Dual Electric Fans for 1988-1998 GM Trucks

If we weren’t such pack rats, the plastic fan shroud and fan would hit the dumpster since they’re no longer necessary with the Perma-Cool fans. The shroud comes out in two pieces, and depending on your application there may be cooling lines, power steering lines, or even a battery cable mounted to it that will need to be relocated.

The stock mechanical fan mounts to the snout of the water pump with four bolts that will need to be reinstalled to hold the pulley in place. We took the fan off without removing the serpentine belt (we meant to, but we forgot) so you probably won’t have to either. If you do take the belt off, check to make sure the belt routing diagram sticker is still stuck in the engine compartment somewhere. Trying to figure out the proper belt routing without it can be infuriating.

Twin 14-inch electric fans are mounted on a 1/8-inch-thick aluminum frame that’s powdercoated to OEM specs for corrosion and chemical resistance. Translation: It will last longer than you will. Perma-Cool then uses a high-quality weatherstripping (same stuff that Mercedes Benz uses) to keep the new mount from making any metal-to-metal contact with your radiator core. The highly efficient electric motors will draw a maximum of 22 amps under the worst conditions. The whole deal slips down into place and bolts into six existing holes on your truck for a clean and easy installation. We had to bend the transmission cooler lines slightly, and route a battery cable through the new Perma-Cool unit, but other than that the fan gets a this-is-too-easy installation rating.

This probe gets a foam pad slipped over it and then you press it in between the fins of the radiator so the fans know when to turn on. The probe must be installed at least 3 inches from the top of the radiator, but make sure the wires coming out of the probe are clear of the moving fans.

Wiring the new fans is cake. The kit comes with a new battery bolt that lets you make a clean connection to the positive battery terminal, and the negative cable from the fans goes to a good body ground

All that’s left to hook up is the air conditioning clutch wire with the Scotch lock that is included in the kit. There are two wires that come off the A/C clutch—either one will work just fine to trigger the fans when you turn on the A/C.

To test the fans, fire up the engine and turn on the A/C. Both electric fans will come alive if you have done everything correctly. With the truck still running, turn the A/C off and let the truck idle until it gets up to operating temperature. The fans will come on by the time the engine reaches 210 degrees F, but they can be adjusted to come on as low as 160 degrees F via a dash pot adjustment.