AzPete
Well-Known Member
Since getting this '66, there has been a cooling issue. First of all it was a old, worn out SPAL fan. No problem....I ordered and received a new one from FlowKooler. for a super price. Then the new fan would cause the rely to melt. No fuse or circuit breaker popping, just the relay gets hot and the pin actually moved in the plastic and shut the fan off. This would happen in 200 miles. The car had Painless wiring for the fan relay so I called Painless. Their fix was go to a 70 amp relay...........reasoning was the start up power draw of 88 amps from the fan. I continued to question them and why they sell the 40 amp for the fan if they say it needs a 70 amp. No answer for that other than the fan must be bad. They say they sell a lot of these and have no complaints.
Called SPAL and they had two techs on the line and could only suggest re-wiring with their harness as they know it works. They felt maybe the Painless was to light weight, especially for the upgraded fan they put out. After more discussion, they gave me a return authorization for the fan, even though I bought it thru FlowKooler. They wanted to check things out for sure plus I sent them the second bad relay. They got the fan and ran it on the bench. Start up was dead on and it draws 17 amps for normal running. All is good.
I talked with them as to why I had these problems and all they could see is a Painless wiring problem. (I hate to buy another harness but.....) The tech says he will include a new relay for me to plug into my harness. I said great and we hung up. Got the fan back today. Included is a complete, new SPAL wiring harness, relay, and fuse setup. That is a $42.00+ item for no cost........
Now, the difference in the two harnesses is night and day. The SPAL system uses much heavier wire all the way around. They also use a fuse vs a circuit breaker. The SPAL techs do not like the circuit breakers on their fans.
So, tomorrow sees me re-wiring the fan system and installing the fan again. I also found the lower hose sucking closed a bit yesterday so I flushed the system today and am installing all new hoses and coolant, and cap. The thermostat John installed has always been right on at 180 so I am keeping it.
Called SPAL and they had two techs on the line and could only suggest re-wiring with their harness as they know it works. They felt maybe the Painless was to light weight, especially for the upgraded fan they put out. After more discussion, they gave me a return authorization for the fan, even though I bought it thru FlowKooler. They wanted to check things out for sure plus I sent them the second bad relay. They got the fan and ran it on the bench. Start up was dead on and it draws 17 amps for normal running. All is good.
I talked with them as to why I had these problems and all they could see is a Painless wiring problem. (I hate to buy another harness but.....) The tech says he will include a new relay for me to plug into my harness. I said great and we hung up. Got the fan back today. Included is a complete, new SPAL wiring harness, relay, and fuse setup. That is a $42.00+ item for no cost........
Now, the difference in the two harnesses is night and day. The SPAL system uses much heavier wire all the way around. They also use a fuse vs a circuit breaker. The SPAL techs do not like the circuit breakers on their fans.
So, tomorrow sees me re-wiring the fan system and installing the fan again. I also found the lower hose sucking closed a bit yesterday so I flushed the system today and am installing all new hoses and coolant, and cap. The thermostat John installed has always been right on at 180 so I am keeping it.