TO run electric fans or not that is the question??

justed wanted to know how many people running electric fan set-ups on there b series trucks?? i been thinking about it on mine i noticed the radiator has a temp sensor at the bottom by the drain plug with 2 wires and question i have is that i wanna make the electric fans or fan run of the temp sensor kicks on at a say 190 shuts off at 180 as a example does anyone know if that sensor will work dont understand why its there. the temp sensor for the gauge is on the thermostat housing

i ran a 14" puller on an ignition switched power. on when key on. off when key off. no different then the belt driven one. ran cooler then belt fan. never had a problem. ebay has them pretty cheap.

I switched mine to electric for a cleaner look under the hood. Used a zirgo fan kit I bought on ebay. It has an adjustable sensor that goes in the upper radiator hose.

I use a 17" pusher fan, but I also did the 302 motor swap.
I bought a relay harness from Summit that came with a temp sensor to turn the fan on and off. I believe it's set for 185 on, 175 off. The harness made it very easy for wiring it up. It was like $35.

yeah thats what i want to do run em for a cleaner look and and should free up a pinch of HP gettin rid of the stock fan but it looks like to me these trucks are wired for electric fan set-up with that sensor at the bottom of the radiator i wanna figure out how to test that sensor to see if it is what i think it is of it kicks on and kicks out at certain temps any ideas on how to test that thing?? im thinking it would be to check resistance

Just my opinion but you are going to save yourself alot of headache by buying a fan kit that comes with the temp sensor. If you want to test that one put your meter on ohms (resistance). When the temp rises to a certain degree it will open the switch and turn the fan on. You could use a test light too. Ground one wire coming from the switch then hook your test light to the positive on the battery. Touch the test light probe to the other wire coming from the switch and when it opens the light will come on

Mazdalade, was your radiator off another vehicle? Like the others said, the best way to find out what you've got is to test it. It is probably a switch, but could be a sensor for a computer or other module to read and then turn an electric fan on or off.

I installed a Flex-a-Lite fan (dual 12") on my B2600i several years ago. I bought their Variable Speed Controller to go with it. It was all a little pricey, but it had some features that made it nice. The VCS only came with a probe that you slide into the fins to read the radiator temperature. It worked, but wasn't the most consistent - sometimes kicking on cooler and sometimes warmer - but always within a safe range. I recently installed a new all metal radiator and took it to a shop to have a bung brazed in so that I could upgrade to a traditional sensor. It works much better and cycles the fans at a more consistent temperature.

A couple of the nice features of their VSC is that it has a soft start when it comes on so that it's less of a shock to your electrical system. It does make a little "chattering" sound as the fans spool up for a couple of seconds, but then it's quiet - except for the normal airflow sound. Another feature is that the fans only come up to 60% speed. If your temp continues to rise, or exceed the temp you have it set for by 10 degrees, then they spool up to 100%. Again, the idea being to reduce electrical load on your system. Mine never spools to 100%. The dual 12" fans are probably overkill for our little 4 cylinders, but I wanted maximum cooling for my condenser.

The variable speed controller also has inputs to it that will turn the fans on for your AC. Just tap into you compressor clutch lead wire, and plug the other end into the controller ac input. It also has terminal inputs so that you can manually turn it on or off - just bring your own switches.

No matter what fan type you go with, the good thing is that your radiator is already plumbed for a sensor/switch. That's not so easily added to most of the plastic tack radiators out there. You'll need to make sure of the mounting depth required because there is not a lot of room between the radiator, and the water pump (& former fan) pulley - at least on my G6 engine. In fact, I ended up trimming the studs on my water pump just a bit and have barely a 1/4" clearance. My new metal radiator sits a little more aft than the old plastic style because i used to have almost an inch of clearance.

I have the flex a lite vsc on my mustang and its been working great since 2007

great info thanks everyone yeah i just want to continue to clean up my engine bay since i got a all polished aluminum 2 row radiator for our trucks and also some polished accessories valve cover just bought a polished spark plug wire holder/hider polished valve cover ect..

Here's a couple of pics of the Flex-a-Lite install. You can see the water pump studs behind one of the plug wires. It's looks like an inch or more of clearance, but it's probably 3/8" to a 1/4".