Electric Fan, Soft Start, Contour Upgrade

revhead347

Apparently my ex-husband made that mistake.
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Jun 14, 2004
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Acworth, GA
So I have decided to finally get around to putting a better fan on my car, which means a Contour fan. I've been reading quite a bit tonight, but it would appear this can be done with the factory CCRM. Does anyone know of a soft start mechanism that can be used that is not part of a dedicated fan controller.

Kurt
 
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Use the Contour low speed as main fan speed, relay for low speed triggered/controlled/turned on by the CCRM. Wire high speed relay to a toggle for backup if needed.

By using low speed there is not a large load spike. To be honest I can barely hear low speed running when the car is off.
 
Use the Contour low speed as main fan speed, relay for low speed triggered/controlled/turned on by the CCRM. Wire high speed relay to a toggle for backup if needed.

By using low speed there is not a large load spike. To be honest I can barely hear low speed running when the car is off.
Honest question here. The CCRM has a low speed, and high speed circuit already in it. Why not just use that functionality? Naturally the temperature rise will trigger the low speed first, which will buffer the spike when the high speed comes on. As hot as this car runs, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need high speed very frequently.

Kurt
 
I'm not familiar of what functions the CCRM has. I know it does a few things and they can corrode and fail.

Now that I think about it, it would have high and low for the factory e-fan. I am not sure how much softer of a low speed start you are trying to achieve (or would even need).

If the factory fan did not have external relays I would still suggest a pair of 70 Amp relays, triggered by the CCRM. One relay for high, one for low.
 
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I'm not familiar of what functions the CCRM has. I know it does a few things and they can corrode and fail.

Now that I think about it, it would have high and low for the factory e-fan. I am not sure how much softer of a low speed start you are trying to achieve (or would even need).

If the factory fan did not have external relays I would still suggest a pair of 70 Amp relays, triggered by the CCRM. One relay for high, one for low.
I might go that route (using the CCRM to trigger a second set of relays). It's probably the safest bet anyway. I was just thinking of keeping it simple, and reducing the number of relays that could fail. A lot of these independent fan controllers have a soft start feature that keeps the fan from spike loading to 70 amps when the fan kicks on. I was hoping I could get the soft start with out the fan controller as the SN95 ECM already has fan control. It would keep a lot of load off the CCRM.

Kurt
 
A lot of these independent fan controllers have a soft start feature that keeps the fan from spike loading to 70 amps when the fan kicks on.
I don't get it. Everyone seems afraid of the Contour fans starting (with the potential of a power spike). Think of it this way... ECU (or a controller) firing a relay rated at 70 amps is exactly how the Contour/Mystique/Cougar did it from the factory. They made 100's of thousands of these cars, ALL using this system for the fans (that we are trying to use). I have NEVER heard of a Contour having issues with the relays or fans. Just use the factory sized wires, relays and you will not have an issue.

Contours used a 130 amp alternator as well. I have personally owned 3 Contours for a total of over 750,000 kms and NEVER a fan/relay/fan wiring issue or power spike issue. Don't fear how the factory did it - why re-invent the wheel. A soft start is not needed.
 
I don't get it. Everyone seems afraid of the Contour fans starting (with the potential of a power spike). Think of it this way... ECU (or a controller) firing a relay rated at 70 amps is exactly how the Contour/Mystique/Cougar did it from the factory. They made 100's of thousands of these cars, ALL using this system for the fans (that we are trying to use). I have NEVER heard of a Contour having issues with the relays or fans. Just use the factory sized wires, relays and you will not have an issue.

Contours used a 130 amp alternator as well. I have personally owned 3 Contours for a total of over 750,000 kms and NEVER a fan/relay/fan wiring issue or power spike issue. Don't fear how the factory did it - why re-invent the wheel. A soft start is not needed.
You and I are of the same mindset. I am just proceeding with an abundance of caution. I am pretty confident that if I plug the factory CCRM into the fan, it will work fine. I am fairly certain that Ford maintained the same engineering standards between 95' and 00'. If anything, I might have to install a slow blow fuse on the circuit to handle the spike.

Kurt
 
What is the factory fusing on your year (as you did have factory e-fan)? Contour uses a 60 fuse to power both relays.

IMG_0811.JPG IMG_0812.JPG
Factory Contour relay portion of engine bay fuse box. Middle of the 3 mega fuses is the 60 used for the fans. The other 2 are now spares.

