FMog

FMog

Active Member
So there is this Kenlowe fan installed (I use the term 'installed' quite lightly here) in the Defender I picked up.

I noticed it wasn't working, and a blow-torch wouldn't even trigger the damn thing, after looking around and messing with switches in the cab, I worked out why, whoever had 'installed' the fan had put all the cables around the body WAY too tight and the body had obviously flexed and snapped the connector on the relay switch. £4 and 20 minutes later the Kenlowe fan was back up and running and would happily kick in with a bit of blowtorch to the copper heat sensor (which also wasn't 'installed' anywhere, mostly just floating around under the hood...) I also notice that the fan is simply 'installed' right on to the radiator, no brackets or anything like that, instead the full weight of the Kenlowe just screwed directly into the radiator :p

So here is my question. Does anyone have some proper instructions on how this thing should be installed, presume the copper sensor should be inside the coolant flow pipe (with a bit of pipe modification)?

Also the engine still has the original fan installed and permanently running, but also with no air baffle, the whole thing being about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Once I have the kenlowe working properly, presume I can just unbolt the original fan? Surely it is just negatively affecting engine performance having it running as well?

I will add pictures later for anyone who is interested.

Any info is much appreciated!
 
FMog said:
So there is this Kenlowe fan installed (I use the term 'installed' quite lightly here) in the Defender I picked up.

I noticed it wasn't working, and a blow-torch wouldn't even trigger the damn thing, after looking around and messing with switches in the cab, I worked out why, whoever had 'installed' the fan had put all the cables around the body WAY too tight and the body had obviously flexed and snapped the connector on the relay switch. £4 and 20 minutes later the Kenlowe fan was back up and running and would happily kick in with a bit of blowtorch to the copper heat sensor (which also wasn't 'installed' anywhere, mostly just floating around under the hood...) I also notice that the fan is simply 'installed' right on to the radiator, no brackets or anything like that, instead the full weight of the Kenlowe just screwed directly into the radiator :p

So here is my question. Does anyone have some proper instructions on how this thing should be installed, presume the copper sensor should be inside the coolant flow pipe (with a bit of pipe modification)?

Also the engine still has the original fan installed and permanently running, but also with no air baffle, the whole thing being about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Once I have the kenlowe working properly, presume I can just unbolt the original fan? Surely it is just negatively affecting engine performance having it running as well?

I will add pictures later for anyone who is interested.

Any info is much appreciated!
Click to expand...

The sensor on the later ones just pushes into the fins of the rad, it should be near the intake pipe from the engine if possible. They are often fitted as you describe, it is not actually easy to fit them with the brackets supplied without a lot of modification.

Probably not what you want to hear, but if it was me, I would get rid of it and get a cowl for the viscous fan instead. 200Tdi run pretty cool, you might not need the cowl unless you are planning heavy towing in hot claimates or similar.

I had twin Kenlowes on my Ninety for a few years, but they proved to be a pain in the butt, always coming on when water splashed over the controller! :rolleyes:

In the end I took them off, they are in a sack underneath my bench, and the standard fan and cowl are back on my landy.
 
I fitted an x-eng thermostatic fan switch to control my fans (twin fans out of a mondeo) as nobody I spoke to had a good word to say about the kenlowe set up in a land rover. Although I have no experience with it apparently, from my research, it work in kit cars used infrequently and in clean dry environments but as soon as it goes near mud or water it is not happy.
Some of the mounting kits for these are also designed using plastic cable tie style things which go through the radiator and attach directly to it so the radiator core is taking the weight of the fan. Again, although I have no experience with them I did not like the idea of that so made up some proper brackets to mount to the radiator frame.
 
Original standard fan design is fine, not sure why anyone pays loads of dosh for an electric fan when landrover fitted a perfectly good one in the first place.
Some may like them but I know of many that rip them out or regret fitting them.
Not sure why previous owner left in the old viscous set up and fitted a kenlow as well?
Guess engine runs fine and no over heating without the kenlow kicking in? in which case rip it out and stick it on fleabay :)
 
Fans normal mounting on two round bars across the engine bay behind the rad,[part of the kit]sensor goes in top rad hose via a special shaped bit of rubber. The old fan is removed it's pointless having both.
 
