I know some folks spend hundreds of dollars on tuners that can accomplish this. I was just wondering if there is an easier/cheaper way to make my high speed fan come on about ten degrees earlier. Thanks.
How to change cooling fan turn-on settings
- Thread starter Twisted2
- Start date
The only way I know of is to get off your wallet and either get a handheld tuner or custom tune.
That's the sense I'd gotten, after some reading. I didn't necessarily want to penis with A/F and timing and such though, so a tuner seemed extreme. Guess that's what it takes though. I was looking at fan speed controllers, but concluded that if Ford thought the EEC should control fan speed, then who am I to monkey with it? Thanks for the reply.
You don't want to penis with what??
What I had in file from the past
I've wanted to install a manual fan switch ever since the
day at the drag strip when my car was running almost a
1/10th quicker when the motor was cold. Unfortunately, I
had yet to see a detailed fan switch installation. Thanks to
all of you that sent me their tips and experiences with
installing a manual fan switch. As simple as I thought it was
going to be, it really turned into a pain in the ass. In case
you are wondering what a fan switch does, it turns the
electric radiator fan on Hi when the key is turned to on. To
accomplish this, pin 46 on the PCM (ECC V computer) must
be shunted to ground. Normally, the computer will switch
pin 46 to ground when you turn on the A/C or the engine
temperature reaches 210 degrees. Since we are simply
switching to ground, we shouldn’t have to worry about
blowing stuff up. Before you start, make sure you have at
least the following items and that the battery is
disconnected.
- 6 feet of 18 AWG wire
- 18 gauge butt connectors and 2 Tap -In Squeeze
Connectors
- Single Pole Single Throw switch
- Wire Stripers
- Soldiering equipment and a Digital Multi Meter (DMM)
- .5 amp in-line fuse holder
Start by taking apart everything you will need apart to get
access to install the switch. I chose to mount the switch in
the little coin (?) holder that is next to the fog lamp switch.
I think convertibles have the switch to raise and lower the
top, so convertible owners will have to find and alternate
spot. Getting the little coin holder out was the first pain in
my ass. To gain access to the inside of the console, remove
the arm rest glove box. Open the lid and take off the two
little rubber pads toward the front of the glove box. Under
the rubber pads are 2 screws, remove those and yank out
the glove box. Now you have to get out the little coin holder
so you can install the switch into it. There are tabs on
either end of it that hold it in, but good luck compressing
them enough to get it out. I ended up folding a piece of
cloth between my trusty screwdriver and the console and
pried up the coin holder on one end. In no time the coin
holder popped out. Be careful doing this, it's very easy to
dent or gouge your console. I pre-wired the switch the
night before I did the actual installation. Figure 1 shows the
switch wired up in the coin holder before I installed it.
fig. 1
The black wire in figure 1 is going to be hooked to ground
and the red wire is the inline fuse holder that will be
connected to the wire that is tapped into pin 46 on the EEC
V computer. Take your switch out to your car and get ready
to install it. Figure 2 is a view through the top of the
removed glove box. I've taken the wiring harness for the
accessory power and tapped into the ground wire using a
Tap-In squeeze connector. This is a 98 GT, so I'm not sure if
96 and 97 have this power port here. If they don't you will
have to find another place to ground the switch.
fig. 2
Now that you have the ground side of the switch hooked
up, lets move on to the hard part. You will have to run a
enough wire from the switch to the passenger side kick
panel. The wire can be hidden underneath the carpet and
under the console with out tearing anything up. Take the
wire that you can down to the kick panel and splice it into
the fuse connector like I did in figure 3. I used 18 gauge
butt connectors to simplify things just make sure you have
a good connection. Use you DMM to make sure you have a
good ground and your switch works.
fig. 3
Now it's time to really start tearing things up. You must
remove the door plate in order to get the kick panel off. As
shown in Figure 4, the door plate is held down with little
metal clips. Prying up carefully underneath the clips should
get them loose. Start from the back and work your way
forward. The kick panel is held in place by a plastic "plug".
This plug simply pulls out. Make sure to take your time with
this because everything is made of plastic and it can all be
easily broken if you get too enthusiastic.
fig. 4
With everything off it should look something like Figure 5.
