overheating EA82

petie · Post by **petie** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:25 pm

Hi everyone, new here.

Just bought a 1989 L series touring wagon after riding a motorbike for ages. Nice to have a roof and aircon and a radio.

Car seems to be in pretty good nick except for this overheating problem. Did a search and found a few threads with people who seem to have the same problem as me.

Drove the car home down the Hume and at 110kmh it got very warm and stayed that way until i slowed it down to about 95kmh. Ran fine around town and seems to have no overheating problems at all. Had the radiator flushed, new coolant and pressure tested the cooling system and it al checked out. Drove it up Mt Ainslie tonight in about 15 degrees outside temp and i had to knock it back to 2nd and it still got really warm. That was with 3 others in the car.

Doesn't seem to be underpowered as such, but definitely lacking. Never driven another L series so can't really say whether its normal or not. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be a timing issue as it seems to have a very odd power curve and feels very underpowered in certain spots in the rev range.

Is it common for the timing on these engines to be out? I have a Haynes workshop manual and it seems to point to timing but not definitively enough for me to go messing about there. Haven't got a bloody garage whre i'm living nor have i got my tools. Any tips on making a definitive diagnosis before i go sending it to a mechanic?

Cheers

petie · Post by **petie** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:04 am

any other suggestions as to what coud be causing the overheating??? Happened again today, cruising at about 3500 RPM in 4th gear and it just keeps getting hotter. Surely the OEM cooling isn't this bad? And i think there is definitely something going on fuelling/ignition wise as it does very little and hunts a bit unless the foot is to the floor. its MPFI by the way. Do those symptoms ring any bells for anyone?

Busdriver · Post by **Busdriver** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:08 pm

Get the Radiator rodded out.Or get a new one.
These cars are borderline at best when it comes to keeping their cool and need everything going for them that they can get. A lot of people have played around with bigger radiators and fitting more fans so that should tell you something.
Your symptoms of o/heating sound a lot like mine did last year, got hot on highway and just kept getting hotter until I slowed down, but not too bad around town.Only a new radiator fixed mine.
They only hold about 5.5 litres of water, so once it heats up it takes a lot of cooling.
As for your running probs, maybe try some injector cleaner and see if that helps?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:42 am

Busdriver wrote:Get the Radiator rodded out.Or get a new one.

BINGO! Flushing the radiator on the L's only removes the loose crud - there'll be plenty more stuck in the cooling channels of the radiator. Rodding the radiator involves removing one end of the radiator then inserting a rod carefully down each channel to remove the crud, then flush before refitting the end tank and re-installing in the car. This will make a massive improvement on what you're experiencing atm.

As for the power thing - check your timing, it should be 20 degrees before top dead centre for the MPFI. These subi's are generally underpowered at the best of times - but the MPFI is the best option if you don't have a turbo bolted to it...

If you look after the engine and don't over rev it'll keep going hastle free for many years to come.

Once you're tired of the MPFI, go the EJ conversion

Cheers

Bennie

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:42 pm

Yep - new radiator will fix this. Did for me.

Battlewagon · Post by **Battlewagon** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:18 pm

Check your radiator hoses. If they are soft (especially the bottom one) they could be collapsing and shutting down water flow.
Get the motor up to operating temperature, bring it up to 3000 rpm and watch the hoses.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:36 pm

Battlewagon wrote:Check your radiator hoses. If they are soft (especially the bottom one) they could be collapsing and shutting down water flow.
Get the motor up to operating temperature, bring it up to 3000 rpm and watch the hoses.

I've never heard of this happening before! If your lower radiator hose is collapsing you must have a lack of coolant, a dodgy rad cap or a clogged radiator - old hoses will usually start to bludge, even my inlet hose has been the same - they have trouble keeping the pressure from heated coolant hense the buldging...

I was also thinking that another problem can sometimes be the water pump's prop rusting out so it can no longer pump sufficent coolant around the engine. If you don't know the water pump's history this may be another item to look at if the radiator clean out/new rad doesn't sort the problem (or if you replace the timing belts its a good time to replace the water pump).

Cheers

Bennie

petie · Post by **petie** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:32 pm

cheers for the replies everyone, will have a look at it tomorrow and see what the deal is. Now that its been mentioned it makes sense that a few cores might be blocked.

I think power now is just normal, ran OK with just one in it, then bloody died as soon as there were 3 plus luggage:p will pull the plugs out tomorrow and see what they look like though just to check.

Doom Buggy · Post by **Doom Buggy** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:54 am

G'day guys my names Danny, I have a 1989 subaru l series love the car has taken me on many great adventure.
The car has never overheated on the streets but i took it to stockton beach and found it was constantly over heating ever few hundred metres just wondering whether ne one has ne advice to help with this problem, I am thinking about fitting a second thermo fan, do you think this would help ??

cheers Danny Bhoy

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:12 pm

chalk up another who says get the radiator serviced

no one mentioned replace the thermostat

you should be able to test the water pump by disconnecting the heater hose at back of engine when cold then start to see the rate of flow

Whoo Hoo Mt Ainslie Drive is an excellent test strip, bar the roos. I know many used to gauge a cars worth by checking its speed from start to the first dip in the road - if it hit the old ton you were doing well !!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:18 pm

Doom Buggy wrote:I am thinking about fitting a second thermo fan, do you think this would help ??

If you don't have a mechanical fan AND the factory thermo for AC then I say YES! Other things to consider are all the bits and pieces of advice given in this thread already as your L may be showing early signs of clogged radiator etc etc.

