DIY: Aux/mechanical fan to electric fan swap

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Lay down and look under the bumper, you'll see two big metal bolts.

Thanks. I did find them yesterday, then had fun getting them to release from their plastic sleeves (easy if you know what you should do). Bumper is off and I'm just waiting for my fan to arrive. Anyone have a problem with the stamped-on bolts that hold the fan on? One of mine started to spin before the nut came off. Now I'm likely going to replace it with a bolt with hex head.

Yup, those plastic pieces will break guaranteed.

Originally Posted by tesko.pk

you & me both. I know what you're saying on the tranny, I think they came out with Step for the '01 model year, previous to that it was the oooooold style.

wrong, step was in the 2000 e46 also

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Got a question on this mod.
I found electric fan from a 330 on a part out thread, but only with the fan and the motor(thats what the seller says).

Will I be able to use the electrical fan with the mechanical fan shroud? Do the shrouds even separate?

I was not really thinking about this mod till I saw it in the part out thread, so I am curious now.

I would spend $180-200 on a new one with the proper shroud.

I doubt it will work with the mechanical fan shroud because the electric fan HAS to be in a specific housing that holds onto the radiator

Originally Posted by Solidjake

I would spend $180-200 on a new one with the proper shroud.

I doubt it will work with the mechanical fan shroud because the electric fan HAS to be in a specific housing that holds onto the radiator

Thanks man. I was thinking the same. I dont think its worth a risk.
I will just buy a new one when I am ready to do this mod.

Hi Guys,

Great Thread.

I am going to be upgrading the Intercooler on my 2004 Sport Coupe 330cd.

Was originally going to add some smaller electrical fans to replace the front mounted AC Aux fan that will be displaced by the larger Intercooler, but saw this thread and thought yeaaaaaaah.......perfect!

Makes perfect sense to me. My old 2001 325ci only had the engine viscous fan, so I was surprised to see the extra fan on the 330cd. It makes a racket as well, but not this time of year, its freezing.lol.

I could probably reuse the old front mounted Aux fan, by playing about and fitting it into the viscous fan housing, but I can get a 2nd hand fan for about £50.00 with the exact part number shown in the thread - 17117561757

my cars got 204,000 miles on it so far. I am looking to get at least 300k..............................anything that helps with the MPG and efficiency gets my vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brad

I posted this information in another thread but figured it would do justice here since it might help expedite the process. I did feel like MacGyver when I "thunk" of my shoe string!!!

repost:
If you have a big screwdriver or something strong enough to press down on the bolt while you take a quick smack with the hammer onto the 32mm wrench to initially loosen nut; it has worked for me for years. Obviously you know it is a reverse threaded.

Now I did just figure out something so funny and yet so effective when it was time to put the fan back on. This has always been my nightmare part I dreaded dealing with the fan. I have even had my girlfriend help with me because she had small hands but still this was a royal pain for me.

I unlaced my sneaker and used my shoe string and carefully wrapped the nut with the shoe string. Carefully lowered the fan and shroud down into position. With one hand held the fan in position by holding a blade(my fat hands) and put pressure inward on the nut. Then I used the other hand and slowly at first pulled straight up on the shoe string. It was just like spinning a top it; in about 3-5 seconds it was over half way threaded onto the bolt!!!

I can not tell you how much I had dreaded re-installing the fan/this has made it so so simple for me. Then I tighten with 32mm wrench then do the same thing(in reverse) to tighten the bolt.

I had to do this again about a week ago to swap my alternator--you can use a thin strap(once you loosen nut) and wrap it on the nut kind of like you would if you had a string on a piece of wood and you are trying to start a fire by twisting it. This saves the 30-50 times you have to pull 32mm wrench out and put back in to loosen with quarter turns.

I think with the tool to hold the nuts it will make it even easier process to tighten/loosen nut.

You're welcome!

just a quick question.

my car is a euro spec 330cd, with the clutch based fan and an electric AUX fan.

If I can easily relocate my electric AUX fan to sit behind the radiator and get it to pull air, rather than push it, will the operating profile and mechanical properties of the AUX fan be ok in this configuration? it does not look that different to the fan that is being recommended plus the 2nd hand ones that I can find are from cars that are older than mine.

cheers in advance.

anyone interested in me taking pics, and putting a DIY together, of my Front Mounted Intercooler upgrade and fan delete?

Brad

I would assume that the front fan, on an automatic, would turn on at times that it as about to overheat. (IE, the clutch stopped working correctly... Freewheeling, etc.)

If you replace the clutch fan with an electric fan using that logic... The new electric fan would only come on at the preset temp saying the car was in overheat mode. Is this correct?

Can anyone shoot holes in that logic? (Please!) I'd like to upgrade but am unsure because of this.

Ok,

I could probably reconfigure the viscous fan shroud, so that my electric fan fits inside, but i dont think that there would be room to get everything behind the radiator, where the viscous fan used to sit.

I wonder if I will have the same problem using the recommended fan. Has anyone used the OEM electric fan 17117561757 in an E46 330d coupe? does it fit?

if I cannot get an answer to that question, I guess the next best thing will be to know the depth of the replacement fan module.

cheers in advance.

Brad

In my area there are lots of e46 parting out (mostly head gasket issue)... Can i try this mod by using other e46 or any bmw electric fan? Is it a bolt in processes? If so, what E46/BMW model im gonna look at?

i have a M/T 99 323i mech fan and removing it is really a PITA..

TIA.

Has anyone who has done this swap tracked their transmission operating temperature before and after the swap? It has only recently come to my attention that we could even get the transmission temperature via the computer.

Originally Posted by Danoff

Has anyone who has done this swap tracked their transmission operating temperature before and after the swap? It has only recently come to my attention that we could even get the transmission temperature via the computer.

Great question

I suppose if no one has done that we need two members with OBD readers to monitor transmission temperature during a drive on a day with similar weather - one with the electric fan and one with the mechanical fan. I'm willing to do it for the mechanical fan. I'll report back to this thread with values in the next couple of weeks.

Question: where can i get a(oem or not) fan regulator/module. Is there a solution that can receive the signal from te dme for my aftermarket fan?

Question: where can i get a(oem or not) fan regulator/module. Is there a solution that can receive the signal from te dme for my aftermarket fan?

Haven't seen a separate available part. Buy a used, maybe broken (for a non-control box reason) fan, and recover the control box.

As I recall, one of the tests the DME does when the car is started to ensure the fan is available. Not sure how an aftermarket fan fits in that test.