Questions and Answers

Jeep Cherokee Cooling Fans Q. Hello Vincent, I enjoy reading your advice and the postings on the about.com web site. I have a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, 4.0 liter engine, 4WD, automatic transmission, up country package with skids, towing package, about 100,000 miles, P,S, P/B, etc. Basically all on road use, city driving, etc with some occasional excursions to the mountains. I live in the desert, Las Vegas and it gets hot here.

I've been reading about electric fans as a replacement for the stock clutch fan. It would seem that the electric fan would be less load on the engine/water pump and replacing the clutch fan with an electric might improve mileage, etc.

All I've read has been positive, I was just wondering what experience you may have had with this type of conversion and do the facts bear out that the electric would perform better overall?

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

A. Electric fans do eliminate some load off the engine. It takes about five horsepower to run a typical mechanical cooling fan. So you will gain a small performance increase. You will also gain a small increase in fuel economy.

If you are thinking about doing the conversion on your truck, I would say go for it. Personally I have never done a complete conversion, but I have installed many electric auxiliary cooling fans with no problems.