If it doesn't you are probably working on the wrong end of
the car. The black metal bracket comes off first. The wiring
harnesses that are attached to it will simply pull off. A small
bolt secures the white plastic bracket that holds the EEC V
computer in, remove it so you have better access to the
computer.
fig. 5
Again make sure that the battery is disconnected. A bolt
holds the wiring harness in the computer's bus. Loosen the
bolt and the harness will separate from the computer. Once
it's separated, you'll have pretty good access to it. You
should be looking for a light green wire with a purple stripe
coming off pin 46. THERE ALSO A DARD GRRREEN WIRE
Not all the pins are numbered. Pin 52 on
the end is numbered, so find that and count in 6 wires. That
should be pin 46 green w/purple stripe (Figure 6). The only
other green wire I noticed anywhere near pin 46 had a pink
stripe. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT WIRE. I won't be
responsible if you let the smoke out of your computer. Use
the another Tap-In squeeze connector and place it around
the green w/purple wire connected to pin 46. Find the
other end of the wire that you ran form the fuse side of
your switch and insert it into the connector. Crimp the
connector down, but before you button everything back up
use the DMM again to make sure you are getting a good
ground when you throw the switch.
fig. 6
Take your time putting everything back together the
reverse of how you took it apart. To get the most out of this
modification, I installed a 180-degree thermostat. Simply
drain your radiator enough to empty the reservoir tank and
then remove the 2 bolts on the thermostat housing. If your
engine is pretty new, you should be able to reuse the old
O-Ring gasket on the thermostat. Simply pop out the old
thermostat and drop the new one in. Make sure you put the
O-Ring back in the correct place and then bolt everything
back together. I refilled the reservoir with distilled water,
this ended up giving me a bout a 60/40 water/antifreeze
mix which is better anyway for heat transfer.
fig. 7
Hook the battery back up and it's time to do the smoke test.
Start the car with the fan switch in the "off" position. Turn
the switch to "on" after the car is running and keep an eye
for smoke. If anything was hooked up wrong, the .5 amp
fuse should blow before any damage is done. If everything
was hooked up right, the fan will be whirring away and
you'll be on to cooler cruising.
~Chuck 98GT
Coming soon....How to use a second fog light switch to turn
on the fan.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tri-Mode Fan Switch Install
The fan switch/fan controller installation described herein permits three different fan operating conditions: a constant high speed mode, operation via the EEC-V processor and operation via a Hayden fan controllor.
Initially, I just wired in a manual switch and noted about a 15 degree drop in temp. Prior to the manual switch the gauge ran between the "R" or"M" in 100 degree ambient temps with no A/C and the Steeda radiator. After adding the manual fan switch, the gauge ran on the "O" in similar ambient conditions.
Two things I didn't like about the manual fan switch were that the fan would run continually unless the switch was manually turned off and that it would start running as soon as the ignition was turned on. My concern was that the life of the fan may be adversely affected by such constant operation and that the heavy current draw of the fan ( somewhere around 20 amps) would put a strain on the electrical system upon start-up. I'm not sure if the fan is one of the electrical devices deactivated during start-up.
In any case, the combination of a manual fan switch in combination with an auxilliary fan controllor with a lower temperature range that the factory settings just seemed like a good idea. Plus, the ability to switch to the factory EEC-V fan controllor is permitted.*
I selected a Hayden non-adjustable fan switch kit (P/N 3652). It was $26 at Pep Boys. A Hayden adjustable fan controller (90 degrees F to 210 degrees F) is also available for about $35. The Hayden non-adjustable kit includes a snap switch, an activation relay and a wiring harness. The snap switch snaps from an open position to a closed position at 185 F and back to an open position at 165 degrees F. For the wiring arrangement described herein, a three-position switch is also needed. With the non-adjustable controller and the three-position switch, the total cost of this mod was under $30.*
The Hayden instructions describe wiring the activation relay to provide power directly to the fan. The mod discussed herein wires the activation relay to close a ground circuit to the EEC-V processor high-speed fan controller circuit when the snap switch moves to the closed position. The wireing arrangement described herein permits the three different fan operating conditions mentioned above.*
The diagram and pictures below provide details of the installation. IMPORTANT: Tap into the high-speed fan controller wire (pin 46 on 4.6L Cobra). Do not break the original continuity of this wire.
With the three-position switch in a first closed position, the Hayden fan controller controls operation of the fan. As mentioned above, the fan is turned on at 185 degrees F and off at 165 degrees F. With the switch in a second closed position, the fan operates continuously in a high-speed mode. The switch can be moved to an open position where theEEC-V processor controls the fan in a factory configured manner.
I mounted the three position switch in the glove box and mounted the activation relay on the inner fender just above the power pipe, as shown above.
