Hello gents-

The title says it all- I am wanting to know if anyone is familiar with “push in” temperature probes that go stuck in between the radiator fins. Reason I am asking is because I currently don’t have any sensor powering my auxiliary electric fan: let me explain:

a long time ago, I realized the auxiliary was not coming on, so I just cut the wires right at the switch (in the right hand side of the radiator) and soldered a longer wire to each of those wires and ran that inside the cabin with a toggle switch at the end where I could turn the fan on and of at my pleasure—— I hope I expressed that clearly.

Eventually I wired the aux fan to come on with the compressor, as suggested by a TSB, which is what it does now, I technically no longer have use for the toggle switch, but I do want the fan to be able to come on and possibly stay on if the car gets too hot it the ac is not on or other necessary conditions.

Now, I have a 185 switch in a box which can replace the stock switch in the proper place, but since I don’t feel like dealing with all the spilt coolant, and extra work, I bought a push in probe :


It comes on at 190 and goes of at 175. On really hot days it will likely keep the aux fan running for a bit.

My only fear with this relatively cheap aftermarket probe is that it may fail and keep the fan running indefinitely- I don’t fear a flat battery, but I am afraid of things coming on by themselves in the garage and causing an engine fire.

So is anyone familiar with this type of temperature fan switch? Are they pretty reliable?

 

What year is your car? Does it not have the thermal switch in the water pump? On the 6.0. that switch controls the relay which turns on the fan. Item 12 on the diagram: https://www.jaguarclassicparts.com/u...pipe-5-3-litre

The switch is a spade connector, so no need to cut wires.

I have never used a probe stuck in the fins, so I don't know how accurate might be.

 

i use a fin probe for my main electric fan, its adjustable so once set for on /off temps , good to go.
mine comes on at 175/180F using an engine mounted digital sensor, rear of left cylinder head, which is the hottest part of the V12 engine! (poor circulation)!
small elecrtic fan comes on by factory thermo control, altho i can override it by AC on!
ron

most Jag V12s went down because of overheating,, around 75% of them , shame engineering!

 

On the 4.0 there is this aux fan switch On the radiator



several years ago I realized my switch was not coming on, so I cut the wires at the switch and soldered longer wires with a toggle switch at the end in my cabin. Since that time I have also wired the aux to come on with the compressor.

I have now now gotten rid of the toggle switch in the cabin, but would like to have a working switch that can come on independent of the compressor and possibly stay on if necessary for a bit to cool the car down on particularly hot days. The original dud switch is still in its place in the radiator. Since I am trying to avoid removing it and dealing with all the spilt coolant I am wanting to use the pin switch stuck in the radiator

 

Spike
My hard-won experience is that no aftermarket system can reliably control the electric fan in the way that the OEM switch does. I would syphon enough coolant out of the rad bleed hole to allow the thermoswitch to be removed and replace it.

 

Thanks Greg- I usually agree that OEM is always the way to go, but the problem is that the facelift switches often do not work, and if they do, they are 210 degree, I believe. Either way an aftermarket switch has to go in, unless I can find another OEM radiator switch from another maker that can fit in there

 

There are endless variations of switch that will fit where the oem one is - you just need to decide what temp range you want, eg: https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/...grid&orderBy=0

 

or have an adjustable switch, set the temp you prefer and bedone with it!

modern cooling systems are way to hot from my experiance , they are border line boilover especially the V12 (it is one huge boiler getting ready to blow).

and i'm not gonna drive enough to wear the engine out because of oil not hot enough!

i have seen many cars go more than 150K miles with coolant temps around 170F!
ron

 

I use one to control my twin 6" fan set up on my additional SC radiator. It's part of a circuit that is electronically controllable for switch on temps.

Had it installed quite a while with no problems at all.

 

Thanks for the replies- sounds like at least a few of us are using them successfully, so I feel better about installing one in the car now.

 

For anyone following this, I went ahead and installed a Wahler 180 degree switch in the place of the original dud radiator switch. I could not find a place in the radiator to fit the probe sensor. The probe sensor I bought cost 20.00 and if anyone is interested in buying it for 10, you can have it.