yes, those thermoswitchs do fail after a few years.   A lot of folks just wire up a switch in the dash to turn fan on/off.   But this would require the driver to constantly watch the temp gauge.   You can still buy the thermoswitch I believe.  Like $30.

    My heat quit working a few years ago.   There is a flapper door that is controlled by the hot/cold slide control knob on dash.   Have someone 'watch' to flapper door while you slide up/down for temperature control.

   My ea82 wagon had the flapper door near the gas pedal.   Other's with ea81 may chime in where it is located.    I had to wire my flapper open for full heat.  Works great.  Just don't drive that Soob in the summertime... ha!

after i put the other switch in turned it on and ran it up to temp and the fan still would not come on to about 190-195. maybe i didnt give it enough chance but got nervous so i connected the ground wire again to have fan on all the time.

 

did not overheat. stayed a little above normal point.

 

heater worked great for a couple minutes and then went lukewarm. i ran it about 15 minutes like that. is it possible i have an airpocket in the system? i did let it cool off twice and only had a add a couple more ounces of coolant.

 

i know how to bleed the air out in my legacy and outback but this is a 84gl with the 1.8. it doesnt have a bleed screw on the radiator.i did put the front end higher on jack stands a couple inches above the rear because a member suggested that.

Yes. Park on an incline, turn heat to high, undo the rad cap, and let it run up to temp. You should get at least several bubbles out of it. When my wagon was overhating a while ago i later found out it was just a stupid air bubble.

Edited October 30, 201510 yr by Sapper 157

thanks. will try that.

this sounds dumb but did you try water pump?  Also, try and bypass the heater by connecting the hoses together. Does this help the overheat. i noticed on my Loyale a problem of overheat and bypassed the heater because i thought i had a restriction in heater water flow. . Not sure if it was an air übubble in the heater circuit, but after i replaced my water pump and burped the system and reconnected the heater, the overheat went away. Also run the heater when you refill. 

 

One can grab the lower radiator hose and squeeze it mult times while doing the burp thing. I got bubbles out that way too. If you overheat Subies too long you definitely can warp heads etc. Leaky exhaust can cause overheat.. Also restricted exhaust pipes .

How has the car been going? have you tried burping the system yet?