Personally, I always ditch the power sapping noisy mechanical fan on all my vehicles if possible but I never fit Kenlowe, they are pretty poor these days. A lot of diesels need no fan assistance for the cooling a lot of the time, my P38 with the BMW M57 engine is quite happy with just the aircon fans for cooling when needed.
Warm up in winter is noticeably quicker. Land Rover viscous fans are also regular failure items.
 
tottot said:
Fans normal mounting on two round bars across the engine bay behind the rad,[part of the kit]sensor goes in top rad hose via a special shaped bit of rubber. The old fan is removed it's pointless having both.
Click to expand...

Mine didn't have any bars, just some cheap flat brackets that were supposed to be bolted top and bottom of the twin fan set-up, and then bolted onto the inner wings.

And the newer ones don't have the in hose sensor, they have one that fits between the fins.
 
Hi turboman,I did fit mine twenty years ago and it still works fine although motor did seize after a cold wet summer when is saw no use. One thing with an electric fan is the waterpump has less stress on it. Sound like quality has gone down hill. cheers.
 
tottot said:
Hi turboman,I did fit mine twenty years ago and it still works fine although motor did seize after a cold wet summer when is saw no use. One thing with an electric fan is the waterpump has less stress on it. Sound like quality has gone down hill. cheers.
Click to expand...

Evening, mate! :)

The older ones I have seen fitted on series were much better than the ones I bought in 2010 :(

Take your point bout the waterpump, but to be fair, I haven't had a lot of problems with the pumps, occasionally one has packed up, maybe three on mine in thirty years. The viscous fans sometimes pack up too, but all pretty easy to diagnose and change.

If you want a set to play with, you can have mine if you send me the postage! :D
 
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I fitted a Kenlowe fan a few years ago. The reason I fitted it was I hoped it would give me a faster warm up time and might improve the heaters on my 200 tdi. It didn't make any difference. Mine came with plastic brackets or cable ties. The sensor just pushed through the rad. I also had a thermostat to set the temperature when the fan kicks in. Once fitted mine was quiet secure. It survived a trip across the Sahara with out any problems. For normal running it would only come on a couple of times a year as the 200 tdi is a cool running engine. I recently had to replace the rad ( nothing to do with the Kenlowe) so I reverted back to the Viscos fan and cowling. The Kenlowe fan and all the attachments are now in the back of my garage. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with the original Visco's fan set up. You don't have to worry about electrical connection failures etc. The plastic brackets that came with the Kenlowe fitted very well and held the fan securely against the rad. One advantage of the Kenlowe was it gave you plenty of room to work around the engine, other than that I didn't find any other advantage. They claim it saves fuel but I never noticed any difference. I'm pleased I have reverted back to the Visco fan and will stick with it.
 
Thanks all, some great advice there!

I think i'll do what most of you recommend.

Unless it is a really old Kenlowe (i'll check tomorrow :p) - If it's an old one, i'll leave it in and remove the viscous fan (although to be honest i'm not sure it is a viscous fan, i'll take pictures tomorrow or Monday).

However if it's a post 2k one, i'll remove the kenlowe and leave the kenlowe in, if I do this I will need an air baffle though, anyone have any ideas where I can get a replacement? the defender didn't have one in there.


Would a kenlowe be of any more use to a TD5 owner?

I was hoping a working kenlowe would mean a warmer Defender when it came to winter with the engine getting chance to warm up quicker :p
 
FMog said:
Thanks all, some great advice there!

I think i'll do what most of you recommend.

Unless it is a really old Kenlowe (i'll check tomorrow :p) - If it's an old one, i'll leave it in and remove the viscous fan (although to be honest i'm not sure it is a viscous fan, i'll take pictures tomorrow or Monday).

However if it's a post 2k one, i'll remove the kenlowe and leave the kenlowe in, if I do this I will need an air baffle though, anyone have any ideas where I can get a replacement? the defender didn't have one in there.


Would a kenlowe be of any more use to a TD5 owner?

I was hoping a working kenlowe would mean a warmer Defender when it came to winter with the engine getting chance to warm up quicker :p
Click to expand...

It didn't make any difference to the warm up time on mine. It gets cold here in France. Winter's can get down to -15C and lower. I have to drive through several little villages, the temp gauge didn't move till I reached almost the same spot in the same village. My motto is keep everything standard. That's what they were designed for. Especially when crossing places Like Morocco. Some people on here run their Defenders without any fan in the UK. If you do want to remove the Visco fan you will need the special spanner which can be purchased from Paddocks for a couple of pounds. Makes life a lot easier.

