Hi guys, just bought an 08 silverado 2500HD that has a mechanically driven fan. The truck is dog when it comes to accelleration and throttle response (feels like the parking brake is on all the time). I've got plans for certain mods like catback, air intake, etc. but was told one of the main reasons for the sluggishness is the mechanical fan instead of electric. Is it worth looking into a conversion to electric? If so, anyone know of any companies providing a kit for this truck? I was told that the Suburban, Avalanche, and other 6.0l Vortec motors have electric fans...can I simply put one of those from the dealer into this truck? Not sure if the radiators are the same even the motors are. Right now, there is so little room between the fan shroud and air intake pipe that I doubt anyone like KN or Volant will be able to get there air intake kits fitted on this truck as it is. Really want to dump the mech fan if possible!
Electric Fan Conversion
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Sounds like someone is pulling your leg......
The mechanical fan IS NOT gonna pull down so much power that it acts like an anchor. It might pull 5-10 hp normal driving. It's not that critical. Here's the tradeoff. When you go to an electric, you need to upgrade your alternator due to the increase in load on the electrical system (10-30 amps running/50-80amps starting)on a system that's already taxed normally, primary wiring to and from the alt needs to be upgraded to handle the increased load. All this is a HP drain at the belt. You've just transferred the drain from one pulley to another. And you need to match the thermostat on the fan to kick in when the computer needs it to. Just setting it to 195 isn't good enough anymore. If you set it too low you can trip a CEL light, if you set it too high you can roast the engine.
What you're feeling is a poor hp to weight ratio. TOO MUCH weight for the hp on tap. Tall gearing(3.42?) 3+ tons of weight, and an engine that apparently doesn't have a lot of low end power.
If the fan is cooling the engine adequately leave it. Work on areas that need to be addressed, like the restrictive intake, exhaust, gearing change, and get either a handheld programmer or a custom tune to accentuate the mods that you put on.
Larry
The mechanical fan IS NOT gonna pull down so much power that it acts like an anchor. It might pull 5-10 hp normal driving. It's not that critical. Here's the tradeoff. When you go to an electric, you need to upgrade your alternator due to the increase in load on the electrical system (10-30 amps running/50-80amps starting)on a system that's already taxed normally, primary wiring to and from the alt needs to be upgraded to handle the increased load. All this is a HP drain at the belt. You've just transferred the drain from one pulley to another. And you need to match the thermostat on the fan to kick in when the computer needs it to. Just setting it to 195 isn't good enough anymore. If you set it too low you can trip a CEL light, if you set it too high you can roast the engine.
What you're feeling is a poor hp to weight ratio. TOO MUCH weight for the hp on tap. Tall gearing(3.42?) 3+ tons of weight, and an engine that apparently doesn't have a lot of low end power.
If the fan is cooling the engine adequately leave it. Work on areas that need to be addressed, like the restrictive intake, exhaust, gearing change, and get either a handheld programmer or a custom tune to accentuate the mods that you put on.
Larry
Thanks Larry. Yea I talked to few more guys and they said the same. I'll just leave it as it is and focus on intake, exhaust, gearing, and tuning. I should be happy after those mods, I hope. The only fear I have on the intake is there is so little room between the stock fan shroud and throttle body to fit an after market kit. Even the stock intake tube is shaped to avoid the shroud which increases restriction big time. Looks like a big dent in the tube. Got a Volant kit coming out and will see how that works. Thanks again.
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