Been running flex a lite fans (280)for years! Very durable,easy to install! I can idle all day long in the Texas heat with no problems! I didn’t have to drill a extra hole in my top plate as I have a big 4 core radiator and is probably a little wider! I also have a battery that has both side post and top post so I can easily hook up my fans to the top post! I think you also forgot to mention that you can adjust the thermostat on the fans to come on sooner or later according to water temp! It also improves fuel mpg and adds a few horses since your not having to turn that big ugly clutch fan and my 383 stroker loves it! 😎Thx for the video!
Thanks for posting this video. Seems people enjoy trying to find what they think you did wrong, but you notice they don't make video's to try to help people with things like this. Keep up the good work.
My ac was shutting down from high pressure/temp loads as you described. Swapped the 15+ year old OEM fan clutch out with a new severe duty clutch and it restored AC function, resolved slow, eventual engine and transmission overheat in stop/go traffic or at end of exit ramp off the highway at stop light. If you and your rig is sweating? Change your mechanical fan clutch and enjoy another decade and a half of extreme cool for just $35. Take your truck off road into headlamp deep water or mud and watch how your electric fans cool. ;) My clutch still spins the moment the nose comes up for air. Though you quote a specific CFM for the e-fans, OEM mechanical fans @ idle can actually pull 2x more if functioning properly. No hack, splice, or even ECM/thermostat tinkering. E-fans make sense only in one application, IMO - transverse mounted, light duty, front wheel drive vehicles where a longitudinal fan simply isn't practical. Something's better than nothing in that case and marginally inadequate. Vehicles engineered for e-fans from factory don't spin the fans over 40~45MPH. Air ram through the nose keeps things cool and copasetic. Slow to a halt and those fans kick on, accompanying a slight rise in temps on engine and interior as they can barely keep up. In my application, an e-fan is an expensive compromise and a downgrade!
I am a A.S.E. certified Master Tech with 30 plus years of experience under my belt. I love older vehicles. I currently have my Moms 1995 Caprice Classic, my late fathers 1995 Toyota T100 and, my 1998 C1500 Cheynne. I also own my own mobile mechanic repair business. Most of my customers have older vehicles (1976 Tradesman 300, 1963 Suicide Door Lincoln Convertible, 1968 Z-28, 1971 Mach 1 Mustang) so yes, I do know about older autos and prefer them over todays "ADVANCED" cars and trucks. So sorry that I failed to acknowledge you Idea of installing electric cooling fans. This is ALWAYS a great upgrade.
1 tip on using zip ties. Make sure that the part where you cut the tie off is pointing away from anywhere you might have to put your hands or arms one day. That lil cut end can be very sharp and slice you open. Ive had it happen. Got a scar to prove it. No i wasn't the one who put the zip tie on the vehicle.
+Michael Potts That's actually a really good tip. Thanks for that. As for the zip ties, those were mainly temporary while I wait for any bugs in the system that may need to be fixed... So far so good!
Thanks for the review of this fan system! There is no shame and no apology needed for doing a review of a product that you were given to review. I do a lot of crazy engine swaps and such modifications. This fan would take care of a lot of problems with clearance, alignment and others with a custom engine install.That is a good control scheme where it looks at radiator temperature as well as A/C operation. That is similar to how the newer ECM-controlled fans work on factory electric-fan cars.
I used same system. I tapped into the ac system where the power goes into the pressure switch. This makes the fans run whenever the dash button for ac is activated, not cycling with the compressor. More sonsistent cooling.
For the price it would have been nice for Flex-A-Lite to have a wiring harness with watertight automotive wire connectors, instead of the customers having to use butt splice connectors. At a minimum the two fan motors should have been connected together with a pig tail.
Thank-You! I was thinking the same thing. The whole controller and wiring of fans should be done at Factory with actual connectors for power, sensors, and manual controls.
@Richard Edward excuses for the inexcusable. At $500 I would expect a proper vehicle-specific wiring harness without a scotchlok and with an auto-reset circuit breaker rather than a fuse. And, by the way, all the wiring enclosed in a proper harness. Aftermarket *JUNK*!
