1999 Vitara 4wd 4door : Remove the radiator fan

[Rhubarbe]

Hi,
I would like to remove the original radiator's fan and replace it with a 12v electric fan with a on/off switch for two reasons :
I live in the region of Saguenay in Canada where we have an almost 9 months winter during which temperature can frequently go down under -22F.
In such condition, I have to start the engine and wait several minutes until I can drive my car so it gets warm as everyone do here but I belive that the radiator fan is completely useless at this time and my engine takes longer to warm up.
By replacing the radiator's fan, I would be able to stop it in cold weather and start it when it's warmer like 50F+.
The other reason is that I think that I would be able to obtain a bit more HPs/Torque by removing this strap and plugging the electric fan on my alternator.

What do you think about it, has any of you tried it on their Vitara?

Thanks for your advices!

Mark

[murcod]

Hi Mark, there are a couple of recent threads on here along the same lines (try doing a quick "advanced search" in this section and you should find them.) I'm looking into doing something similar on my XL-7 in the next couple of months.

One point though is that the engine might take longer to warm up. It sounds strange but that's what happened with another similar vehicle that I converted to electric thermofan. I guess it might be because the fan provides a load against the engine and that helps it warm up quicker?

You will get more power and the fuel economy should improve too.