Aux fan question

[mxl556]

Does anyone know if all 80-83 U.S. e21's came with the electric aux fan in front of the radiator? Or it was part of A/C system and was added when the A/C was installed by the dealer?

Does anyone have a working fan with all the hardware?

Thanks,
Max

[DavidF]

I have a heavy a$$ working OEM fan and brackets from a/c delete car. PM me.

If not worried about originality, light SPAL fan is better, more efficient, solution IMHO.

[ascot]

The auxiliary fan is part of the a/c system.

[mxl556]

Thank you for clarification. It is hard to find a 40 year old information, only a few folks know what these cars used to have before dealers added the options. So no fan on non AC car then.

[Rushfan1]

The auxiliary fan is part of the a/c system.

This is not correct. I have the aux fan and my car did not come with A/C from the factory.

[DavidF]

Ascot: Not true. As said, my non-a/c car has the factory fan

[mxl556]

Thank you everyone- I was looking at the wiring diagrams, parts catalog and A/C retrofit instructions from BEHR and it seems like the aux fan was installed on all U.S. spec cars regardless and was not optional (where things like fog lights were).

[HeliosE21]

It would be interesting to see how the aux fans are attached on the non A/C fitted cars. Based on what I have seen, the fans are attached to the serpentine condensers.

[mxl556]

I was just looking at the attachment points and and the fan is attached to the sides of radiator support (vertical) using L shaped brackets. It goes in the front of the cooling radiator. I believe if there is a condenser for A/C, condenser is attached to the radiator support by itself, it goes between the radiator and the electric fan. Not sure how exactly the condenser is normally mounted.

[DavidF]

Here is a photo of the aux fan and brackets for a non-a/c car...
E21 aux fan.jpg

Here is what I did when adding a/c...
IMG_5883[1].jpg

[waltb]

I removed my original dead fan years ago and modified the mounting brackets and made a few custom pieces to install a high volume Spal fan. Less power draw and I believe it moves much more air.

waltb
'82 320i

[mxl556]

Thanks for the information. I am trying to keep it original and the car has no A/C and missing the fan (it was removed in the past), so that extra fan does not need to be that efficient. I got the original fan from DavidF, so I will just put it in. Wiring is all there, all e21's must have come prewired for it. At least U.S. models.

[typhoon320i]

Does this fan do anything if you don't have A/C? Mine has it, but the rest of the A/C hardware was removed years ago. I was thinking about pulling this out too. Unless it is actually for the radiator.

[DavidF]

USA cars got the fan regardless of a/c. It is controlled by a temp sensor in the radiator and will turn on if the coolant gets too hot…think 100+ days. I would keep it.

With a/c cars, the fan is controlled either by coolant temperature or when a/c is turned on. There is a diode in the circuit of a/c cars the prevents the coolant temp circuit from engaging the a/c compressor. The replaceable diode is located behind the left headlight. If no a/c car, there is just an unused connector behind the headlight.

Does this fan do anything if you don't have A/C? Mine has it, but the rest of the A/C hardware was removed years ago. I was thinking about pulling this out too. Unless it is actually for the radiator.