A Volvo friend lent me a 5-blade, plastic, Volvo cooling fan. These cooling fans are more efficient than the original steel 4-blade fans, because the blades are better shaped, there are 5 of them, and the fan is installed slightly closer to the radiator, so close in fact, that I had to drain the cooling system, and remove the radiator to install it, there is no room to bolt the fan in with my 3-row radiator core in place.

The first impressions are that it certainly moves more air, the temperature doesn't increases when stopping for a traffic light and also when shutting down the engine in the garage, the temperature rises only a quarter on the scale and the needle doesn't go into the white (hot) area on the temperature gauge.

I still believe that a thermostatically controlled electric fan of the right size is the way to go, however I haven't been able to locate the right fan. My "emergency" electric cooling fan is too small and too noisy and because of the space available, there is only room to fit an 12" size electric fan in front of the radiator.

Jim