaktır. Mühendisler 1998'de en uygun maliyetli seçeneği seçtiler, ancak bugün elektrikli fan daha iyi.
who makes the housing for the temperature sensor, the one that goes into the coolant hose? What part number? An easier way to mount the fan is via some Napa plastic zip clips. They are made of this purpose. You insert from the front of the radiator between the fins then through the fan mounts. Then there is a zip on the engine side that works like a zip tie. Just cut the excess off like zip tie. They don't ever seem to cause leaks in the radiator fins.
The housing is just a universal one from Amazon. There's a link in the description. I don't like the zip clips. I avoid them for anything larger than a small power steering cooler. They will work, but I can do better.
@@geworthomd I've had them break when holding up an oil cooler on my 350Z. I'm not trusting them to hold up a fan that weighs several pounds and has the potential to do serious damage to the radiator and hoses if it fails. Plus, I don't like bending radiator fins. They have a place, but this isn't it.
Thanks for the video, I am not wiring type of guy, your video helped, I used 16” spal fan on my 540i but what I did differently is I used an 2mm thick aluminum sheet with an exact cut out for fan and bolted the aluminum sheet to the plastic shroud... As for temp sensor switch, I used a common 1990-2006 Toyota single wires temp switch that lets the fan comes on hard at 96C and off at about 93c from what I notice temp “in hidden menu in 540i” of course all that coupled with non electric 88c thermostat from turner Motorsport.
Also quick question the thermo switch you have only has one connector end and since that end connects straight from the relay. The one in the link has two connector ends. Do we have to wire that end differently? Or still one wire to relay and one wire straight to the block the inline adapter
If it has two posts, one wire is from the relay and one goes to the engine block. If it has one post, you'll need to ground the aluminum housing. All the switch does is close when it reaches the listed temperature to allow the relay to ground.
@@350Z247 oh okay thanks a lot! Those were the main concerns I had before jumping in. Kinda had the idea I would do that since the sensor doesn't need a power source I just wanted to make sure if that extra post was needed to be use to work the same
Hi I have a problem in my car BMW E39 electronic fan front does not shut down continuously even when the engine is fully extinguished Is anyone help me and thank you
If you angel the front of the car up a slope or on ramps with the heater running, it will help the air work its way to the top of the system. There's a procedure in the Bentley Manual as well, but I'm not sure what it is exactly.
I did show the wiring. Relay wiring: white splices to green harness wire, red splices to red harness wire, yellow goes to the fan's power wire, and black is a ground. The thermoswitch goes inline for the fans ground wire. The relay provides power to the fan as long as the key is on, and when the thermoswitch closes, the fan grounds and turns on. Watch from 5:45 to 7:55 again.
Waiting for my 16" SPAL VA10-AP50/C-61A (2270m³/1336CFM) electric fan to come and I think next weekend I will do the whole conversion on my E39 6 cil lady. As for relay I've ordered the Bosch 0332019456/BMW 1378238 because I feel a bit safer. The thermoswitch I will be using will have a starting point of 100 degrees Celsius with 95 Celsius the stoping point. The thermostat comes from Mahle/Behr with 88 degrees Celsius open point. I find your video very useful and it made my job 70% easier because even though I have the 6 cil version, they have at least 80% of wiring and so on, in common. One question though, does your switch wire keep the Electric Fan 10 more seconds active? I am asking that because I saw another video where the guy with the M5 found a live wire on the driver side which kept the Electric fan 10 more seconds after the key was taken out . Do we have there another wiring box under the filters? :D As far as mechanics are needed, I can do almost all on my car but on electric side haven't had the chance to work untill now.
Mine cuts off as soon as I turn the key off and turns back on as soon as I turn the key as long as the coolant temps are high enough to trigger it. Perhaps he used a different wire that holds power after the key is removed similar to how the radio will still play for a short time. It wouldn't really help that much though as the coolant isn't circulating anymore.
It helps quite a bit because on the BMW E39/E46 cooling system the water circuit is at 2 bar /29psi which means the coolant has a boiling point of around 120 celsius/248 F. If you run the fan a little longer while there's no source of heat, the thermosiphon will lower the temps under the warping point of your cylinder head, and especially in my case which is planning to supercharge his inline six in about a month, extrea features on cooling are welcome because BMW made the cooling and oil loop with their arse. PS: On E39 with Climatronic you have the auxilliary water pump which is helping the mechanical pump for the heating circuit. There are a lot of cars having this from the factory implemented. As I said, it's a wire on the driver side, a brown and white wire. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermosiphon
Right but I have a lower temperature thermostat and run at about 190 degrees so I'm much less worried about the typical BMW heating issues. I would be more concerned with the inline six with that long head warping. I may wire my auxiliary fan that way when I replace it, but so far the lower thermostat opening point has worked really well.
I'm gonna put up a video of me converting my fan on a 528i e39... I'm just studying these vidz for knowledge.. stay tuned to my channel.. I'll do it in December. I'm using a 16" fan btw. I'm also having to replace the AC fan one day too..
The ground wire from the relay goes to the thermal switch; when it closes, the switch will connect the ground to the engine block allowing the relay to function. The ground on the fan just goes to any available chassis ground.
Thanks man! www.jegs.com/i/Flex-A-Lite/400/180/10002/-1 It's expensive, but it is bigger and comes with an adjustable temperature switch which is cool. I have had the 16 inch fan for three months now without a single issue though; so, that should be ok.