Cheers

Bennie

petie · Post by **petie** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:58 pm

Had the thermostat changed over when it got the flush so that should be alright. I was under the impression that it had a new radiator about 5 years ago, but it only had a core and flush. So could be due again? Pulled a plug out this arvo and the electrode was quite white, but with carbon/soot on the insulating material. I'm not sure whether that means it's running too hot or too rich. It doesn't idle very smoothly either and idles at about 400rpm. I'm starting to think that its maybe pointing to dodgy ignition timing? Looks like it's had plug leads replaced but according to receipts the distributor had a new cap in 07... Could it be slightly out timing wise and thats where all the problems are coming from?

petie · Post by **petie** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:36 pm

Ok looks like i've found the issue. Theres a sensor that screws in just under the thermostat which is leaking under pressure. nothing evident when idling, however once i rev the engine and go back to have a look there is a little bit of coolant. I figure the fact that the pressure isn't getting high enough means that it's heating up alot. Not losing too much coolant though which makes me wonder whether there is too much pressure in the system and that has caused this sensor to fail? So hopefully this will solve all the issues!

Real pain that i don't have any tools though as it'd probably take me about 2 seconds to put it in and another 5 to refill the coolant, but now have to take it to a mechanic.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:35 pm

petie wrote:I figure the fact that the pressure isn't getting high enough means that it's heating up alot. Not losing too much coolant though which makes me wonder whether there is too much pressure in the system and that has caused this sensor to fail? So hopefully this will solve all the issues!

The pressure is used to increase the boiling point of the coolant - my old torana used to sometimes run at 114 degrees C when towing on a hot day without any problems, that said, it was a cast block so no warping issues. The subi block may be different to warping issues but should still beable to safely run a couple of degrees above 100 degrees C without boiling...

I think the problem you have found is not the real problem - my EA82 has a wheeping joint that I'm not bothered to fix and it goes pretty good. But then again, I got rid of my cooling issues with an all copper/brass 3 core radiator - complete overkill but I don't have to worry about temp anymore

I do hope the leak you've found is the problem...

Good luck with it!

Bennie

petie · Post by **petie** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:24 pm

Well this morning before work i had a good hard look at the car because i realised that the temp sensors are actually encased in a brass(or something similar) plug so couldn't leak unless they were REALLY corroded. Looked about an inch away and there was a suspicious hose which i found had a few tiny splits which were not evident at idle, however opened up under pressure. Pulled the hose off, chopped the split area off (was only very close to the end) and put it back on. Am yet to test this, but i reckon it's probably all sorted!! There was quite a bit of gunk on the hose though so am slightly worried that there still may be the original suggestion of a blocked radiator:(

El Fredo, what sort of radiator is that? If i take the car into Natrad or a similar cooling place would they be able to source a bigger radiator? Cooling and Fuelling are my two worst nightmares for all things mechanical. Would be great to not have to worry about coolng anymore!!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:57 pm

Petie I know the hose you're talking about - there's another one on the other side of the inlet maifold (on passenger's side) just below the carbie/throttle body (for MPFI engines), its a pain to get to and I've found a few to leak over time in the same way you've mentioned. Probabily be best to check that out and see what its doing.

The radiator I have is a custom made unit from Aussie Desert Coolers. I could've got a new standard radiator for $333 or an all brass/copper single core for $350 (from memory, it was somewhere near this price) the 3 core for $450 and rid myself of the evil plastic end tanks that were my problem - I blew two of them apart on different radiators (original then a second hand unit), one unfortunately destroyed a freshly rebuilt engine

I've never had much to do with cooling places so I don't know what they would offer you. The cheapest fix would be to rod the core and pressure test - If you keep your car from overheating you reduce the risk of blowing an end tank, they weaken when they've been overheated too many times or too much in one sitting.

I did hear that there are 2 core radiators around somewhere but can't remember where the guy was located. Apparently these came out in Japan but not in Oz... makes sense really

Hope this is of some value.

Cheers

Bennie

subarooster · Post by **subarooster** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:13 pm

"Doesn't seem to be underpowered as such, but definitely lacking. Never driven another L series so can't really say whether its normal or not. It seems to have a very odd power curve and feels very underpowered in certain spots in the rev range."

lol EA82 POWER!

petie · Post by **petie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:53 pm

subarooster wrote:"Doesn't seem to be underpowered as such, but definitely lacking. Never driven another L series so can't really say whether its normal or not. It seems to have a very odd power curve and feels very underpowered in certain spots in the rev range."

lol EA82 POWER!

cool, well at least that sorts that problem out then!:p just wasn't sure if it was being shit or not.

Pulled the plugs today and unfortunately they are very white and eroded so it's been running hot i guess. time for a new radiator!! The hose certainly fixed alot of the problem but any hill at 110kmh or actually any length of time at that speed (30 minutes plus) sees the needle tickling the red area. hope i haven't cooked the engine! Doesn't sound like anythings wrong at the moment, but i reckon i'll drop the oil after the new radiator and put in some fresh plugs and maybe even a new air filter. Should do some good. Is there any benefit in putting an aftermarket filter into the MPFI cars? Will the fuel injection compensate all the extra air with extra fuel or am i just imagining things? Seems so silly to be restricting the engine with such a small intake and airbox!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:46 am

when you consider the main 'restriction' of most engines is the throttle plate and just how little it is open during normal driving the intake for your air filter is nothing of a restriction unless you are a WOT WOT (full throttle kinda driver) and even then....

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:15 am

Simple test , rig a pressure gauge to the airbox down stream of the filter element . If pressure drops below atmospheric then yes the system/element may be lacking . This is called a drop test .

AFAIK the MPFI uses the same airbox and element as the turbo version .
Usually the element is the first and easiest thing to improve on .
I dislike pod filters because they draw warm air from the bay and low restriction ones emit all kinds of sounds that production cars don't .

IMO Pipercross are the best performance elements .

A .

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