Spal electric fan conversion (clutch fan delete) part 2

[bmw540san]

Part 1 here:
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ch-delete.html

Now to the part 2:

Had to wait for new thermostat, lower radiator hose and coolant sensor.


Original sensor was starting to leak


Ready for the surgery


Even though I compared and measured, the M62 95 C and M62 TU thermostat are not 100% same. If you look closely in the picture, bottom right bolt hole on 95 C thermostat is positioned about 5mm to the right. Fortunately, it was solved by carefully enlarging the hole on new thermostat (area around the hole marked with sharpie was carefully shaved off)



Modified hose in place. It took a while as I had to combine 2 hoses plus the Auto Meter hose adapter. I'm aware that some people stick fan sensor in radiator fins but this is more accurate and same principle as the OEM lower radiator hose sensor which is still present in the modified hose


Starting on fan shroud modifications


Aluminum plate cut and fastened to shroud. Not the prettiest job , but it's very strong and slips in the engine bay with room to spare




All buttoned up and aluminum plate fastened to fan shroud


Spal fan control relay location and all wired up


Success!
After refilling / bleeding, temp was checked through OBD and AutoEnginuity. At 96 C / 205 F at the engine outlet, thermostat opened and and after the temp went up to 180 F (at the radiator outlet, not the at the thermostat) the OEM aux fan kicked in to lower it to 160 F. Spal fan hasn't turned on yet since it's suppose to come on at 195 F.

Tomorrow is the road test but I can tell that I like it already as initial temp is 95-97 C which was my goal anyway. Also, removing the map controlled thermostat did trigger the code but it was easily solved with this resistor connected to the wiring harness.

[g300d]

Congrats on completing your project!

Nice, your V8 now runs at 6cyl temps. That's a big load off your system for sure!

Looking forward to more updates.

[bmw540san]

Originally Posted by g300d

Congrats on completing your project!

Nice, your V8 now runs at 6cyl temps. That's a big load off your system for sure!

Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks.

As I said, to me, it's not about lowering temps to let's say 85 C as some people do with 85 C thermostat. I do believe that M62 / M62TU need temperatures high enough for combustion chamber reaching proper temperatures in order to burn mixture cleanly and for overall health of the engine.

On the other hand, 105 C map controlled thermostat is simply to close to dangerous temps and there is much less warning if something goes bad. While in theory and in practice, map controlled thermostat is clever way to lower temps under the load, IMO it's not worth it the potential issue with serious ECU box damage and running most of time over 100 C operating temps.

I believe my way eliminates that, get's rid of old clutch fan technology, less stress on WP bearing and extra room in engine compartment.