Frank B Posted July 16, 2005 Share Posted July 16, 2005 89 GL-10 trubo 4wd 5-speed. I'm still working out the bugs on my $150 jewel(now closer to $500.00). And today I charged/converted the A/C. I bought the standard kit from wal-mart and had it done in no time at all. But, the engine will run hot when the A/C is on. I kind of expected that. It will run hot when blasting up a mountain, but not while just driving around normally. I have replaced the waterpump and thermostat and I'm running 50/50 coolant. I suspect the radiator, but it's been replaced. I noticed that it has new Subaru hoses, and it has provisions for the tranny cooler lines. I'm thinking that the previous owner cared enough to take it to a dealer for the repair, but I think they skimped on the radiator. I think they went with a cheap non-turbo universal fit. What I need to know is the thickness on a stock non-turbo car rad, and a heavy duty turbo rad. this one is like 7/8", maybe 1". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 89 GL-10 trubo 4wd 5-speed. The NA radiator is a single core and the turbo radiator is a double core. Sounds like the non turbo radiator was installed, but a new non turbo radiator should cool this engineunder normal conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 i also have 88 turbo awd a/t turbo wagon, it will start to over heat if your running 80-85 mph with the ac on. but 65 -68 runs normal ,and i have a 2 row , but i live where it is very flat , my problem is the fins on the outside may not let enough air into the radiator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 Well it is a single row, but I know that a lot of aftermarket radiators that replace a two row have been made with a single but wider row instead of two. That's why I measured it. This rad will keep the engine cool under "normal" driving, just not when the a/c is on, or when I drive like a knob! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Do you have both the electric fan and the engine driven fan? And does the electric fan come on with the AC compressor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 Yes both fans work. The electric fan doesn't come on with the A/C compressor, but it does come on when the coolant temp comes up. So I guess the temp sensor/switch for it works.It's wierd how it happens. I have been driving the car for a few weeks now, under many different conditions and outside temps and the only time it runs at a higher temp is when I drive hard, and then it takes a while to get hot. It usually rides at the 3rd or 4th bar up on the digi guage. 15 seconds afterI turn on the A/C, it jumps up to the 5th bar, then steadily climbs. Sometimes it just will jump up to the highest green bar. I turn off the A/C, and the temp comes down. I Am going with the idea that the rad is too small. But I am also going to install an after market temp guage to see exactly what the temp is. Thanks for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TahoeFerrari Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 Yes both fans work. The electric fan doesn't come on with the A/C compressor, but it does come on when the coolant temp comes up. So I guess the temp sensor/switch for it works. I think that is at least part of your problem. The electric fan should run at least part time anytime the a/c is on. I believe this is an attempt to get a "jump" on getting more air flow through the radiator before it builds up too much heat from the increased load of driving the a/c compressor. I have two spfi ea82s - one with a Hitachi a/c compressor ('87) and one with a Mitsu************a (Panasonic) compressor ('89) - which pretty much covers the different a/c configurations available in the EA82 engined cars. With both, there is a fan relay in parallel with the radiator-mounted thermoswitch for the electric fan. This relay is controlled by a "pressure switch" in the a/c system. With the Hitachi system the electric fan seems to cycle on and off when the a/c is turned on. The hotter it gets, the longer it stays on. With the Mitsu************a system, the electric fan comes on full time when the a/c is on. In both cases this is done by the fan relay (unless, of course, the fan has already been turned on by the thermoswitch). NOTE: With the Hitachi compressor, the fan usually will NOT come on immediately when the a/c is turned on like the Mitsu************a compressored system will, but may take as long as 5-10 minutes depending on how hot it is (air temp). The a/c fan relay is located on the right (passenger) side up behind the strut tower. It's next to the 15 amp fuse for the a/c system (look for a fuse holder cover with "15A" on it or just a blue 15A fuse if the cover is missing). The relay is the outboard one and has a yellow wire with a white stripe on it. If you ground that wire, the fan will run. So you might have bad relay or maybe the afore mentioned "pressure switch" is bad. My vote is for the relay - I think it's just regular headlight relay. I've never had to figure out where that switch is, but it may be up in the right front corner of engine compartment where a/c line passes in front of the charcoal canister and goes into the a/c accumulator. According to the wiring diagram, the pressure switch has 12v on one side and nothing on the other when the a/c is not running. When the a/c system is pressurized, it supplies 12v to the a/c relay which in turn supplies ground to the electric fan. Check it out! Isn't censorship wonderful? Won't let me type Mitsu*s*h*i*t*a without resorting to a little trickery!!! So now it stands out much better. Good grief! Mitsu************a Mitsu************a Mitsu************a. HA HA. Panasonic, Panasonic, Panasonic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 the XT6 radiator is even larger than your turbo radiator and i know a guy running your two core turbo radiator in place of the XT6 radiator in his XT6 in Hawaii with no problems. it's a smaller radiator and has smaller input/outputs and he said it never overheats so i'm assuming it's not your radiator. this is assuming your radiator isn't clogged at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All_talk Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 I'm betting its a bad radiator. I had a similar problem with my RX, so I borrowed the brand new single core from my wagon, it was fine on flat ground or low speed, but I still saw some higher temps climbing the pass with the A/C on. I'm now running an "all metal" two core and I can climb the pass at 75mph (about 4 miles at 2-6psi boost), with the A/C on max and never see more than 2/3 on the gauge. Gary P.S. from what I've been able to find only the turbo cars with the auto trans got the two rows from the factory, all the rest were singles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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