When spinning the original fan and its tight that means that the clutch is good working condition, when it spins freely the clutch gave out. You'll notice the vehicles temperature going up when the clutch is giving out and it starts leaking some oil residue.
I am fairly sure that is incorrect. engine driven fan clutches lock up when they are hot. This frees up power for the engine, while providing cooling when required. When the engine is cold, the fan should spin easily. When the engine is warm, it should be harder to turn.
snoopdogie187 You're right that is how they're supposed to work, however fan clutches do go out. The fan clutch in my Caprice went out one summer years ago and it did affect the ac performance and engine temp. Once I replaced it, ac performance improved and the engine stopped heating up.
It depends.. When the fan is cold it should free spin so the engine can reach operating temp, When the engine gets hotter the clutch engages so the fan starts to spin faster.. The proper way to test a clutch fan is when the engine is HOT (Obviously turned off), if you try to spin the fan by hand and its too easy to do so the clutch is burned.. When Hot the clutch should be engaged so the fan should give you tons of resistance to spin.
skirmich Right and we're not sure if that was the case. We're only able to guess since his ac wasn't cooling at idle that the clutch was bad which is why many of us are stating that.
I installed the 282 Monster fan on my '04 Suburban. It worked great as you've suggested. The only issue I had with it was the ground wire wasn't sufficient for the job. It subsequently burnt up at one of the connectors, so later had to replace it with a much thicker wire to compensate. No problems after that. I didn't notice any real amount of mileage improvement, but the A/C system (Suburban A/C with separate rear unit) worked great at any speed, even sitting still. This is a great option for mechanical fan replacement as the Flex-a-lite fans are solid and work great.
Did this with my dads plow truck without needing a kit. Bought a slightly oversized aluminum radiator and just found couple inexpensive electric fans, wired up a pair of relays and in our setup ran it off 2 switches. Just as a test, I let it almost over heat, turned on 1 fan, watched it starts to drop, let it go again and then threw on both fans and it dropped below standard operating range in a matter of seconds. :)
If you wanna free up some more horsepower, get rid of the air silencer coming from the fender to the air filter and use a piece of straight pipe. There is also an accordion type tube that is made but straight would be better. Good video
Find a different location for your battery negative connection. The issue is mechanical: you risk having less than 3 threads to engage, which is a recipe for stripping threads. Follow either one of the two wires on that connection - electrically, it won't matter, as long as the connection is tight.
Really just need the oem fan and shroud assembly, not the radiator. I took an assembly off a 2007(?) tahoe at the junk yard and it bolted right up to my 2004 avalanche frame behind the radiator. I believe they switched to electric fans from the factory in 2005.
Thanks for a great video. Just wanted to share I had a similar problem where the aircon would blow cold only whole driving. Turned out my alternator was faulty, it wasn't charging properly. When I went to have the aircon recharged, I had them test my battery and they found the alternator was faulty. After they completed the aircon charge and tested it, they found it wasn't blowing very cold. They thought the compressor was faulty. When I got onto the highway, my aircon suddenlyblewnice and cold. When I got to the suburbs, warm air. That's when I realized it was the alternator that was the problem. I had that fixed and voila, nice cold aircon. Hope this helps someone.
Nice video. I would add though, when you tap the fuse, need to make sure you tap after the fuse. since there are 2 leads on the fuse its a 50/50 unless you check. Check by pulling the fuse out and checking which side is hot. Than tap the other side. Price is high for a unit like that, but it does work nicely. especially the variable rate.
I love your vids dude but it has been my experience that electrical tape has no place on a car at all. It is BEST to heat shrink all joints with a little dab of dielectric grease on the wire connection to prevent corrosion. The piggy back connectors are not a good idea as well. The auto industry uses a special tape that has no adhesive. Just my two cents worth.Keep up the vids.