As shown above, the snap switch is mounted on the radiator via a probe. The probe extends through the fins of the radiator. The snap switch is located near the inlet of the radiator such that it is monitoring the temperature of the coolant as it enters the radiator.*
I used a little two-part putty to secure the snap switch in place on the radiator. The putty provides a solid mounting arrangement. The kit does include a mounting clip for the snap switch. But, having previously used one of these kits on another Mustang, I found that the provided clip allows the snap switch and probe to work loose, causing problems with accurately monitoring temperature of the radiator.*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Manual Fan Control Switch Installation The fan is controlled by the PCM and/or the Constant Control Relay Module (CCRM), when the EEC detects certain temperatures it will switch the fan to either it's low or high speed settings. The A/C will turn the fan to high speed when it is set to max.But how can you bypass both the EEC and CCRM and install a manual switch to control the fan operation? First you will have to disconnect the NEGATIVE battery terminal and locate the CCRM and a pin on its connector. The CCRM module is located LEFT (you looking at engine) of the radiator reservoir/overfill bottle. Now that you located the CCRM, remove the connector, you will need a 6mm socket to detach the connector from the CCRM housing. 5.0 models:Locate PIN / WIRE #17 (GREEN with PURPLE stripe) on the connector, it should be easy to spot, the connector has numbers for each pin. Next you will have to TAP a wire to #17, don't CUT THE #17 WIRE !!!, you could use a scotchlock connector to tap into it, OR REMOVE about 2 mm of insulation and wrap your wire to #17. Get a second wire and connect it to a GOOD GROUND, now run BOTH wires into the cockpit through the firewall, choose a spot to install the SWITCH, connect the wires to each of the 2 switch terminals. Now is test time, turn key to ON, and flip the switch......READY!!! NOTES FOR 4.6L SOHC and DOHCHook into pin#46 on the PCM, that is located behind the passenger side kickpanel. There are 2 green wires, one light green and the other dark…tap into the light green with purple strip!. Once you tie into that pin all you do is run it to the toggle switch, and run the other side of the switch to ground.
I've wanted to install a manual fan switch ever since the
day at the drag strip when my car was running almost a
1/10th quicker when the motor was cold. Unfortunately, I
had yet to see a detailed fan switch installation. Thanks to
all of you that sent me their tips and experiences with
installing a manual fan switch. As simple as I thought it was
going to be, it really turned into a pain in the ass. In case
you are wondering what a fan switch does, it turns the
electric radiator fan on Hi when the key is turned to on. To
accomplish this, pin 46 on the PCM (ECC V computer) must
be shunted to ground. Normally, the computer will switch
pin 46 to ground when you turn on the A/C or the engine
temperature reaches 210 degrees. Since we are simply
switching to ground, we shouldn’t have to worry about
blowing stuff up. Before you start, make sure you have at
least the following items and that the battery is
disconnected.
- 6 feet of 18 AWG wire
- 18 gauge butt connectors and 2 Tap -In Squeeze
Connectors
- Single Pole Single Throw switch
- Wire Stripers
- Soldiering equipment and a Digital Multi Meter (DMM)
- .5 amp in-line fuse holder
Start by taking apart everything you will need apart to get
access to install the switch. I chose to mount the switch in
the little coin (?) holder that is next to the fog lamp switch.
I think convertibles have the switch to raise and lower the
top, so convertible owners will have to find and alternate
spot. Getting the little coin holder out was the first pain in
my ass. To gain access to the inside of the console, remove
the arm rest glove box. Open the lid and take off the two
little rubber pads toward the front of the glove box. Under
the rubber pads are 2 screws, remove those and yank out
the glove box. Now you have to get out the little coin holder
so you can install the switch into it. There are tabs on
either end of it that hold it in, but good luck compressing
them enough to get it out. I ended up folding a piece of
cloth between my trusty screwdriver and the console and
pried up the coin holder on one end. In no time the coin
holder popped out. Be careful doing this, it's very easy to
dent or gouge your console. I pre-wired the switch the
night before I did the actual installation. Figure 1 shows the
switch wired up in the coin holder before I installed it.
fig. 1
The black wire in figure 1 is going to be hooked to ground
and the red wire is the inline fuse holder that will be
connected to the wire that is tapped into pin 46 on the EEC
V computer. Take your switch out to your car and get ready
to install it. Figure 2 is a view through the top of the
removed glove box. I've taken the wiring harness for the
accessory power and tapped into the ground wire using a
Tap-In squeeze connector. This is a 98 GT, so I'm not sure if
96 and 97 have this power port here. If they don't you will
have to find another place to ground the switch.
