Hello. My 85 gl 4wd has an electric cooling fan. It turns on when the ignition is turned and stays on constantly. Is this normal? There is black and yellow wire connected together with a jumper coming out of the same harness near cooling fan.  And a black connector and a white connector with nothing going to them. I have no idea what its for or part of issue. The temp gauge in dash does not work either. This rig runs cool. Can barely get heat out of it, and only if its sat idling for 20 minutes

Edited December 22, 201411 yr by Sc91gt

Your temperature controller is bad. Fan should only come on when the temperature raises to the point of tripping it on. Sounds like someone may have hacked your wiring harness to bypass it maybe??? They are not all that expensive. I would get the proper sender and make sure it is hooked up properly. Not only for heat but an engine needs to reach a minimum temperature to run best and I doubt you are reaching it.

Greetings. If your car doesn't heat up you may need to check your thermostat and or flush the heater core. As bratman2 suggested the electric fan is supposed to come on via the sensor on the backside of the radiator.

HI,

I had to short mine,or jump it out as well , because the sending unit is bad.You can find them on Rockauto pretty cheap (1985 SUBARU GL-10 1.8L H4 : Cooling System : Temperature Sender / Sensor) This is where I found mine.The Sender is located in the Left side close to the bottom of the radiator if you are facing the headlights, it just screws into the radiator.You may want to check or just change the thermostat as they are really easy to get to.If no heat still...,IT may be a clogged heater core , or one of those vacuum controlled flappers that directs air flow across the heater core........Good Luck

Okay lets clarify.

 

There are 2 or three issues here.  All in cooling system but all NOT RELATED.

 

1.  The fan is controlled by a simple thermoswitch. This is the one in the radiator.  It's been bypassed with a jumper, mimicing the closed switch, so it's always on.  this is a good sign. the fan works, the circuit is intact.....put a correct switch in it and the fan will work only at high temp.

 

2.  The sending unit for the gauge is either bad or disconnected.  It is a single wire sensor on the thermostat housing (upper rad hose).  Find the wire and hold it to ground with key on, the gague should peg.....if yes.....sender is bad, replace it and you;ll be fixed.  If it doesn't peg when grounded then the cicuit is bad.

 

***note*** the thermoswitch(fan) and the thermosensor(gauge sender) are very similar size and threads....don't confuse them or put the wrong one in the wrong place.

 

3.  Someone has likely removed your thermostat........replace it with a Subaru OE one.

 

Another note*****   Someone had some overheating issues with this car.........get that temp gauge fixed asap........you need to know what the real temp is.  It's being masked by the "hacks" someone has done.

Further to Goyale's last extra note is to get an auxiliary temp gauge that actually tells you the temp of the engine rather than just points at a place on a numberless gauge.

I put a T piece in my heater circuit where an aftermarket temperature sensor was fitted.  Awesomely simple and VERY accurate!

Cheers

Bennie