You can find Defender air cowlings on ebay:Land Rover Defender 2.5 DT Rad Cowling Cowl | eBay

Land Rover Defender 2.5 DT Rad Cowling Cowl | eBay
 
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Okay, so checked out the fan last night, it definitely is a viscous fan, but that raises more questions :p

MOG_4508_zpsctm9zuxl.jpg


The Viscous fan always spins, even when starting up from a cold engine. Now I thought the idea was that the viscous fan didn't spin when the oil inside was cold because the oil inside was less viscous when cold, so the fan would remain stationary, but as the oil inside heats up via the engine, the fan begins to spin because the oil becomes more viscous through heat. Or have a misunderstood and does the fan always spin regardless.

Or maybe this is time for a new viscous gear?
 
I think you will find that the fan will spin on start up, when the fan warms up you can stop the fan spinning with a folded news paper. When the engine is hot the fan will spin more again.
Both the old viscous I took off and the new one I fitted are like that. The old one just kept on spinning all the time and when I tried the folded news paper test it nearly took my hand off so it was time to replace it. If you want to take the viscous fan off you will need the special spanner which you can buy from Paddocks for a couple of pounds. If I remember correctly I think its a 32mm but bent so you can get at the nut.
 
mikescuba said:
I think you will find that the fan will spin on start up, when the fan warms up you can stop the fan spinning with a folded news paper. When the engine is hot the fan will spin more again.
Both the old viscous I took off and the new one I fitted are like that. The old one just kept on spinning all the time and when I tried the folded news paper test it nearly took my hand off so it was time to replace it. If you want to take the viscous fan off you will need the special spanner which you can buy from Paddocks for a couple of pounds. If I remember correctly I think its a 32mm but bent so you can get at the nut.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips mike, you're a star! :)
 
When you get your fan sorted out you should join us on the next Morocco 2016 trip to test it out.
See link below.
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f15/morocco-march-2016-a-259005-47.html

This was a clip from the last trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bh1Elw_e90

And this is a blog Chris did of the trip. He has a Discovery but has since also purchased a Defender 90, 200 tdi.
http://land-rover-discovery-1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/day-2-morocco-trip.html

The above should get you dreaming. Welcome to Defenders and this site.
 
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mikescuba said:
When you get your fan sorted out you should join us on the next Morocco 2016 trip to test it out.
See link below.
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f15/morocco-march-2016-a-259005-47.html

This was a clip from the last trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bh1Elw_e90

And this is a blog Chris did of the trip. He has a Discovery but has since also purchased a Defender 90, 200 tdi.
"Living with Larry" my Land Rover Discovery 1 300TDI and overland travel: Morocco 4x4 overland tour, day 2

The above should get you dreaming. Welcome to Defenders and this site.
Click to expand...

This looks like a lot of fun, how much would a trip like this with you guys set me back? I would need to get a roof rack and roof tent ;)
 
FMog said:
The Viscous fan always spins, even when starting up from a cold engine. Now I thought the idea was that the viscous fan didn't spin when the oil inside was cold because the oil inside was less viscous when cold, so the fan would remain stationary, but as the oil inside heats up via the engine, the fan begins to spin because the oil becomes more viscous through heat. Or have a misunderstood and does the fan always spin regardless.

Or maybe this is time for a new viscous gear?
Click to expand...

Like mike says^^^^^^^^^^^, they all spin from startup. :)
 
FMog said:
This looks like a lot of fun, how much would a trip like this with you guys set me back? I would need to get a roof rack and roof tent ;)
Click to expand...

If you check the blog you will see none of us had roof tents. Mine was the nearest thing to one, which was one of these two second tents which cost £50 which I opened on my roof rack. Roof tents are expensive.
Cost wise. my friend and I took about £1500 each. Total £3000 between the two of us. We came back with change. That included Ferries, fuel, food, hotels, campsites.and tolls on the french roads. You might need a bit more as you will have to cross the channel.
Food wine and beers we stacked up on here in France. Fuel is cheep out there.
You need to make sure your vehicle is well maintained, You will need a good sleeping bag, mattress and tent. A couple in our group preferred to wild camp rather than stay in the odd hotel like the rest of us did. They camped in the grounds. We only had one breakdown which was a Defender 90. they were going a bit mad. If you take it steady like the rest of us you shouldn't have any problems. Take a rich friend with you to share the cost.
Camping in the forest just south of Tangier. by Michael Wills, on Flickr
 
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I'd go back to the orig fan if I was you. Keep it simple innit. You can find the spanners on ebay for not much dollar
 
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