Contour Fans Schematic with AC.jpg

How I wired my systems (both my Mustang and F150). Wire sizes are factory Contour sizes.
 
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What is the factory fusing on your year (as you did have factory e-fan)? Contour uses a 60 fuse to power both relays.

IMG_0811.JPG IMG_0812.JPG
Factory Contour relay portion of engine bay fuse box. Middle of the 3 mega fuses is the 60 used for the fans. The other 2 are now spares.

Contour Fans Schematic with AC.jpg

How I wired my systems (both my Mustang and F150). Wire sizes are factory Contour sizes.
I'll have to look into that. Thank you for replying. My bathroom tub started leaking last week, and this instantly got thrown on the back burner. I'm about 7 days into a $10k bathroom remodel, so it might be awhile.

Thanks,
Kurt
 
Hey Kurt the stock 94+ fan isn’t cutting it? I see no temp issues with my car and we see the same weather as we live somewhat close
Sorry, fricken bathroom has had me tied up. Found a second water leak, gutters are leaking into the soffets. So it's new gutter time too.

The car has always had temperature creep in traffic. I would say it's actually hotter where you live. If I have airflow it will stay dead steady around 190 degrees. Too many stop lights, and it starts creeping north of 220. I've heard the 98' and older AC condensors can restrict flow, but it's definitely an air flow problem.

Kurt
 
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Sorry, fricken bathroom has had me tied up. Found a second water leak, gutters are leaking into the soffets. So it's new gutter time too.

The car has always had temperature creep in traffic. I would say it's actually hotter where you live. If I have airflow it will stay dead steady around 190 degrees. Too many stop lights, and it starts creeping north of 220. I've heard the 98' and older AC condensors can restrict flow, but it's definitely an air flow problem.

Kurt
The joys of home ownership lol.

I know it’ll be hot as hell outside and I pretty much never see anything over the 180* I have the stock fan cutting on at. Maybe like 182* or so then it comes back down. Granted I don’t have an a/c condenser in front of the radiator, but It’s tough to fathom it would equate to 40*+ of temperature difference.

Of Course I’ve been wrong before.

You confirmed the “high” speed of the fan is coming on? I’ve actually got mine wired to only use the high speed portion of the wiring. Didn’t even bother to use a soft start controller or anything, just a straight leash relay. I see a minuscule rpm drop when it comes on, but I have to be really paying attention to even notice.
 
The joys of home ownership lol.

I know it’ll be hot as hell outside and I pretty much never see anything over the 180* I have the stock fan cutting on at. Maybe like 182* or so then it comes back down. Granted I don’t have an a/c condenser in front of the radiator, but It’s tough to fathom it would equate to 40*+ of temperature difference.

Of Course I’ve been wrong before.

You confirmed the “high” speed of the fan is coming on? I’ve actually got mine wired to only use the high speed portion of the wiring. Didn’t even bother to use a soft start controller or anything, just a straight leash relay. I see a minuscule rpm drop when it comes on, but I have to be really paying attention to even notice.

The house thing never ends. New gutters went up today. Went to put the inset medicine cabinet in the wall only to find that the drainage vents were run right through that small section of wall, so that all has to be re routed.

The fan is coming on high speed. I generally don't have too much trouble keeping it cool with the AC off. It's my balls that overheat in those conditions. If I leave the AC off, it stays below 200 generally. Well within the acceptable range. I'm trying to get more air through it so I don't have to make any compromises.

Kurt
 
I just did a 5 hour trip today with AC going the whole time. I had my low speed fan on whole time as well. Temps outside were 86-90*F and 105*F with the humidity.

With fan switched off coolant temp would climb to just below triggering low speed while driving (AC off) which is 205*F. With low speed manually turned on and AC on, Temps stayed lower, I would estimate around 180 or so (that's the t-stat I have).
 
The house thing never ends. New gutters went up today. Went to put the inset medicine cabinet in the wall only to find that the drainage vents were run right through that small section of wall, so that all has to be re routed.

The fan is coming on high speed. I generally don't have too much trouble keeping it cool with the AC off. It's my balls that overheat in those conditions. If I leave the AC off, it stays below 200 generally. Well within the acceptable range. I'm trying to get more air through it so I don't have to make any compromises.

Kurt
Just lop those balls off, problem solved lol.

You still running the stock radiator?