Reply To: Fitting an electric fan

[BernieParticipant]

Julian,

Having owned Tractions for over 50 years – and driven them in all possible ambient temperatures – I am not an advocate of electric fans.

I see them as not only unnecessary, but also something else to go wrong.  If the cooling system is already compromised, I think blocking off more of the radiator by fitting an electric fan is only going to hide the problem – and possibly exacerbate it.

In my experience the only reason for a well-tuned engine to overheat is poor coolant circulation, almost always due to a build up of debris in the radiator or block … or both.

Flushing a radiator is usually enough to clear it, otherwise it should be recored or replaced.  Clearing the block can be more of a problem because the silt tends to set like concrete and, in time, drastically reduces the capacity of the water jacket. Once that happens no amount of flushing is likely to clear it.  Ofen, the only solution is to strip the engine and chisel the stuff out.

I appreciate not everybody shares my opinion on electric fans and I hope others will respond with their answers to the questions you have posed.

A final thought.  In extremely high temperatures, fuel vaporisation can happen even with the best maintained engines, but that is not the problem I understand you to be experiencing.

B….