Fitting a Heavy Duty Kenlowe cooling fan
After fitting the intercooler I decided to fit the 14,5 inch electric HD Kenlowe cooling fan I previously have been using on my other Land Rover in Africa. The fan was still in excellent condition and my only concern was the themostat unit. That one had been rattling inside the engine compartment for 90.000 km or so!
The fan I did use is the (old 1996) HD Series Land Rover Kenlowe cooling fan supposed to go in front of the radiator. However after fitting the full size intercooler there was no place anymore so I did design a bracket/frame to take the fan (see picture) and fit it behind the radiator.
At the top the frame is connected to the four bolts holding the radiator top panel. I decided to design it this way because the fan would move together with the radiator. So both units can never touch each other in case of shaking/vibration. At the bottom the bracket is resting inside the groove between radiator and bottom radiator frame plate. A bit like the way the cowl has been fitted on the Land Rover.
I did use basic steel profile and Mig welded it together. The joint does not look very smooth due to an empty C02 gas cylinder.
Two M8 bolts at the top keep the Kenlowe cooling fan in place.
As you can see below the thermostat unit looks a bit shabby. However it was in good working order despite the 90.000km of ratling. I expected at least the copper pipe (sender unit) to be craked/broken but it still worked fine. To make space for the hoses I did cut out some metal of the steel profile.
The electric fan resistor (below) can be fitted if you want to make use out of the ‘boost’ switch. The unit will become very hot so fitting it at a cool place with good heat sink is recommended.
The switch supplied with this electric fan from Kenlowe was never used in my other vehicle and I decided to fit it to the 127 Quadtec. It will go on as soon as the thermostat is switching on the fan. Moving the black button to the left will switch from normal operation to ‘boost’ which is probably twice as fast as the normal turning speed of the fan. I did fit it to the RH side of my steering wheel.
Electric fan switch mounted to dashboard
Does it work?
Main question off course is does it work? So far the cooling has been excellent and it does not switch on at all. For some reason the Tdi does run quite cool, much cooler than the 2,5TD and Series engine. It switched on while entering the city after doing some fast motorway driving. You could see the temerature drop after a while.The complete set up is much more efficient now. The Kenlowe does cover the complete radiator and airflow is much better compared to the old visco unit. There is also no waste of airflow through the gap left of the radiator. (were the old intercooler was fitted).
The engine bay looks much better too since the cowl has been removed. For emergencies I do keep the visco fan in the back. The only dangerous bit is the operation, if for some reason anything fails, thermostat, wire, fuse etc. it will not work and your engine might overheat. For tropical / African conditions I only recommend it as an auxiliary item. So if you do not monitor the temperatue gauge you might end up with an overheated engine. I do, as a routine, check my gauges every few seconds but supose not everybody is doing that. So if you fit a eletric fan as a full replacement make sure all wires are properly connected. sealed and tightened and recheck it’s operation regularly.
Economy & noise:
There should be some kind of improvement in fuel economy and there should also be less engine noise. The noise reduction is best noticed on petrol powered vehicles.
Usefull link: www.kenlowe.com
Update on this article: the Kenlowe fan has now been replace by a Pacet one and inline thermostat + new switch on the dash!
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