Ok so this past weekend I had my downpipe modified for more clearance, put on my new (to me) Visteon aluminum radiator, OBX silicon radiator hoses, and 2 slimlines-- 14" on the driver's side and 12" on the passenger's side. These things move MASSIVE amounts of air and I was extremely pleased with the entire setup.
I drove it to & from work yesterday, to work today, and on the way home after about 20 mins of driving the car just cut off and wouldn't start back up. Finally found that the ignition & radiator fan fuses under the hood had popped. I was only a few minutes from home so I did something stupid but seemingly necessary-- bought 60A fuses to replace the 30A's, popped em in, drove straight home and cut it off.
Once it cooled off for a couple hours, I went out to inspect the car and realized the wiring to the passenger-side fan is fried.. the insulation around both wires that came on the fan as well as the insulation surrounding both copper wires themselves were completely melted off, and they had fused together and fried the radiator fan harness all the way up to the joint where the wiring for both fans meet and head over to the stock rad fan plug. Yes, I'm running them both off the driver's side plug and the relay is jumpered so they're always on when the car is on.
So I cut into the harness I just made this weekend and realized the wires seem to be intact and fine before the union where the wires split off to the fans and the wires running to the big 14" fan on the driver's side seem to be fine (the insulation had just barely started to melt near the union so I taped them up) and the outer wrapping that came on them is fine too, not even shrunk up from heat. I cut the fried wires off from the soldered unions with the feed & the other fan and was starting to tape them up to test the 14" fan and it just started pouring outside.. shit.
So here's my thinking.. the T3/T4 turbo is about 3" from the wiring to the passenger-side fan. I believe the heat from the turbo melted the insulation off them, they shorted out and popped the fuse, then when I tried another 30A it popped that one too. The 60A was just enough to hold it while I drove a few mins to the house. I'm gonna try a new 30A in the radiator fan socket and see if it holds up now.. once the rain stops (I hate Florida..).
Has ANYONE heard of this happening before? Is there any way around this? I have another 10" fan that I can replace the 12" with since the motor is undoubtedly burned out (new $80 fan, too..) but I don't wanna throw it on there just to have this happen again. I'm also puzzled that both the radiator fan fuse AND the ignition fuse popped. Any significance to this? Or is it just designed that way to keep people from causing additional harm?
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#106789, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 1
Yeah, the FAL setup is fuggin expensive though :X
Update.. just finished taping up the harness, tested it with a 30A in the radiator fan socket. Didn't blow it.. so everything is all good. I'm contemplating using a pusher on that side, but there are AC condensor lines on that side. Not sure if I can bend them enough to fit a fan there. I do still have a turbo blanket from DEI I need to put on, but I need to fix the exhaust manifold leak first.. got a set of 4G63 studs & a new MLS exhaust gasket for that. That should help some.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#106798, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 3
The FAL setup is pretty pricey anywhere I look, and the 220 has been discontinued and replaced with the 420 (how appropriate) with the S-blade fan design. However, it seems the issue is not so much with the fan iself but the heat in the general area coming from the turbo. I've been pics of the 420/220 setup and the wires run right by the turbo. I don't want to melt these as well and be screwed out of a $300+ fan setup.
I'm thinking about taking the motor out of the 12" passenger side fan, pulling it apart, running some heavier gauge (10ga) wire to the motor contacts, and rewiring it this way. I have heat wrap left over so I could wrap the wires with some of that and put the turbo blanket on my turbo. That should do the trick, eh? Any thoughts on this?
I'm mostly concerned about the ignition fuse blowing.. I'm kinda assuming the rad fan circuit ties into the ignition circuit, so that blew first then the rad fan fuse. I've also heard that these slimlines can pull as much as 20A each, so I should be using at least a 40A fuse instead of the stock 30A fuse theoretically but I've never heard of anyone else with this same situation with two slimlines.. in fact, I've heard of people running 3-4 slimlines (pusher & puller) on this circuit with no issues.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#106814, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 6
You can always coat the turbo with hi temp paint to help bring down the heat a bit, or do like my friend did and make a custom turbo heat shield, which seems to work pretty good.
#106825, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 7
With the time it takes to build a custom heat shield for a turbo I would say to just buy a turbo wrap. You might even spend the same when it comes to buying whatever size sheet metal you use. As for painting, I'd hate to see anyone "paint" a turbo.
User22 as for your friends custom heat shield, I'd like to see that autrosity you post whore.
Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim
#106841, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 9
Had the whole turbo setup off this weekend to replace the exhaust manifold gasket and took the fan off while I was at it. Turns out the Zirgo fan motors are sealed and there is no way to open them to replace wiring. On top of that, the motor does not spin freely leading me to believe the bearings are toast.. hard to believe on a brand spankin new fan.
I still have a 10" so once I get the turbo blanket on I will be installing the 10" instead.. and I even have an 8" I can run as a pusher if needed. See my other thread about my "cooling nightmare" for a continuation of this..
#106843, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 10 Jul-06-09 02:18 PM by McFox
Mike,
Seems like we have a lot in common. My fan wiring melted from my turbo just a few weeks ago just like yours. I guess I was lucky in the sense that I didn't blow any fuses from it. I just repaired the wiring and tucked it back in the general direction of the passenger headlight.
I believe we also both have similar "cooling nightmares", fans don't go on right? I'm fixing my battery issue today so I can start tackling the coolant issue. Best of luck with the fans
#106844, "RE: Turbo melted fan wiring? Wow.." In response to Reply # 11
Damn, wish I had been that lucky.. but nope I'm out one $70 fan lol. Actually, my fans have no problem coming on. In fact, I even bridged the relay so they would be on any time the key was on. So even with them blowing full force the car would still get hot. I hope yours IS that simple cause figuring this out is a PITA for sure
