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DYI: Mechanical Fan to Electric Fan Swap

245K views 467 replies 143 participants last post by  jasondotcom 
#1 ·
Let me just start off by saying I know this has been covered before, but no one has given a definitive answer, so I figured I'd make a thread for future reference.

I have an auto, and our cars come with a mechanical fan (engine driven) as well as an auxiliary fan to help with A/C and extra cooling power.

However, when I installed my supercharger, I had to remove the Aux fan to fit the intercooler. Because of that, the car would overheat when sitting at idle for too long, or if I ran the A/C (which wasn't even cold). I had to find a solution. I started looking at aftermarket fans, while also researching if I could swap an electric fan from a manual transmission E46.

I found a couple threads, but no real answers. I finally decided to PM the almighty and infinitely knowledgeable Mr. Nick G @ Technique Tuning, who informed me that it is a direct swap, and he performs this swap on his steptronic cars with no problems.

The mechanical fan and the aux fan have both been removed on my car, and replaced with a single OEM electric fan. So far so good. No wiring, no fitment issues, nada. Plops right in, plugs right in, and works.

Part # 17-11-7-561-757-M14
Cheapest place to buy: Pelican Parts - Click for direct link
Price: $253.00
Why?: Because a good aftermarket electric fan costs $150+. This is $100 more, and it's a direct plug-n-play.


Pics:


 
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#154 ·
Had me conversion nearly a year now ( M52TU engine). No issues with my auto tranny. This is a great mod
 
#156 ·
I did this over a month ago, and it was very easy. You guys are WAY overthinking this. Just order the part number posted.

You do not need or want the A/C e-fan along with the new puller e-fan. The first thing that I noticed when pulling the A/C e-fan off was that with it's shrouded design and all the other shrouding up there, it was restricting air flow when the car was moving. With it off, and some of the shrouding off, the radiator sees much more natural air flow when the car is moving. So don't panic, and don't try to MAKE both e-fans fit.

Also, I had another plug/box on top of my mechanical fan shroud. It just pulled off and transfered directly to the new puller e-fan shroud. I had to look it up to find out what it was. It is the sensor for the A/C auto recirculation air feature. So it's the sniffer to determine if the A/C needs to use the dirty outside air or just use cabin air.
 
#157 ·
Hey Ken, I was taking out my aux fan just now, the wiring that goes to the control box to the fan looks like it's soldered? and then the two wires going to the fan itself look to be the same. How do I get the aux fan off and plug the wiring to the electric fan?
 
#161 · (Edited)
Yeah, I help Jake installed it today.

PEOPLE! Once you remove the main belt driven Mechanical Fan and the front Aux Fan the new Electric Fan literally drops right in place and it will plug/play into the existing Fan Shroud connector.

I'm surprised there is now EIGHT freaking pages and literally NO pics or videos showing how EASY the Electric Fan drops in.

In terms of geography the Electric Fan ONLY replaces the Mechanical Fan's Shroud adjacent to the air intake snout.


When done there will be a huge empty space where the Mechanical Fan was AND a huge empty space where the front Aux Fan was.

And NO you CANNOT have both the Electric Fan and the front Aux Fan at the same time! The Aux fan will block the Electric Fan and create a flux disturbance that will rip your engine bay apart!

The Electric Fan MUST replace both Mechanical and Aux Fan on the Steptronic car!

 
#165 ·
When and If I do this I will take pictures because after reading 8 pages of stoopid questions I realized like 1 or 2 pics would've shown what is going on.

Honestly had I not been with Jake when he did the swap I would've been seriously confused and unsure about this swap even if I read this entire thread.
 
#166 ·
Just wanted to give some words after using the fan for two weeks. The idle feels a lot more smoother when stopped in drive, but the fan makes the car vibrate a tiny bit everyone other second when it's at a higher speed. The car overall does in fact feel more responsive and peppy probably due to the fact of less weight and no drag on the engine. Lastly, I have no idea why I waited this long...
 
#178 ·
Ok, job's done!




I tested it by idling and monitoring coolant temp (func 7.0). Fan engages at 90C at slow speed (no A/C) and if I turn on A/C and temp rises up to 92C the fan starts to work faster and temp quickly goes down back to 90C. But even at high speed its noise is a whisper in comparison with aux/mech fans' noise. Later will do a test drive.
 
#179 ·
^ You will love the swap man. I freaking love it more day by day. :)

Btw, to those that need a diy I wrote this up the other day

All you need is is this:

floor jack and one jack stand
philips screwdriver
I think Torx 20 head
8" extension
ratchet
8mm socket or 8mm wrench
9mm socket
13mm socket
fan clutch tools
OEM electric fan: 17117561757


- Jack up one side of car (I did the drivers side) and put one jack on the metal plate
- Remove the 8mm bolts holding bumper to the fender liners
- Take out the reinforcement bolts with 9mm socket/ratchet/extension
- Slide bumper out (unclip wiring for fogs and horn)
- Take out the top air intake
- The center duct is held by four pop in screws
- Aux fan is held by four 13mm nuts, take them out
- Disconnect the aux fan by the fan shroud in the engine bay
- Slide the fan out
- Put the center duct back in and top air intake
- Put the front bumper back on in reverse order (slide in, put in the two reinforcement bar bolts and the assorted bolts to the liners.
- Next you have to take the mechanical fan out
- Pop out the fan control unit on the shroud and the other wiring and put them to the side
- Take out the 1 torx screw on the passenger side top and loosen up the fan shroud
- Use the fan clutch tool to loosen the bolt and take out the assembly
- Take your electric fan and slide it against the radiator and screw in the torx screw
- Plug the electric fan to the connector where the aux fan was plugged into
- Place back the control unit and the other wiring to the electric fan shroud

Viola, you're done.


I will make a DIY video later.
 
#187 ·
Hey Fellas,
Came across this thread and I see all is well with the electric fan swap. Quick question

I see KPeng swapped in a BOSCH electric fan and NERVOUS swapped in a BEHR electric fan. Anyone care to chime in on which electric fan is better ??? For example which unit do you think has a better build, quality, longevity etc...

Is the BEHR unit also plug and play ???
 
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