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Good news perhaps

Featured Replies

Well, for what I could get for the Subaru, I dont think I can buy the other Subaru that I want...

 

I mean I probably could but I still have to get the studs off and sent back to the PO before doing anything otherwise.

 

I need help hooking up the radiator fan. It doesnt work and that is going to make keeping the engine cool very difficult.

 

Ive looked around it, but I just dont see how it goes together...

Just rewire it. Get yourself an ignition switched signal (3M wire-tap the ignition switch harness - on the SWITCH side of the plug) and use it to close a relay. Run a fused line from the battery, through the relay, and to the fan. On the other lead for the fan, run it through the themoswitch on the radiator and then to a body ground. It's a really simple circuit. A new relay and new themoswitch (if you even need it) should run you about $20.

 

GD

  • Author

Soo confusing haha :(

 

Its in my garage with an open hood and the book in front of it, and I just blankly stared at it for about 35 mins before going inside

I dont fully understand GD's electrical instructions either... but thats not because he explained it poorly, its because my electrical knowledge is rather simple... relays and such confuse me a bit

 

I'm sure you could find some info on it on howstuffworks.com or something maybe??

I had to read it a few time's,but once I decided that "ignition switched signal" is a power source that goes hot with the key on,the rest made more sense.

 

Of course,I still may be all wrong.

I understand how it works and is supposedly very easy but as mentioned above relays confuse me and then throw in the most stuff in our cars is always hot with a negative trigger that doesn't confuse me its scaawy.

 

mike

IIRC the ignition is positively switched, so you're in luck there. GD's instructions make sense, but I have a good grasp with electronics. When you get all the parts for it, it starts to make more sense.

  • Author

The Legacy I want is only $650...

 

Its local, its on the for sale forum

 

Has 133k and is a 5 speed...

 

I WANT THIS SO BAD. So this Subaru is gonna have to go... Well, if the girlfriend is okay with it lol

I'm not sure how to explain it better - by "ignition switched signal" I meant +12v when the ignition is in ACC, and RUN. You can probe the switch with an ohmeter to find which lead is hot only in those positions (IE: it's not hot in OFF). You use a wire tap - which is just a plastic deal you crimp to the hot lead and it allows you to run another wire off it without soldering or cutting the original wire, etc. Any auto parts store will have them.

 

You run that wire to one side of the relay's coil. The relay is just a switch - it turns on a large current using a small one. The pull-in coil is what does the actual switching. You supply the coil with +12v and it closes the contacts inside the relay. The other side of the coil you just run to any chassis ground.

 

Then you run a wire from the battery terminal to an inline fuse (15 amp should do) and then to one side of the relay's contacts. The other side of the contacts runs to the fan - that is the fan power. It will be turned on when the ignition switch is turned to ACC or RUN - which "pulls-in" the relay coil, and closes the contacts - connecting the line from the battery to the line going to the fan.

 

The other side of the fan has to be grounded to complete the circuit - the stock system uses a ground-controled thermo-switch that's in the passenger side tank of the radiator. You run the ground side of the fan directly to the thermoswitch and then insure that the radiator is properly grounded (there should be a factory ground strap expressly for this pupose on the top of the radiator running to the upper portion of the core support).

 

Is that clearer? :rolleyes:

 

GD

  • Author

I will keep this in mind! That way I can fix this before I get rid of it, its sad, but I really want the Legacy, and being in college, $650 cant come out of any wazoo without putting me in the hospital :P

That Legacy isn't that good of a deal. Last '91 I bought was $200 and I drove it home plus it had no body damage. It needed one injector replaced which I got for $10 at the junk yard.

 

Those are a dime a dozen around these parts. Just have to watch craigslist and jump on em. I put $800 (including buying it and registering it) into that one - timing belt and water pump, injector, trans flush, and resprayed the hood and fender that were peeling (clear coat failure) and sold it for $1500. I don't touch gen 1 Legacies unless they have a straight body, decent interior, and are under $500.

 

That thing is a mess. Will cost more to fix the body than it's worth.

 

GD

  • Author

Thank you :) I had really wanted it, but I will have to rack my brains to get $650, and I really only want to spend like 300-500 on a Subaru that can drive because thats whats most important to me.

 

And drive safely... There was something exposed in the current subaru that got hot, have a nice burn on my clutch leg :(

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