Ford Windstar E-Fan Wiring Question

[Houston Ben]

Hi All,
5.3 w/6l80 in an 86' with Ford Windstar efans. I had one fan run on constant till I had time to clean the wiring up. Well that time came yesterday and I tried to wire the fans off the PCM with the wires I had stubbed out and I let the engine get to 225 degrees and nothing happened. I supposed I had them wired up wrong and am looking for some help. I was looking around and found this drawing, can anyone confirm if this will work?



Or can anyone help with wiring??

Thanks!!

[dec010974]

Hello houston Ben. you wiring diagram shows how to wire up high/low speed electric fans using (3) relays. a friend wired his lsx fans using (2) relays with the same high/low speed feature. His instruction came from lt1swap.com. in the past, i wired my (2) electric fans using (2) relays, with (1) speed. my pcm was programmed to turn on fan (1) at 195F and fan (2) at 215F. this has worked well for me in the past. Houston Ben, you can be the guinea pig. im interested to see the results.

[akdg87]

the fan trigger signal from your ls pcm is a ground not a 12v signal.

[dayj1]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

Hi All,
5.3 w/6l80 in an 86' with Ford Windstar efans. I had one fan run on constant till I had time to clean the wiring up. Well that time came yesterday and I tried to wire the fans off the PCM with the wires I had stubbed out and I let the engine get to 225 degrees and nothing happened. I supposed I had them wired up wrong and am looking for some help. I was looking around and found this drawing, can anyone confirm if this will work?



Or can anyone help with wiring??

Thanks!!

That wiring diagram looks good. I've wired fans like that in the past and it's the way GM did it on the fourth gen Camaros (and probably others). Both fans will run at half speed for low and both fans will run at full speed for high.

[-T-]

depending on your year of computer, 99-04(i think) didn't have electric fans from the factory but the computer had the capability to supply the ground but you had to have them programmed to do so. So it you have and 04 and down, is yours programmed to turn them on? Like posted above too, the computer supplies ground to the relay. And also make sure you have the correct pin from the computer, I just did mine in an 03 and was off one pin and the fan ran as soon as I hooked it all up. Moved one pin over to the correct location and everything worked as planned. Lt1swap is a great source for info, thats where all of mine comes from. Good luck

[Houston Ben]

Thanks for the replies, sorry I forgot to mention my engine and trans came out of a 2011 1500. I had the harness redone and the two fan wires stubbed out. I guess I will try this and see then.

[ls1nova71]

Using three relays works if you have two fans, low they're run in series and high they're run parallel. Do you have one or two fans?

[Houston Ben]

I have two fans, each fan has one positive (red) and one negative (black) wire.

[ls1nova71]

With two fans the three wire relay is the way to go. Here's the diagram I use.

[Houston Ben]

I have to did up an old thread, I finally got around to getting my third relay and wired them up like so


Engine temp got to 231 to turn on fan and turned off at 193. Problem is, I thought they would both turn on but just the small one turned on. Looking at the diagram can anyone tell me why only one turned on??

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Ben

[dayj1]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

I have to did up an old thread, I finally got around to getting my third relay and wired them up like so


Engine temp got to 231 to turn on fan and turned off at 193. Problem is, I thought they would both turn on but just the small one turned on. Looking at the diagram can anyone tell me why only one turned on??

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Ben

If relay 1 does not operate (because of bad wiring, missing control signal, faulty relay, etc.):

1) Neither fan will run when you reach the low speed fan temp
2) The fan on the left in the diagram will come on at full speed when you reach your high speed fan temp.

If relay 2 does not operate:

1) Fan 1 and 2 will run at half speed when you reach low speed fan temp
2) The fan on the right in the diagram will run at full speed when you reach high speed fan temp and the fan on the left will be off.

If relay 3 does not operate:

1) Fan 1 and 2 will run at half speed when you reach low speed fan temp.
2) The fan on the left in the diagram will run at full speed when you reach high speed fan temp and the fan on the right will be off.

Since you're not getting both fans on at half speed and then getting just one fan on at 231, it sound like you have wiring/relay problem with relay #1 in the diagram.

