Engine Issues with new Contour Electric Fan Conversion Setup

VSK2033

Member
May 17, 2019
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Maryland
I was wondering what kind of experiences anyone has had with the contour fans on a 1991 mild engine setup. I just got the contour fan setup from LMR which had the fans, mounting accessories and an dakota digital controller. With the stock setup and a upgraded fan clutch, the water temps stayed pretty steady between 175- 183 depending on the outside temperature. With these new contour fans it will only stay in that temp range when you start the car and let it sit there idling, the fans will work as intended and all is well. Once you begin driving though it starts to heat up fast, especially while cruising in 3rd or 4th. One day while driving in 4th gear for a few miles the temp got all the way to 210 and seemed as if it would have kept climbing if I did not get on the highway. For some reason the fans are not able to keep up with the temperature sometimes while in motion when I've seen many posts from people with even more modified engines saying their great. I've been messing with this for over a week now and was curious if anyone has had this type of issue before or if they know a potential fix.
 
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I've got the exact same setup, my fan controller is integrated with my DD dash also. First question: is this a fuel injected engine? The normal temp for those is around 205-210 which is where I run most of the time with my setup, if pushing it on a hot day might get to 215 briefly. My low fan turn on is 205 and off at 198 and high fan turn on is on at 210 and off at 205. 175-183 is much too cold unless you are running a carb, the old 180 rule is for muscle cars from the 60's. The factory thermostat is 195 and doesn't even open all the way until 212.
 
Air flow problem when in motion:
Drive the car around till the temp gets to 200*, stop and check that fans are on
If they are on and temp goes down bring the rpms up to 2500 or so and look at the lower radiator hose. Is it collapsing?
Make sure the air damn is under the radiator support, it allows the air to enter through the radiator and exit under the car while it is in motion, if it is not there the air pressure in the engine compartment will not let the air flow through the radiator,
 
It is a fuel injected so I guess I do need to set the fan temps to turn on higher then, might see a little bit more power then too if its operating in the correct range, so I will try that first once I get the fans again at the beginning next week because one of them developed a grinding/squealing sound when it was powering down so I had to get another set ordered.

I do know that the fans are running while driving because you can hear them when you're coming to a stop since they do not shut off, they're pretty loud and you can tell when they turn on cause their is a small quick drop in the idle. I will check the hose collapsing too, it also does not have the air damn underneath which I read about after doing some research and got mixed results on how much it really did but I have one ordered now to test with the fans to see the difference.

Unfortunately, mine does not have the function to turn off at a certain speed with my setup, the controller has the option to, but sense the speedo is still cable driven I cant hook up the connector for it to register what speed it is at.

Thank you two for the help so far, definitely gave me some things to look at and do some testing on :)
 
If you have the factory computer and sensors, the computer is programmed to operate normally starting around 195-200 deg F so if running around using a 180 stat the computer may still be in warm up mode constantly. 210 F is normal operating temp, the oem thermostat is 195, once above around 230 deg then it starts getting in the overheat range.
 
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Where did you mount the temperature sensor?
I removed the gauge cluster temperature sensor and mounted it there in the lower intake manifold since that sensor is not the most accurate to begin with, I have an autometer gauge that is in front of the thermostat housing, and another gauge in the rear intake that I use to check temperatures
 
If you have the factory computer and sensors, the computer is programmed to operate normally starting around 195-200 deg F so if running around using a 180 stat the computer may still be in warm up mode constantly. 210 F is normal operating temp, the oem thermostat is 195, once above around 230 deg then it starts getting in the overheat range.
It is a factory computer but it also has a SCT chip in it that has a custom tune that I had a guy do for me so I'm not entirely sure if that would effect any of that at all or if its just completely separate since its a factory setting that would not really need changed with a tune
 
