Nissan Frontier Forum banner

Maxima e-fan compatibility?

60K views 140 replies 48 participants last post by  Thony03 
#1 ·
I have been scouring the internets trying to find out what year model Maxima e-fans fit our radiators the best. I came across this before a long time ago but cant seem to find it again, I believe it was early to mid 90's Maxima and that the fan was a dual setup, covered the radiator completely, and was pretty much a bolt up affair.

FYI I am mainly wanting to get rid of the mechanical fan cause it is too dang noisy at startup and when it gets hot out and I am not moving the AC is useless.
 
#3 ·
That would be the 99-03 Quest with the VG33E, I assume? Or would previous years work? And that application bolts right up (shroud and all)?

I've been wanting to do an e-fan conversion since I've had the truck.
 
#5 ·
Update:
I found a '90 Maxima dual fan at the junk yard this weekend. The width is perfect for our radiators but you will have to come up with top and bottom mounts.
I got it installed and working with a Hayden dual fan kit from Orielly's. $18 for the fan and $36 for the controller kit. It has a potentiometer to fine tune the activation temp and I have it wired to come on with the AC.

RESULTS:

The butt dyno is very impressed with this one. Out of all the mods I have done over the years to this truck this is the only one I can honestly say freed up some horsepower. The pull in the upper RPMs is definately improved. The fans are much quieter than the mechanical fan. Best of all, the AC actually blows cold with the truck not moving.

Everyone should do this IMO.:)
 
#6 ·
PICS? I did this on my previous vehicle and while that didn't have enough power to start with to really notice any difference, it just made sense to me that not spinning that clutch fan 100% of the time was the way to go. The e-fan hardly came on; only if I was essentially motionless, idling, for more than 10 minutes. And, the decrease in engine compartment sound was amazing. I still have 3 years on my warranty so I'm a little skiddish about doing this mod for fear that any engine problems would be blamed on the e-fan, but boy it is tempting.
 
#7 ·
Ill try to snap some pics tonight. 4 days after the install has me wondering what the heck took me soo long to get this done. I can tell a difference in engine noise, acceleration, responsiveness, and fuel mileage just cruising around town.

These fans are almost silent when they come on (wired on the high setting) and I believe they move way more air than the stock mechanical fan ever did. Its not that hot here yet (it is going to get to about 80°f today) but they only run for about 20 seconds at a time with the truck sitting idling. When I am moving I doubt the every turn on.
 
#10 ·
I snap some pics tonight and post a little more info on steps involved.

Filled up the tank this morning 17mpg with me pounding on it. I was barely eaking out 15 mpg before and that was with me babying it. Me thinks the clutch might have been messed up on the stock fan.
 
#13 ·
i'd like to see a write up as well...how difficult you think it would be to find these maxima fans....I see those things drivin around all the time, some people are bound to wreck.
 
#17 ·
How about 5 bucks if you do the writeup with pictures?
 
#19 ·
It's not too tricky of a mod

honestly I think the best way to do this is to wire it to a switch so that way it will be on when ever you want

I'm planning on buying a puller fan to replace the stock clutch fan and then going with a similar maxima fan with dual fans to replace the stock one by the ac condenser
 
#20 ·
wow..... guys sorry. My wife just gave birth to our first kid. Ive been just a little busy. Give me a couple of days and Ill snap some pictures and post them up here.

Everything is all installed and working great. Im not going to pull it back apartand do a step by step, but I will take some pics and explain what I did.
 
#21 ·
congratulations man! Do what you gotta do.
 
#24 ·
where did you get your fan? Are you using a maxima fan? If so why do you need the dual fan kit?
 
#28 · (Edited)
Dude congrats on the child.

U know I had dual electric fans on an ol' 383 stroker motor I had. figured that the e-fans had something to due with the extra get up n go it had.

So, a mid 90s maxima fan should do the trick. Outta curiosity do you need the electronic control or can you jus wire up the fan to the fuse block?

Reason I ask is cuz on my old pickup the dual fans were wired to the fuse block with a single wire and grounded to the front bumper and the truck ran ok...



Did you order the maxima fan online new or used? How much did it cost?

Reason is because yall mentioned how the 98-02 Nissan Quest has the same 3.3 in it as the frontier.

I found that fan online, shroud and all. Im curious as to whether or not it would be a straight bolt up app or if it would need modifications.

Any body have a Nissan Quest? lol
 
#26 · (Edited)
Here are a couple pics as I promised....




Here is my short explanation of what I did to get this all working.

1. removed old mechanical clutch and shroud.
2. I test fitted the new fan assy and ended up triming a few bits of the sides that were bumping the ac lines and the coolant resevoir on the other side.
3. for the bottom mount, I installed some 1/4-20 x 2" bolts from the bottom into the stock mounting locations. The stock shroud has pins that fit into these holes. This sandwiches the bottom of the new fan up against the radiator.
4. My top mount for now is the ghetto fab high temp zip-tie setup you see in the pic until I can fab up a legitament sheetmetal bracket. (This is working fine now and I might just leave it :)

Wiring:
5. The two plugs that you see are for the two fans. They are set up the same and the black wires on each are the negative wires. I tested the other wires and found the highest speed and ignored the remaining wires.
6. I wired up the Hayden fan kit per the diagram included and tapped into the AC directly at the compressor. It is just one wire, easy to spot.
7. I installed the temp probe directly under the top radiator hose as recommened in the fan kit directions.

After all the wires were routed and secured up and out of the way, I tested the fan operation by cranking the truck and turning on the AC. (Fans come on automatically with the AC). I then let the truck get up to temp with the AC off and I monitored the radiator temp near the probe with an infared temp gauge, I set the fans to come on at 180ºf by adjusting the potentiometer on the controller relay ( no pic- It is mounted by the battery on the inner fender).

It has been getting up to around 90° the last couple of days here and the fans have no problem keeping up even in stop and go traffic with the AC on (which works soooo much better now). I have gained about 2 MPG in town.

If you guys have any other questions let me know.... and I apologize for my half arsed writeup and tardiness. This whole being a dad deal has really been sucking away all my time for cool stuff like this.
 
#27 ·
SWEET A$$!! Im going to do it this weekend! Hope this one doesnt come back and bite me in the a$$.. lol..Congrats on being a new dad! Thanks for the write up! If anyone else does this please post a step by step run through including all known doner fans..
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top