Fan clutch went out. What are my options?

Camarokidz28

Original poster
Member
Jan 1, 2019
13
Illinois
2005 Buick Rainier 5.3 AWD 142k miles
My stock fan clutch likes to fully engage for no apparent reason. It's 20-40 degrees outside right now and my fan keeps engaging. Sometimes for 3 minutes sometimes for 30 or more. Anywho this is getting old. Stealing power and plummeting my mileage.

I've read about electric fans and mechanical clutches. Pros and cons for both??
I think I would prefer the electric fan idea. However I've read that it can be tricky with the ac. Is there no way to activate the fan off the stock wiring? I would prefer not to wire it to the a/c clutch. I can't fathom spending 200 on the wiring harness from pcmofnc. I have access to a tuner to turn off the CEL. The extra 1 MPG claimed would be nice and getting the extra HP gains sound good too.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
I drank the efan Koolaid and they sucked. Poor cooling and A/C in hot weather and a PITA to adapt. Expensive too.

Best bet is a tune to kill the fan codes and get a regular thermal fan for a 2008/09. Yeah, the electro-viscous were so bad, GM went back to good ol' thermal. You'd also get other benefits from the tune as well. The 5.3 really wakes up with it. @limequat (Jeremy) at lime-swap.com can do this for $99 compared to the hundreds at other places for the V8.

Our radiators are marginal at best and the engineers compensated by using a mechanical fan instead of efans.
 
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Camarokidz28

Original poster
Member
Jan 1, 2019
13
Illinois
I drank the efan Koolaid and they sucked. Poor cooling and A/C in hot weather and a PITA to adapt. Expensive too.

Best bet is a tune to kill the fan codes and get a regular thermal fan for a 2008/09. Yeah, the electro-viscous were so bad, GM went back to good ol' thermal. You'd also get other benefits from the tune as well. The 5.3 really wakes up with it. @limequat (Jeremy) at lime-swap.com can do this for $99 compared to the hundreds at other places for the V8.

Our radiators are marginal at best and the engineers compensated by using a mechanical fan instead of efans.

any specific brand I should look for? I have an HP Tuner than I can get my hands on. I think it's $100 to unlock my vin. But then I could use it in the future too. I read something about going into decreased power mode? Is that a thing? or is it just the CEL

And can you use my fan blades on the mechanical 1?
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
Hayden is our go to brand on these. Dorman is junk.

If you have HP Tuners, you`re golden. You'd have to research on codes and stuff to disable.

Reduced power mode happens only when there is a fault in the throttle system.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
Yes
 

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