Those butt splice connectors are probably the reason it's pulling more amps than a proper soldered connection. After few minutes of 30a through those, they'll start thermal runaway. That red wire is also crazy thin for 30a. Also, grounding at the battery might lower your voltage at the fan controller even further. Ground at the frame or engine block (alternator bolt or bracket is common). All of this is unnecessarily stressing out your alternator, no matter how many amps it's "rated" for
Just an idea, I'm going to do this on mine when I get it. The residual heat in the radiator is harmful to it from pressure. If you connect the power to a constant instead of the ignition, after the vehicle is shut off, it will remove the heat in the radiator and there for reduce pressure, which removes stress on it helping it to last longer
@@demetriuscaldwell6010 I have a 3/4 radiator high quality Odyssey batteries Valvoline coolant and only once in awhile then kicks on after the engine is off last only a few seconds it sounds cool as hell never had a problem affected my electrical
Great video. I like the giant under hood light set up you made. I have a 99 Sub that Im hoping to keep on the road for many more years. Im my opinion these are the best trucks chevy has made. They run well and they don't rust out like the newer ones.
The only problem that is not discussed in any of these RU-vid videos is that your factory fan clutch ties into your vehicles PCM, at least it does for the Chevrolet/GM line. So, when you do the Delete/Replacement/Swapout to an electric fan setup, your vehicle will report back to your PCM as a failure or Check Engine light event, making it impossible to pass a state inspection in the future.
I put some 420 model # twin 12 inch flex a lite fans on my 77 dodge mini Motorhome with a 440 ,like about a little over 300 dls i was really happy with them until i finally took a road trip to El Paso Texas from California and one of those fans stopped working and the both wires that came out of one fan motor burned up, my wife panicked and got out the fire extinguisher, i guess I should have used more fuses ,i tried to talk to flex a lite and they basically gave me the finger, well my bad i should have done my homework now I've replaced the 2 fan motors with SPAL and adapted it to the flex s lite shroud and it works perfect i wish that I can post photos of there junk motors opened up with rust and trash inside it shows that the brushes are like at 85% new, so please take my warning seriously, that is the heads up on there over priced junk. Ps i should have known that those 420eees were going to go up in smoke, lol ,now u know.
quick question, wouldn't you want the fuse box connection to be on all the time. it seems the highest heat, and most damage done to a car takes place right when you turn the car off, so the fan should run after for a few minutes to drop the temp, right?
here's a tip for your lower radiator hose clearance. loosen hose clamp twist the radiator hose in the direction you need for Clarence and lock the clap back down. duh lol
You didn't need to put neg to the battery like that. It could go to any grounding spot in the engine bay would work. Also use black zip ties. It will look better and not make your work look so obvious
I wouldn't use T-Taps like that on the AC Wiring at the AC compressor. Best method is to solder the wires together or use a butt connector with shrink tubing to prevent corrosion. You can normally find a key on accessory access in the fuse panel compartment. Never double up on another fuse as this can and will most likely overload the current wiring circuit potentially resulting in melted wiring, fire or constantly blowing fuses not to mention costly repairs unless you do your own repairs. I wonder if they have these in a kit where you can get a harness and plug the wires from the fans to the ecm and have a dealer or shop with a bi directional communication with programming capability turn the fan controls on with a ecm update. I've also considered getting a salvage fan kit from a newer vehicle, harness and all from a parts yard and seeing if the ecm can be programmed that way as well. Anyone try the flexalite option that maybe went to the dealer option or added a dealer harness to the flex a lite with vehicle onboard control of the fan? I'd definitely be interested in hearing different installations that have occurred.
