I am actually following this closely Gary...cause it may help with Rockys problems..he ran as hot as yours before I pulled the T stat..I still dont have a new one yet cause my local Subaru dealer refuses to order parts for the old cars.... I am leaning towards the AC condensor on mine since that is in bad shape and the temp goes up ONLY when the AC is on.

let me go through that check list above and see what happens before you tell me you're out of ideas..that's too scarry!

 

what would a different grade of fuel do?

 

It's a long shot. If your car is pinging (you cant always hear it) thats an uncontorlled explosion in the cylinder. This will make unwanted heat at the worng time and can result in a hotter running engine.

Going to a higher grade of fuel slows down the flamefront (reduces ping) so the heat is managed as per design. Like i siad its a long shot.

When was the last time the tranny was serviced?

 

Does the temperiture rise change with the setting of the coldness of the ac?

 

 

nipper

temp goes up ONLY when the AC is on.

interesting. mine will still go up without the a/c...has to be "hotter" and more demanding conditions though, but will still do it given really, really steep grades up hill. i'll be checking my condensor as well.

is this one viscous fan clutch and one electric clutch?

 

i wonder if the viscous/thermostatic clutch is bad....

 

nipper

is this one viscous fan clutch and one electric clutch?

 

i wonder if the viscous/thermostatic clutch is bad....

 

nipper

 

I know with mine the AC is supposed to be new...but it does drain alot of power when I run it ( I can watch the volt meter drop a bit) along with actual power from the car. It does not get anywhere as close to Garys in the temp guage..but I dont trust mine at all since it never sits on cold even when the car is turned off. I am planning on some aftermarket guages later...after my wagon is back on the road...and I am going to look into the hose thing also. BTW I am running mine without T sat and the electric fan is jumped and runs continually when the car is running. Rad is good ..AC condensor looks like it went threw a war thats why I am leaning towards that

AC COndesnor that will do it. There is a cheap tool for straightining the fins.

 

 

nipper

Well, the system appears to be hampered; its "operational capacity" lowered by some problem. That problem could be one of two types: too much heat, or not enough heat transfer.

 

Too much heat would relate to nipper's remarks about potential undetected pinging.. which I think pretty much speak for themselves. One possibility.

 

The other possibility, decreased heat transfer, would be caused by either an obstruction of air, or an obstruction of coolant, or an obstruction of heat from engine metal to water/coolant.

 

A physical obstruction could be one of two sorts.. collapsing radiator hose, or crud in the engine.

 

A block flush may also help clean out any buildups or residues that could MAYBE be insulating the engine from shedding enough heat to the coolant? In any case, I think that a thorough block flushing is in order. My old man is fond of the big white permatex bottle with lots of warnings on the side.. but I am not sure what he thinks about using that on an aluminum block. Try to avoid getting a lightweight flush solution, by all means,

 

Any potential obstruction of the air flow seems to be ruled out (bumper, condensor fins, etc) so it MUST be either too little flow through the system, or too much heat to try to shunt (in extreme situations.)

 

Good luck, this is a tough one.

both are electric fans and appear to be running well.

 

pulled the radiator and flushed it. blew the radiator and condensor fins out, they looked good. condensor was dirty with bugs/debris, but not enough to cause issue i don't think. still some in there that i couldn't get out, but passing air well, i could feel it coming through.

 

i'm going to move the ATF cooler somewhere not in front of the condensor and replace the top hose. these two things may help.

 

outsidetemps are cooler now, so it'll be hard for me to tell if anything is different for right now.