fig. 2
Now that you have the ground side of the switch hooked
up, lets move on to the hard part. You will have to run a
enough wire from the switch to the passenger side kick
panel. The wire can be hidden underneath the carpet and
under the console with out tearing anything up. Take the
wire that you can down to the kick panel and splice it into
the fuse connector like I did in figure 3. I used 18 gauge
butt connectors to simplify things just make sure you have
a good connection. Use you DMM to make sure you have a
good ground and your switch works.
fig. 3
Now it's time to really start tearing things up. You must
remove the door plate in order to get the kick panel off. As
shown in Figure 4, the door plate is held down with little
metal clips. Prying up carefully underneath the clips should
get them loose. Start from the back and work your way
forward. The kick panel is held in place by a plastic "plug".
This plug simply pulls out. Make sure to take your time with
this because everything is made of plastic and it can all be
easily broken if you get too enthusiastic.
fig. 4
With everything off it should look something like Figure 5.
If it doesn't you are probably working on the wrong end of
the car. The black metal bracket comes off first. The wiring
harnesses that are attached to it will simply pull off. A small
bolt secures the white plastic bracket that holds the EEC V
computer in, remove it so you have better access to the
computer.
fig. 5
Again make sure that the battery is disconnected. A bolt
holds the wiring harness in the computer's bus. Loosen the
bolt and the harness will separate from the computer. Once
it's separated, you'll have pretty good access to it. You
should be looking for a light green wire with a purple stripe
coming off pin 46. THERE ALSO A DARD GRRREEN WIRE
Not all the pins are numbered. Pin 52 on
the end is numbered, so find that and count in 6 wires. That
should be pin 46 green w/purple stripe (Figure 6). The only
other green wire I noticed anywhere near pin 46 had a pink
stripe. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT WIRE. I won't be
responsible if you let the smoke out of your computer. Use
the another Tap-In squeeze connector and place it around
the green w/purple wire connected to pin 46. Find the
other end of the wire that you ran form the fuse side of
your switch and insert it into the connector. Crimp the
connector down, but before you button everything back up
use the DMM again to make sure you are getting a good
ground when you throw the switch.
fig. 6
Take your time putting everything back together the
reverse of how you took it apart. To get the most out of this
modification, I installed a 180-degree thermostat. Simply
drain your radiator enough to empty the reservoir tank and
then remove the 2 bolts on the thermostat housing. If your
engine is pretty new, you should be able to reuse the old
O-Ring gasket on the thermostat. Simply pop out the old
thermostat and drop the new one in. Make sure you put the
O-Ring back in the correct place and then bolt everything
back together. I refilled the reservoir with distilled water,
this ended up giving me a bout a 60/40 water/antifreeze
mix which is better anyway for heat transfer.
fig. 7
Hook the battery back up and it's time to do the smoke test.
Start the car with the fan switch in the "off" position. Turn
the switch to "on" after the car is running and keep an eye
for smoke. If anything was hooked up wrong, the .5 amp
fuse should blow before any damage is done. If everything
was hooked up right, the fan will be whirring away and
you'll be on to cooler cruising.
~Chuck 98GT
Coming soon....How to use a second fog light switch to turn
on the fan.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tri-Mode Fan Switch Install
The fan switch/fan controller installation described herein permits three different fan operating conditions: a constant high speed mode, operation via the EEC-V processor and operation via a Hayden fan controllor.
Initially, I just wired in a manual switch and noted about a 15 degree drop in temp. Prior to the manual switch the gauge ran between the "R" or"M" in 100 degree ambient temps with no A/C and the Steeda radiator. After adding the manual fan switch, the gauge ran on the "O" in similar ambient conditions.
Two things I didn't like about the manual fan switch were that the fan would run continually unless the switch was manually turned off and that it would start running as soon as the ignition was turned on. My concern was that the life of the fan may be adversely affected by such constant operation and that the heavy current draw of the fan ( somewhere around 20 amps) would put a strain on the electrical system upon start-up. I'm not sure if the fan is one of the electrical devices deactivated during start-up.
