New aux fan

[LinedDoor]

Hey, I had a little problem with A/C not blowing cool air when car was at lower speeds. ISTA showed aux fan error, so I decided to try an used oem aux fan from 2005year e53, the used fan turned on for a brief moment and didnt achieve full speed. Still had a aux fan error in ISTA, tried other used aux fan and still didnt work, so I refilled refridgerant, tought that it would solve the problem, but didn’t. So first I tought that theres some kind of electrical problem, but all the wires were fine and I didn’t find anything else. So I decided to try aftermarket aux fan, OEM was 500eur, bought NRF brand fan for 200eur, which worked perfectly. My only concerne is that behind fan there is electric panel(idk how to call it in english) and wire, which isnt hidden. I hope that the panel is waterproof and wont get harm when driving in rain and in snow. (See pictures below).

Anyone else used the same brand fan or any other? What are your experiences with aftermarket fans?

I have BMW e53 3.0d 160kw 2004

[Effduration]

Most of the aftermarket E53 aux fans available in the US are made in China and are of uncertain quality.

2 yrs ago, I bought a Taiwan-made fan by TYC for my E53 and have been happy with it.
I would buy another TYC fan for any of my BMW's.

I did some research and TYC has been making electrical auto parts for about 60 yrs. I bought the fan on Amazon and it came with a lifetime warranty from TYC. It was 1/3 the price of a Genuine BMW fan.

[X5chemist]

Mine has a TOPAZ Condenser cooling fan #6454692138. It's has been running great for 3 years. It's brushless. After turn the engine off, it will spin for almost 32 seconds. I would recommend one.

[BimmerBreaker]

It's very common for the PWM signal wire to fail, and it can fail intermittently - if plugging in the harness to a new fan it could have adjusted the wire to where it is now working again

If this new fan fails again, you should consider running a test piece of wire from DME x60004 pin 4 to the fan harness. If this works without fault run a new wire permanently. I've had to do this on many cars

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by LinedDoor

Hey, I had a little problem with A/C not blowing cool air when car was at lower speeds... So I decided to try aftermarket aux fan, OEM was 500eur, bought NRF brand fan for 200eur, which worked perfectly. My only concerne is that behind fan there is electric panel(idk how to call it in english) and wire, which isnt hidden. I hope that the panel is waterproof and wont get harm when driving in rain and in snow. ....

Here's a rear-view photo of a NRF 47217 auxiliary fan, showing the wires going into the motor (orange circle), and others going into a sealed panel (red square). Which area concerns you?
NRF 47217 fan, rear view

The wires into the motor are usually surrounded with a silicone sealer (on many/most fans), and the upper panel should have either silicone or a gasket, I should think. If the upper panel is missing the back cover, then you could call the supplier for one, or fabricate your own.

Another solution to low airflow thru your A/C condenser at low speeds would be to ditch the viscous fan and install an aftermarket electric fan in its' place (my solution to the same problem in many of my cars & trucks).

Viscous clutch fans are fine for normal speed driving, but don't pull enough air thru if your idle is low at a stoplight. Is your idle speed under 750 rpm? I've found that if my vehicles' preferred idle speed is under that, then the factory viscous clutch fans have trouble moving enough air (especially in hot Texas weather, sitting on hot pavement, drawing in very hot air straight off of it). I have a '98 GMC pickup that blows cold air (38 degrees), but has always struggled with low airflow at stoplights, due to its' preferred idle speed of 625 rpm; I just installed a 12" helper fan to increase the airflow at stoplights, and it helped https://xoutpost.com/1237854-post37.html.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Most of the aftermarket E53 aux fans available in the US are made in China and are of uncertain quality.

2 yrs ago, I bought a Taiwan-made fan by TYC for my E53 and have been happy with it.
I would buy another TYC fan for any of my BMW's.

I did some research and TYC has been making electrical auto parts for about 60 yrs. I bought the fan on Amazon and it came with a lifetime warranty from TYC. It was 1/3 the price of a Genuine BMW fan.

^ I agree with all this, except my TYC fan from Amazon came with a 2 year warranty.

I chose based on feedback here and with the TYC brand. Happy with that.

The OE fans have all the motor control electronics within the motor assembly. Most (all?) aftermarket ones have the separate box as yours does. I see it as a design difference but not necessarily a problem.

My Foxwell has a function to spin the fan up, so you can test it independently of any AC control logic.

There are additional ways to get the ECU to spin the fan at full speed for testing if you want. I have experimented and posted on that in the past here. Things like pulling the AC pressure switch connector, putting in a resistor to simulate high temp on the lower radiator hose, etc.

[BimmerBreaker]

The easiest way to trigger the fan on without INPA (or equivalent diagnostic software) is to just unplug the lower radiator temp switch.

[SirHiss]

I'll chime in as I know a bit about this.

I too have a diesel and needed a new aux fan. I did a lot of research and came across these NRF fans. I discovered that the diesel variant has that ugly little airflow blocking box but the petrol version from the same brand does not! I even emailed NRF direct to ask why, but they didn't respond.

I spend a lot of time on drive2.com looking at all the russian builds and there are several examples on there where they have fitted the petrol version of the aux fan to the diesels. You only need to modify the plastic cowling slightly. Where we have the intercooler, you just need to trim a bit of plastic off to make it fit. Other than that, they are identical.

I actually bought the NRF petrol version aux fan ready to fit to my car this summer. I will need to trim some plastic off but it was significantly cheaper than the diesel version and from my research, fucntionally identical but without that extra control box!

The part numbers are as follows:
Diesel version - NRF 47217
Petrol version - NRF 47218



Hope this helps!

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

^ I agree with all this, except my TYC fan from Amazon came with a 2 year warranty.

https://a.co/d/eWpYPPa

I bought mine in June 2021...In my Amazon Orders page, it says "Product Support" ended in June 2023 - 2yrs...But I don't know what that means.

The Manufacturers warranty , which is still attached as a PDF both below and to the current TYC Amazon listing linked above, shows it has a non-transferable Lifetime warranty from TYC.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by Effduration

https://a.co/d/eWpYPPa

I bought mine in June 2021...In my Amazon Orders page, it says "Product Support" ended in June 2023 - 2yrs...But I don't know what that means.

The Manufacturers warranty , which is still attached as a PDF both below and to the current TYC Amazon listing linked above, shows it has a non-transferable Lifetime warranty from TYC.

Saved a copy of the PDF, just in case. Thanks.