skinnyhb Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 alright, im installing a new radiator and following instructions on the how to keep... manual. maybe im retarded, but i can't seem to find the radiator ground wire. any suggestions on where to look? i understand it is on the top of the radiator, but i cant see anything there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrap487 Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 alright, im installing a new radiator and following instructions on the how to keep... manual. maybe im retarded, but i can't seem to find the radiator ground wire. any suggestions on where to look? i understand it is on the top of the radiator, but i cant see anything there. radiator ground wire???? maybe I dont know... but I dont think there is any need for a ground wire for a radiator... nothing electrical or anything. is it for an electric fan maybe? well there should be a ground wire that comes off the fan somewhere, and you can attach that to any part of the body/frame, like crimp one of those O connectors on it and put it under a bolt or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnyhb Posted March 25, 2006 Author Share Posted March 25, 2006 also, im having way too much trouble disconnecting the wiring male and female connectors from the fan and thermoswitch. what am i doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 ea81 series has a radiator ground wire from radiator to radiator support ea82 series does not have a radiator ground, but it is good to run one from thermostat housing to back side of radiator look for a hidden locking clip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoostedBalls Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I don't see the need to ground the radiator, you have a fan switch that doesn't need a ground and I think that's it. The connectors on the fan suck! You gotta clean them up good so you can see the tab that has to be pushed in. I would cut that sucker out and just hard wire it, less chance of corrosion anyway. also, im having way too much trouble disconnecting the wiring male and female connectors from the fan and thermoswitch. what am i doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnyhb Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 alright, i just finished putting in the radiator. problems that arose: when i put the new radiator in, the fit was super tight and it rubbed up against the fan assembly, possibly crushing some of whatever are on the back of the radiator, also, the a/c fan shroud would not go back in, do i really need this? the bottom bolts on the other fan would not line up, so i only have two in there now, i dont know if this is just because of the size of my new radiator or what. aannd, i put in too much coolant, thinking for some reason that it took 1 gallon to 1 gallon ratio. so i drained a little and put water in. im just going ot keep filling with water after i run it for a while. all things aside, the car starts, the temp stays down and no leaks that i can find yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I don't run the full shroud on the mechanical fan; I just cut it long enough to serve as a safety shroud. It's close enough to the radiator that it's going to pull air through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnyhb Posted March 26, 2006 Author Share Posted March 26, 2006 o ya, good call on the fan shroud. i think ill do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rllywgn Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 don't cut your fan shroud! it's there for more then just safety... if you got a two row radiator or the "heavy duty" single row that may account for clearance issues or perhaps if the radiator is for an automatic tranny car.. when i installed a two row, i rubbed it against the fins... bent some around but no problems.. it's really tight getting it in with the mechanical fan in place.. rllywgn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86ruguy Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 if your car still has a/c...the flex fan is for the a/c.....the electric fan is the one that should come on when the car warms up......so you need the shroud so you don't blow up your a/c compressor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seattlelegacy Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 I thought the radiator ground wire was to prevent corrosion in the radiator, ie, not letting an electircal charge build up in/on/around the radiator that can cause corrosion (like the type you see around battery terminals...) Jordan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastenova Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 I thought the radiator ground wire was to prevent corrosion in the radiator, ie, not letting an electircal charge build up in/on/around the radiator that can cause corrosion (like the type you see around battery terminals...) Jordan I don't quite get this. The radiator is bolted to the subframe. How is this not providing a ground for the radiator? I must be missing something here... I have the little ground wire on mine, and it just seems ridiculous to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seattlelegacy Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Yeah, it was just a thought. I'll go back to not thinking.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastenova Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Yeah, it was just a thought. I'll go back to not thinking.... LOL, I meant on Subaru's part, not yours. I have heard this before about the radiator, but like I said, is the huge hunk of steel that it's bolted to (the body) not a good enough ground, instead it needs a little wire attaching it to the body??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 if your car still has a/c...the flex fan is for the a/c.....the electric fan is the one that should come on when the car warms up......so you need the shroud so you don't blow up your a/c compressor. The flex fan adds cooling capacity, but it's not connected to the A/C compressor in any way. Not having the shroud won't blow up your compressor- mine's got 265,000 miles on it. Shrouds serve two purposes. The first shrouds were for safety, and were just a plate installed over the top of the radiator to keep hands out of the fan. The second purpose is to draw air through the radiator. In some applications (my 15 passenger Ford van, for example) there's no way you could get enough cooling without the shroud, but in my Subaru, the fan sits less than an inch away from the radiator, and there's no other path for the air to take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSteel Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 the ground wire does serve a purpose well on an ea81 it does anyways, the radiator sits on rubber supports and as such dosent make any contact with the body the thermoswitch (the 1 wire type) needs to get an earth from the radiator to finish the connection and turn on the thermofans also with no grounding wire the radiator trys to ground through the coolant to the engine block which helps speed up the corrosion process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RONAN Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 the ground wire does serve a purpose well on an ea81 it does anyways, the radiator sits on rubber supports and as such dosent make any contact with the body the thermoswitch (the 1 wire type) needs to get an earth from the radiator to finish the connection and turn on the thermofans also with no grounding wire the radiator trys to ground through the coolant to the engine block which helps speed up the corrosion process Total agreement, it works on the same principle as an anode in a home water heater tank, or the bottom of steel hulled houseboats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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