I use to drive a 1998 GMC suburban 5.7 and in the summer when I stop it didnt get too warm in my truck and it was 105 outside and it was blowing cold and I had the regular fan the clutch fan probably failed or you probably needed a new condenser but you were also using the rear A/c will cause It to be warm because you're using both front and rear
Rodney Long Hey Rodney, I would say make sure you check your compressor first. I've found with my situation coupled with living in Las Vegas at 115° I not only needed more air being pulled passed the condenser and radiator but my compressor was also to blame. The compressor works but works poorly. The fans themselves are great but I have been having issues with my alternator (140 amp) keeping up at hot idle. The voltage issues along with the crazy expensive cost of a higher amperage alternator makes me wonder if I would've been okay with just swapping out my compressor first. Also, there are a lot of people in these comments who have had success using junk yard electric fans at a fraction of the cost. Also, I'd like to throw out that I didn't pay for this system as it was provided to me by Flexalite at no cost. Again, the fans are awesome. I've had them installed for quite a while now and have used them in a variety of situations including extreme outside temps and towing. They have performed flawlessly except for the massive amount of current they require. I've had many blown fuses and because of that it's hard for me to recommend this system to the average Joe. It seems to me that in order to run these fans and have no issues, you ABSOLUTELY also need a very high amperage alternator. Hope that provides some clarification.
thanks for the info. I think you have gotten to comfortable and forgotten how hot these trucks get and thats why you second guess yourself! when its 90 degrees out I can stop and leave the truck running ( its already cool inside ) come back in 15 min and its 85 degrees inside. I have put 2 new compressors on and its made no difference and had 3 different shops work on it. the condenser get so hot that you cant even think about bumping into it without getting burned. the factory fan will not even pull a breeze through it but I have replaced the fan twice and the water pump for good measure. I have only seen one of these trucks that the ac actually worked on the truck and he had added electric accessory fan to the front of the condenser. I may just do that.
I’ve owned several of these 90s model Chevy suvs. I’ve done the mechanical to electrical fan conversations. I’d like to say just keep the mechanical fan. It’s much more reliable and better.
i did a dual fan swap on my 94 OBS and learned some important things that i see could go wrong with your install. first is your truck only has a 105(cs130) stock alt. the fan controller you used has dual speed but still starts both at the same time(heavy amp draw on start up) to fix this issue i used Davies Craig Digital DC-0444. this unit does soft start and time delay for the second fan start 5-10sec. = low amp spike on fan start up. the 30+ constant draw really affects the rest of the truck volt amp needs. ( turn on ac full and high beams test volts at batt it will be very low. you can do the alt mod from cs130(105amp) to ad244(135amp). from the newer gm trucks. i went with JS ALT dual alt bracket and run two oem cs130s that have life time warranties. this solved all amp issues. Mounting: did the instructions say to mount the fan controller where you did? i mounted mine on drivers inner fender for couple of reasons. 1 being heat. that controller is going to get heat soaked. 2 having it center and top all tht wiring is run all over the top of the rad. mounting to drivers fender its right next to the needed therm prob and then you only need run a fused power wire from the factory power block thts located on the fire wall. altho this is not a must it gives a very clean install. Thanks for making a video. wish i d had one ten years ago whn i did my install. if you run into any of the issues i did i hope the items i bought will save you money and time trying to figure out how to fix it
Man this is great , very fast and clean installment , i love it i love your videos you got your self a new subscriber all the way from the Hot hell middle east were we super need these electric fans .
These old fan clutches are a real f/u design. Slow to warm up, so the fan is spinning like crazy when cold, retarding the warm-up, keeping the engine @ fast idle using more gas than needed. They do not start freewhealing till they warm up from radiant temperature from the radiator, then when it gets hot enough it will start spinning to pull air thru radiator. I really think a lawsuit is in order. Once you realize the workings of this design, you'll say "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"
battery cables on 2000-2007 trucks are the worst , i've had 2 trucks where the cables won't seat properly on the battery terminal . take a razor blade to the rubber covering the end of the cable cut it all off. the only thing that rubber is doing is holding the terminal bolt from falling out. i think it dries out over the years and doesn't crush down to allow contact anymore. seems like it wouldn't be an issue since the bolt should be providing the electrical connection but idk. all i do know is that i have had issues and removing the rubber cured the issue on two different trucks.
Hey sir! To let you know, on suburbans, the two ac valves always go bad but to make it colder you'll need to replace the dryer and orifice tube. Then the obvious to get a vacuum and a full recharge on the Freon.
