Club 80-90 Forums

Does any one have instructions/pics on how to add a switch to turn the electric fan on via a switch on the dasboard?
Would be a good thing to be able to turn the fan on if stuck in traffic

Known as the "chicken switch"... Might help locate on a search?

Mine comes on automatically where ever the van is ...as VW intended.

Jus' sayin'

kevtherev wrote:Mine comes on automatically where ever the van is ...as VW intended.

Jus' sayin'

And mine. It sounds like a Vulcan bomber taking off and scares the other cars in traffic jams

Stage 1 speed is a comforting hum
Stage 2 speed is a jet..it's true

I fitted one to my MK1 fiesta years back. Very straight forward. But the reason I needed it was because the radiator was shot. Might be worth checking, there must be a reason why it's getting excessively warm.

Indeed, my first van apart from bugs had nothing but the verticle veins left!

2 chunky wires and a decent switch along with some scotch-loks onto the thermoswitch on the lower left of the rad (you choose which wires you want depending on whether you want low or high speed) bish bash bosh jobs a good 'un. Or I'm sure you can go fannying about with the relay, but to be honest, I'm with Kevtherev on this. Just fix the problem instead of masking the symptoms. Your engine will thank you for it.

Scotchloks?

I have no problems (fingers crossed) even at the worst it has never gone over the 1/2 way mark. It's just something that i heard other people doing/having and consider it a "belt and braces" sort of thing. Plus, it would be nice to have control to operate when i want it on even if the sensor is still below actuating

I am with the others in that it ain't necessary, you might be just creating more things that could go wrong.

If you do go ahead you will need to bypass the thermo switches with relays, using quite heavy cable to and from the main connectors. The fans use quite a lot of juice. I think I read on here that at full speed they use 300 watts (which is 25 amps ) plus an electric motor presents a HUGE load for a moment on switch on (see note below *) and this causes arcing and subsequent damage to ordinary switch contacts.

Note = the above is why they always say not to use a normal inverter on electric motors.

Reimotim wrote:I fitted one to my MK1 fiesta years back. Very straight forward. But the reason I needed it was because the radiator was shot. Might be worth checking, there must be a reason why it's getting excessively warm.

THIS BIT ^^^

If your cooling system is healthy, you don't need a fan over-ride switch.

You might want one, but the real reason is to help you delay important maintenance but - remember - the thermostat should open and close only a handful of degrees below the fan switch's cut in and out temperatures.

If you're moving, then switching the fan on won't add much to the airflow over the rad. If you're not moving, then the fan should get enough over the rad to bring it below the cut-in temp quite quickly - even in far higher ambients than we get in the UK.

Yes, there's long pipes between engine and rad, but that's not going to make any difference here, since the fan switch is in the rad. The same place as the fan.

Thanks for the comments everyone, just wanted to see if it was a good idea or worth it. Cheers

In theory, no it shouldn't be required at all but I'll be honest, I've got one. Those thermo switches are not noted for a long life span. As Martin once told me, at VW outlets it was a fairly regular replacement even on T25s a couple of years old.

Personally I'd rather have the option of the chicken switch cos if the thermo switch does fail in a long tailback on a motorway on a hot day, its better than having to keep turning your engine off or whacking the heating on full to try and get the temperature down. This is my second thermo switch in 8 years.

Its an easy enough mod (mine switches fan to full pelt) and handy if the worst should happen so in this instance I'm going against my buddies on this one

The alternative is to carry a spare thermo switch to go with the spare ignition switch, blower switch and all the other bits noted for wearing out.

CovKid wrote:In theory, no it shouldn't be required at all but I'll be honest, I've got one. Those thermo switches are not noted for a long life span. As Martin once told me, at VW outlets it was a fairly regular replacement even on T25s a couple of years

Indeed....working on the whole range of Audi VW vehicles back in the mid 80's, changing radiator thermo switches was as common place as replacing front wishbone rubbers on T25's, which I can tell you was very often lol.
Why 25 years on, when owners owners are faced with overheating issues they regularly change everythin BUT the thermo switch, is beyond me.
Switch replacement should be seen as almost obligatory if overheadting is suspected.

Martin