In any case, the combination of a manual fan switch in combination with an auxilliary fan controllor with a lower temperature range that the factory settings just seemed like a good idea. Plus, the ability to switch to the factory EEC-V fan controllor is permitted.*
I selected a Hayden non-adjustable fan switch kit (P/N 3652). It was $26 at Pep Boys. A Hayden adjustable fan controller (90 degrees F to 210 degrees F) is also available for about $35. The Hayden non-adjustable kit includes a snap switch, an activation relay and a wiring harness. The snap switch snaps from an open position to a closed position at 185 F and back to an open position at 165 degrees F. For the wiring arrangement described herein, a three-position switch is also needed. With the non-adjustable controller and the three-position switch, the total cost of this mod was under $30.*
The Hayden instructions describe wiring the activation relay to provide power directly to the fan. The mod discussed herein wires the activation relay to close a ground circuit to the EEC-V processor high-speed fan controller circuit when the snap switch moves to the closed position. The wireing arrangement described herein permits the three different fan operating conditions mentioned above.*
The diagram and pictures below provide details of the installation. IMPORTANT: Tap into the high-speed fan controller wire (pin 46 on 4.6L Cobra). Do not break the original continuity of this wire.
With the three-position switch in a first closed position, the Hayden fan controller controls operation of the fan. As mentioned above, the fan is turned on at 185 degrees F and off at 165 degrees F. With the switch in a second closed position, the fan operates continuously in a high-speed mode. The switch can be moved to an open position where theEEC-V processor controls the fan in a factory configured manner.
I mounted the three position switch in the glove box and mounted the activation relay on the inner fender just above the power pipe, as shown above.
As shown above, the snap switch is mounted on the radiator via a probe. The probe extends through the fins of the radiator. The snap switch is located near the inlet of the radiator such that it is monitoring the temperature of the coolant as it enters the radiator.*
I used a little two-part putty to secure the snap switch in place on the radiator. The putty provides a solid mounting arrangement. The kit does include a mounting clip for the snap switch. But, having previously used one of these kits on another Mustang, I found that the provided clip allows the snap switch and probe to work loose, causing problems with accurately monitoring temperature of the radiator.*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Manual Fan Control Switch Installation The fan is controlled by the PCM and/or the Constant Control Relay Module (CCRM), when the EEC detects certain temperatures it will switch the fan to either it's low or high speed settings. The A/C will turn the fan to high speed when it is set to max.But how can you bypass both the EEC and CCRM and install a manual switch to control the fan operation? First you will have to disconnect the NEGATIVE battery terminal and locate the CCRM and a pin on its connector. The CCRM module is located LEFT (you looking at engine) of the radiator reservoir/overfill bottle. Now that you located the CCRM, remove the connector, you will need a 6mm socket to detach the connector from the CCRM housing. 5.0 models:Locate PIN / WIRE #17 (GREEN with PURPLE stripe) on the connector, it should be easy to spot, the connector has numbers for each pin. Next you will have to TAP a wire to #17, don't CUT THE #17 WIRE !!!, you could use a scotchlock connector to tap into it, OR REMOVE about 2 mm of insulation and wrap your wire to #17. Get a second wire and connect it to a GOOD GROUND, now run BOTH wires into the cockpit through the firewall, choose a spot to install the SWITCH, connect the wires to each of the 2 switch terminals. Now is test time, turn key to ON, and flip the switch......READY!!! NOTES FOR 4.6L SOHC and DOHCHook into pin#46 on the PCM, that is located behind the passenger side kickpanel. There are 2 green wires, one light green and the other dark…tap into the light green with purple strip!. Once you tie into that pin all you do is run it to the toggle switch, and run the other side of the switch to ground.
Last edited:
Lol
Also, instead of a manual switch that ocsnk detailed, you can also install an adjustable thermostat switch and be able to adjust the on/off temp.
...other engine running parameters. I'm not looking for a performance tune, per se--I just want to change fan thresholds. I understand your confusion though--that's moron-talk
.OCSnk, thanks for presenting all those options. I think I like the second arrangement best, as you can still opt to have the car computer run things. Let's say I'm running around some night with Melissa from up the block--the one with the pretty toes. Her shorts are tiny, making her thighs look all plump and muscular against my black leather--and she's smiling too much. I'd prefer not to have to think about my engine cooling toggle switch. Something automatic would be ideal. I'll look into what you've presented here. Thanks for taking the time.
ocsnk, is this different from a fan controller like this? I'll try to Google what you may be referring to; it sounds the most simple and automatic. Thanks for the insight everyone!
The more I think about it, the more a tuner starts to seem like a tidy solution--albeit pricey. Is it possibly to buy a used tuner and use it to control the fan thresholds? I ask because I read a bit about those tuners only being usable to the original owner, without going through some expensive process with the tuner manufacturer. I only half-understand though. Or would any used tuner accomplish what I'm after? Thanks again.
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