Apologies for the late response, I had a few things come up with the car (intake ear cracked and had to be welded) and have not had to much time to mess with it since my semester started and then one of the fan motors or the bearing in it went bad so I had to wait for a replacement to arrive but I did what you all recommended and got an air dam which helped lower the temp on highway speeds some but still get the heating up issue when in a lower gear and cruising. I guess from what you are saying it is not getting actually "hot" but the temperatures are quite cold right now so my fear is of how it will react when it is hotter. I've also had some issues with the car's performance when the fans are installed due to the electrical load I am guessing so I am hoping that a base idle reset will resolve that but as of now this is where I am at
 
Those fans shouldn't draw enough to hurt the cars performance. That bad bearing or fan motor may have been your issue the whole time. I have factory contour fans I pulled from the junk yard. I can't hear them running hardly at all. I'm turbo and temp usually stays around 203...but has gone up to 212 driving hard.

The factory lower radiator hose had a spring in it to keep it from collapsing. Many people removed them years ago when replacing the hoses. The air dam is important under the core support and the ones that go at the sides of the radiator.
 
Those fans shouldn't draw enough to hurt the cars performance. That bad bearing or fan motor may have been your issue the whole time. I have factory contour fans I pulled from the junk yard. I can't hear them running hardly at all. I'm turbo and temp usually stays around 203...but has gone up to 212 driving hard.

The factory lower radiator hose had a spring in it to keep it from collapsing. Many people removed them years ago when replacing the hoses. The air dam is important under the core support and the ones that go at the sides of the radiator.
I wish it was the bad fan but the new one acts the same, but mine sound like they are the complete opposite of yours though, I got my fans from LMR and they are loud loud, way more than the stock fan you can even hear them at idle if they’re on and I have Super 10s. I’ll take a look for that spring, I never replaced the radiator hoses when I got the car so it’s possible it’s removed, but I do have the air damn on the bottom now but I was unaware that there was ones that go on the side of the radiator as well so I will have to take a look online for some
 
Do you have the Contour fans operating in dual speed (high and low separately)?. I have fans pulled from an old Contour DD I had. I took the complete wiring from the Contour for the fans (including the fuse box). Unlike most I set mine up to operate via the factory Contour relays. I am using both speeds. When driving my fans do not come on (on their own - no need). When stopped at a light or drive through, my low speed will come on (you can not hear them with the engine running). I have NEVER had high speed come on via the controller - temps have never gone that high. I did set up both speeds on toggle switches (as back ups) if the controller fails for some reason and have heard both running that way.

I installed my temperature sensor in the lower rad hose so that it gets a correct reading of coolant temp, not engine temp like you would get if the temp sensor is installed in the intake or thermostat housing. This way the fans will come on when the coolant gets up to temp. I am using a temperature sensor/fan control switch from an Audi/VW the turns low speed on at 95*C and off at 85*C (203 *F on and 185*F off) and high speed will come on at 102*C and off at 92*C (216*F on and 198*F off). The temp sensor/controller can be any type, but I would recommend it installed either in lower rad hose or on driver side of radiator.

I run a 180 *F t-stat with a 3 core copper/brass OEM style rad (not an aluminum one). I have a standard water pump and all the rad support deflectors.

Remember... The fans don't cool the engine... the fans cool the coolant, the coolant cools the engine. Don't run your fans off of engine coolant temperature, best to use rad coolant temperature.



I did a video of my fans cycling on low speed while idling and watching the (factory) temp gauge to illustrate how quickly the low speed fans can drop the temperature.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P7MDRXmfI4&t=2s



On another note, I installed electric fans on my 2004 F150 and used a Contour wiring and control system to operate it. I even added a dual speed function from the Contour onto the 2010 F150 dual electric fans I used. A lot of non standard things can be done if you put your mind to it.
 
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I removed the gauge cluster temperature sensor and mounted it there in the lower intake manifold since that sensor is not the most accurate to begin with, I have an autometer gauge that is in front of the thermostat housing, and another gauge in the rear intake that I use to check temperatures
There's your problem. Fan temp sensor needs to be at the outlet of the radiator. At the lower intake manifold, the temperature is constant, after the engine is warmed up. The fan will never see any temperature change & will run at max speed all the time.