Do I need an engine mounted cooling fan for Morocco?

Hi, I'm travelling to Morocco this summer and only have an electrical (auxiliary) cooling fan installed on the radiator. Will I need the engine mounted fan with fan clutch as well, or will the auziliary fan suffice in the hot desert air? Hope someone has experience with this...

My experience has shown that a RR Classic in Bosnia has overheated in high temperatures with an electric fan as has a 300 tdi engine in North Africa outside Summer. You need the bog standard fan.

I went to Morocco a few years back and one of our group had an electric fan on his 200 TDi Disco and managed without a problem.

I have run various 200 and 300 Tdi's in southern africa with elecric fans without a problem.

I would suggest adding an overide switch, if only to allow you to test that it's still working! My current motor is a TD5 and in UK I don't think the fan has come on yet!

The Kenlowe site does however advise against electric fan conversions for heavily laden tow vehicles in hot climates - so I guess you may want to re-fit your viscous fan if you have a caravan in tow?

...trying not to br jealous... enjoy Morocco

Thanks guys, helpful replies all round!
My LR has an Isuzu 2.8 TD engine so I guess I'll have to do some serious searching for the original fan and fan clutch! Otherwise, I'll just risk it (I've got an override switch fitted).
Best,
Bram

The problem with electic fans in hot weather is that they will only come on when the water is hot enough at the sensor - a viscous coupled fan will always offer some over engine cooling, an engine is cooled by several means, water, oil and air flow past the block/head other components.

An option would be to run the electric fan all the time via a ballast resisor at say 50% when the themroswitch cuts in it will then offer the path of least resistance and run the fan at 100%. That way your engine is always getting air flow over it.

Option two would be to fit another smaller fan say over the intercooler (if your other fan left some room) which can be switched from the cab and more or less run all the time to offer over engine cooling (might want to duct it slightly so it blows more at the engine than down the side.

An additional oil cooler would also help, come out the stock one, into the secondary and set it up so your constantly running fan cools it.

So many things you could do - I would also take the stat out and drill 4 holes in it, so there is ALWAYS a flow of water through the radiator, always allowing a flow of cool water to pass back into the mix.

Hi everyone who replied to this thread! I'm back from Morocco and the engine never even needed the fan. Amazingly, even driving 60 mph in 56 centigrade the engine kept nice and cool. It's a 2.8 Isuzu turbodiesel from 1989, but obviously built for dire conditions. Rambling about the Moroccan high- and lowlands was fantastic - worth doing if you can stomach the long drive down to the south of Spain.