1 Road there's no need to replace the compressor unless you need to. I do AC in Texas and it gets bad here. That year, those compressors, are pretty durable. If it is leaking....Yea replace it but there's no need. Only things would worry about is the dryer, orifice tube and the front and rear "expansion" valves. The rear expansion goes bad usually and the rear AC isn't as cold as the front.
I have a 94 Z71 K 1500 pickup it does really well in the AC blows cold but I still have the stock clutch fan but on really hot days when it gets hot you should hear that clutch when it engages fully it's unbelievable how much you're it pulls.. under typical conditions there's always a certain amount of slip in the fan it's designed that way but when that clutch fan goes full on, it's unbelievable you can literally feel it.. I imagine the electrics are more efficient though
I did this (not with this system but another brand) and honestly don't know if I can tell a difference about the A/C but the engine runs smoother, seemingly gained some HP and my mileage is better.
Your chevy truck has 2 accessory fuses that are on only with the ign. on. I used those when I modded my low beams to stay on when I turn my high beams on.
**FULL DISCLOSURE** **The Flex-A-Lite 280 fan system, as seen in this video, was supplied to me FREE OF CHARGE in return for me to make this video of my install and experience. Thus, you must assume that I am biased in my opinions. I have been as honest as possible in this video showing issues that I ran into when installing. In no way is it my intent to lie or defraud or trick anyone into buying this product. Once again, the Flex-A-Lite 280 fan system was supplied to me at NO CHARGE in return for me making this video. **
Hummm I heard on another video to first check the level on the air-conditioning system and make sure you don't have any leaks and your clutch on the air compressor is working properly....
I think there is a ground lug on the body right next to the battery I saw it when you were hooking up the ground at 13.26 this will be helpful for the next guy don't hack the battery cable.
You can get any fans from the likes of cadillac cts or whatever. It doesn't have to be this brand. Also... I like how he hits his fender with his tool as he explains that he does want to arc anything lol
It might have had something to do with a bad fan clutch too but just get a used one from like 05 or 06 and if you have a 99 or 2000. Or newer you can get them turned on on the ecu and it will all work good and cheaper
1road- did you notice an increase in horsepower? you should know by the seat of your pants dynamometer. the fan freed up some horsepower from the clutch causing more engine drag. not sure if gas mileage would increase because of it, if so, very minor as in splitting hairs, but, you could lose that additional hp by adding more weight to the vehicle, sooo,,,,,,,, not that your worried about racing your truck but you should gain a little hp now. lol. glad your happy and have fun.
Back in the '80s I did a lot of cooling system and AC work when most cars were rear wheel drive with mechanical fans and r12 freon. I never ran into the problem of plenty of cooling it freeway speed (which was then 55 in all states) and little to no cooling at a stoplight. Even though the fan is only turning 500 to 600 RPM if the system was charged properly there was no difference in cooling between 0 and 55 mph.
Just make sure you have an alternator that will support the extra amperage requirement. That's the main issue I've had. My stock alt was 105 which didn't really work right. I then upgraded to a 140amp alt thinking that would solve my issues but it just barely did. And, in Las Vegas when it was 115 degrees out and everything was running and HOT that alt couldn't barely keep up unless I had it rev'd up. I put a smaller pulley on the alt which did help but ultimately I think I need a 200amp or more alternator. The biggest problem is the fact that when an alt is warmed up and hot they can struggle putting out the amperage required. The fans are awesome though. They sound so cool and work great! I recently towed a HEAVY trailer from Las Vegas to Texas with plenty of hills and had no overheating issues at all. The fans did their job perfectly. Plus I love all the extra space under the hood. Good luck!
1 Road / that’s good point, I had 370 AMP alternator from Mcman , so at this point I have covered the amps consumption of the fan, i had some problem alignment the upper bracket as you have, but it works. I like that fans so much. It give me more horse power. keep going my friend, you are very helpful guy.
Now that it's been 5yrs how have these fans held up?? We're you happy with them long term? I need something for a vehicle we want to put in parades that'll idle for 2hrs.