[Houston Ben]

I guess I could take out the 5 relay one and run both remaining relays like relay 1 and hook both 85's to the PCM fan contrl 1 for the ground on both relay. Then run both fan grounds to a ground..... will that work? I am not an electrician....but I play one on tv...

[Houston Ben]

Thanks for the reply dayj1!

Question, relay 1 & 2 are 4 pin and 3 is a 5 pin, could that be a problem that I am not using 5 pin for all 3 relays?

[dayj1]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

Thanks for the reply dayj1!

Question, relay 1 & 2 are 4 pin and 3 is a 5 pin, could that be a problem that I am not using 5 pin for all 3 relays?

It's OK to use 4 pin relays for 1 and 2. Just double check your wiring on relay 1 and verify that it matches the diagram that you posted. The way that you're trying to set them up is the best way, IMO. Your fans will last longer since they'll only be running at 1/2 speed most of the time.

[Houston Ben]

Cool, thanks for the help. Also, what temp is the low speed supposed to turn on at? I have not changed the stock temps.

[dayj1]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

Cool, thanks for the help. Also, what temp is the low speed supposed to turn on at? I have not changed the stock temps.

The temps probably vary by year and application, but the following values are what I had in my notes.

Low On: 226
Low Off: 219

High On: 235
High Off: 227

[littlevictories]

here's what I got from my mail order tuner, and it works fantastic.

"Your fan controls are programmed for 201 on, and 197 off for the blue 42,
and 204 on, 201 off for red 33 control. The PCM will supply GROUND to
activate the fan relay, and will only command the relay on when engine is
running and coolant temp reached. It is better sometime to verify temp the
computer is reading from the coolant temp sensor with a scan tool. Also, do
not share the coolant temp sensor with anything else, the PCM should be the
only thing hooked to it."

[First c10]

Don't mean to hijack the thread. With the relay diagram above you can make a hi and low speed on a 1 speed fan motor? Fan with only 2 wires to wire it?

[47 Fasttoys]

Yes you can, on a DC motor the speed is based on voltage applied, by running 2 motors in series you basically cut the voltage in half. 6 volts to each motor hence 2 speeds, 1/2 speed(6V) and full speed (12V). Your older heater fan works the same way, on the fan speed switch it has resistors on the rear which cut the voltage to the motor 12V, 9V, 6V hence 3 speeds.
Hope it helps.
Rob

[First c10]

Ok thanks rob. I will have to get another relay and re wire with the above schematic.
Thanks
Scott

[Houston Ben]

Dayj1, so will my engine be fine running it that hoe or should I leave one fan on at all time cooling it at about 198?

[dayj1]

Originally Posted by Houston Ben

Dayj1, so will my engine be fine running it that hoe or should I leave one fan on at all time cooling it at about 198?

231 isn't that bad. The factory high speed fan setting was 235, after all. With that said, I wouldn't want it to run that hot permenenty, but I don't think it will hurt it while you're testing out your fan wiring.

Did you get a chance to look at the wiring again? Just to be clear with what I was trying to say earlier, both fans should initially come on at half speed when you hit your low speed temp. Then both should come on at full speed if the engine continues to get hotter and reaches the high fan temp.

I had relays on the brain last night, but another thing that could cause the symptoms you're having is if one of the two fans in your Windstar setup is bad. I know you said the smaller fan comes on, but have you tested the larger one to know for sure that it works?

[Houston Ben]

Thanks for the reply, I haven't had a chance to check the wiring yet but will this week, but Both fans do work. I didn't think the temps would be bad due to being factory settings but just wanted some singer maroon on my thoughts.

Thanks again!

[Houston Ben]

Thanks for the reply, I haven't had a chance to check the wiring yet but will this week, but Both fans do work. I didn't think the temps would be bad due to being factory settings but just wanted some confirmation on my thoughts.

Thanks again!

[First c10]

Got a question is the wire from the PCM for fan 1 relay 1 above?
And I an guessing "A" is ground and "B" is the 12 volt wire? Normally?