R Tario yeah a regular 16 inch fans seems to be just fine. Especially with the accessory fan in front of the AC condenser (mine is broken and will be replaced with an aftermarket 14 inch fan)
R Tario I'm replacing the fan that is behind the front bumper. It turns on whenever the AC is used and if the car starts to overheat. So there will be two fans.
hua Hua it felt a tad quicker to me mostly because it felt like it goes through the revs quicker. I've been really happy with the fan though. Not one single issue keeping the car cool, and it's super easy to remove for maintenance of the front of the engine
350Z247 Thank you for your reply, I appreciate that I meant to put 16inch or could it be 18inch for V8 I think the size of the fan that I installed is 16 inch, and you also put in the purchase link. The fan is 16inch, and that's how I got mixed up.
Hi, do you still remember what relay you have used? I'm trying to get similar parts here in Europe and I would like to mirror whatever I can. Thankfully we do have spal available here :) So: - Wires preferably 8 or 10 AMG - SPAL 16" 30100401 PULLER - Inline fuse 30A - The relay is NC / NO(30A/40A) or just NO? - As i have the '98 E39 540i my engine is M62B44 so the direct fit is a thermostat from E31 gulf edition that is similar to m5 and set to 85 deg (11531742964). - Temperature switch 195F should be the golden spot as it will match my 85 deg thermostat (P.I.T.A. to find here due to translation) [Went through the rest of the comments and now I know] //BTW when you mounted the setrab was it visible from the inside of the tube? I am wondering how long the switch should be.// - 34mm adapter Currently the relay is my biggest "concern". Any help appreciated :)
And my switch is visible in the adapter, but if not, it will still get a good signal. The heat transfer will still give you a good temperature reading.
Please for the love of all things electrical , DO NOT USE SCOTCHLOCKS! ( blue press type connectors ) they will rust and make a shitty connection, which in turn will stop the fan working and well.. if the fan ain't working you'll soon cook the engine :( Use proper soldered connections with heatshrink / electrical tape, always !
It's in a sealed container and is now easily reversible for the next owner. Plus, there's a second fan and a temp gauge in case this one stops working. I'm not concerned
It looks like the v8 in the 540s have more room in the front.. at least I'm hoping, I just tried slipping the shroud back in with the freshly installed fan, it's on the water pump pulley, even though I set it flush inside the OE shroud, I'm hoping all I need is to scooch it up, but the fan is already very close to the radiator.. I'm shocked because I see he even used stand offs in his build...
350Z247 My friend, I am very annoyed by the mechanical fan in my car, and this is a very popular thing in the BMW cars that I used 750, 740 and now 540. Actually the mechanical fan is annoying and slows the torque of the car
Question, couldn't you just tap into lower radiator temp sensor wire that controls the aux fan turning on instead of using radiator adapter with temp sensor install?
I don't want to touch any more factory wires than I have to. I'm sure it's possible, but I'd hate to piss off the ECU. Plus, I can buy whatever temperature activation switch I want to tune when the fan comes on.
@@Jet3ch No worries man. And you use one terminal for the ground wire from the relay and the other terminal is grounded to the block. Once the switch reaches the set temp, it closes, grounds the relay, and turns on the fan. Glad you like it man!
Fan and thermostat are really the only design flaws. Other parts will break with time but should give you a code. Also, I would check the PCV valve on the back of the intake.
@@Hotgirlsmakemecry basically the switch a in the middle of the ground wire for the fan. So the ground wire for the relay goes to the switch on one terminal. The second terminal runs a wire to the engine block. When the switch closes, the relay can ground and power the fan.
The 6 cylinder cars use a slightly different tank. The size is the same exact thing, but the eight cylinder cars have different barns. My 540i video should be the same for the 530i and 525i. Just make sure you get the correct part number.
Thanks man I appreciate your help :) Oh one more things can you recommend the 18” electric fan brand or company? I have checked Spal they not making 18” Btw Great video really helpful ;)
@@Melodera I would just get a 16 inch fan. I had a 14 inch fan in a very warm climate with zero issues. Too big a fan will just put a heavy draw on your electronics.
350Z247 Ok I see your point ,so you mean I should get a 16inch is enough right? Im living in south east asia the weather are always hot (Average above 30-40c all year long) So im a little bit concerned about that. Thanks man
350Z247 One more question if I dont wanna add another temperature sensor where can I connect the wire instead ? Can i connect on a thermostat wire on your part2?
So in the description it says a 34mm inline adapter but the link takes me to one that only has an option for a 28mm and a 30mm it has to be exactly 34mm correct so I can purchase a different one?
Match the listed size to the interior diameter of the hose. Depending on how long you can have the car out of service, it's super easy to just measure the radiator barb size or cut the hose then order. If you have to leave the car assembled, I would use a piece of masking tape to measure the circumference of the hose, calculate the diameter using the circumference, then subtract the thickness of the hose twice to get the inner diameter. I'm guessing the stock hose is 2mm thick. You could also order two or three of them in various sizes then returned the unused ones.
@@350Z247 oh okay yeah that's very true I have the same car 00' 540i but link threw me off. I was planning to probably install everything at the same time I might try that 34mm since it's similar cars and hopefully it fits but I'll do that masking tape trick just to make sure. Thank you very much!
I think I ordered a 36mm first and it was too big, but I really can't remember. You might be able to disconnect the top radiator hose without losing much coolant to double check the housing when it arrives before cutting the hose in half.
@@350Z247 my bad i meant to say the thermal switch that you linked is that the right one because at the end of your video you said that it came on at 215 and turned of at 210 and then said that you where going to get the right switch so i just was wounding if that is the right switch that you linked
It does, but I just replaced my broken aux fan (been broken since I bought the car) to supplement this one in traffic. Video should be up in the next couple weeks.
We sell higher wattage electric fans than those in this video at www.americanvolt.com/collections/electric-fans which includes radiator mounting kits. Various thermostat switch turn-on temps and NPT thread-in sizes available as well.
You're welcome to send me an affiliate link that allows me to get some form of payment for advertising this in the description; otherwise, I'm removing this comment.