Hi about the melting fuses, it is the holder, or the high under-hood temperatures. You can run a 2nd fuse holder in parelell, connected to the fan speed controller with an equal length of the *Same* as previously used wire to ensure the the fuses see the same current. And you need to get 2 fuses of half the original amp rating. If I was wiring up a dual fan set up I would have wired everything separately for reliability reasons, sort of how head lights are fused separately
+retrofitter I've never thought of running dual fuse blocks there... Thanks for that. I really think my problem was from alternator underperforming and thus creating heat. All my wiring would be extremely hot to the touch. I've since been in contact with PowerMaster, who've helped me out a lot, and they sent me out a smaller alt pulley which has helped tremendously. Check my latest vids to see!
That little fuse tap connection deal is crap lol. I would never use that. Now that it’s been a while ... how many problems have you had outta that set up ??
Late model Silverado/Suburban fans from Doorman are a fraction of that cost. Little bit of modification to the shroud and it fit in my 454 'Burban beautifully. Overheating issues solved.
Yeah 10 HP = 7500 watts of power for a mechanical fan while the electric fan will only run about 200-300watts 1/2HP = 9HP freed up! Honest the mechanical fan is a huge drag on the engine save your spare change and you will have enough in a 3 years for one I have saved my spare change and have almost 400$ saved for anything I want to use it for
Know its kinda late but judging by the step in that top bracket you used i mean ya said it came with a few but the one you installed could it of held the whole fan (s) housing up & closer to better clear you problems if ya turned the bracket around it would step up raising the fan instead of down & then the holes would also pull it in more solving the gap issue? Just curious its hard to say 100% for sure with just the camera angles shown either way good break down...
I have a 95 c1500 and this idea has been an idea for years. I thought it would be more of a switch in the cab type set up. It would be easier to not think of it though lol
I had trouble with low voltage running the stock alternator... had to get a Mechman 250amp Elite alternator to properly run them. After that, all is good. Love the fans!!
No, your original fan clutch is bad, and or you have another problem with AC. Flex a lite makes good stuff though. I had a flex a lite fan with built in shroud on my 68 Camaro with a 406 in it. I recommend them also.
This guy is a dead ringer for The Property Brothers. Keep an eye on your motor mounts. When they start getting worn, that hose and fan are going to marry each other.
+robert mills Hello Robert, thanks for the compliment and yes, I'm certainly going to have to deal with the close proximity of the fan blade and radiator hose.
This system looks like a pain in the butt compared to a Doorman late model Silverado/Suburban fan kit. The shroud is made to fit GM radiators and I only had to trim the shroud down a bit to fit it in the space between my 454 and the 34x19 radiator. I did also get the factory style pigtails from Doorman and fab'd up my own relay harness to them, keeping things more water resistant.
Compare the air flow to dorman. The CFM's on Flex-a-lite can't be beat. And the option to manually control if you are looking for power. I gained 17 Hp and incredible throttle response over the clutch fan
Question, do you need a aftermarket fan controller with aftermarket fans? I have oem fan controllers I've just replaced the fans with aftermarket fans! Thanks in advance :)
I have an 03 Chevy suburban with only 72000 original miles on it I live in Florida it only acts like this in the summer time and when I'm in a lot of traffic my AC doesn't blow as cold as it does when I'm moving down the road I believe I need to change out my mechanical fan for an electric fan any thoughts or ideas on which fan I should go with and how to wire it up?
A lot of people have great results leaving the stock mechanical fan and adding an additional electric pusher fan (junk yard find) in front of the condenser. As for wiring, I'm sure there are a few vids on YTube that would be great for that. 👍🏻
Just make dang sure you have a 240 amp alternator or more! That's the issue I'm still having. Even with my 140amp aftermarket alt it's still not enough when it's hot out. I'm thinking the 240 from Mechman would work fine but they're pricey.
Question, I deleted my ac system does this fan system require a connection too the ac compressor too work properly or will this work on a truck with no a/c aswell? Ik your not a rep or anything but do the instructions say anything about skipping that step?
How was the burban performance wise after the installation of the fans? I hear if you eliminate the mechanical system and make it to electrical, you eliminate engine stress.
