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oil temp light question


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my wife was driving the full time 4wd a/t 88 turbo gl-10 wagon, she said the oil temp light came on + power light , but also the ac was running and starting to get pretty hot , 1 bar below the red , she shut off the ac and temp gauge came down, i know now it needs a new 2 row radiator , but what about the oil temp gauge, ? i am using castrol 20w 50 gtx , oil was at full mark + coolant was full , thanks

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If you follow your transmission lines they will goto a heat exchanger in the radiator. If you car is running hot and you're giving to to the transmission (which you will in 4wd) then, personally i wouldn't be concerned (well, i would... but i would expect this imo). Since your car is running really hot then the radiator is going to struggle with the transmission and may even heat the oil.

 

I'd think if you fix the radiator up, the tranny will be fine in the future. It'd be my first step, definately. I'm no expert on the matter... but this might shed a little light on the subject. You could also go a transmission cooler if it continues to do it in the future. This is just a radiator for the transmission fluid. Someone might have an opinion on this?

 

The loss of power may be it going into fail safe mode. I'm not sure what you're ECU can do...

 

...Also, the Wagon i was talking about was actually my brothers (84GL Auto). He overheated it carrying wood up a mountain in 4wd... it had non Subaru parts in the cooling system which i was unaware of being my first Subaru. It took him a really long straight to get up to 60mph... so it was a big load of wood he had in the trailer. So, he boiled it... and the AT Temp light came on... he didn't know what it meant, so he kept going.

 

When he got back the thing wouldn't shift into third. Well, he had taken it up there with low oil. Refilled it and it worked like new, but only when hot. So we had a service on the tranny, and the bloke said he had never seen so many metal shavings come out of a gearbox. Turns out my cousin, the previous owner had put it into Reverse while going 60mph accidently. He said it made quite a crunch. That car really impressed me... it was bloody tough little nut to crack (though it never did - sold it and the bloke took it across the desert of Aus...)

 

p.s. I like to sit on the fence when i'm dealing with someone elses car incase you can't tell. Again, i'm no expert... :drunk:

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You could also go a transmission cooler if it continues to do it in the future. This is just a radiator for the transmission fluid. Someone might have an opinion on this?

 

:drunk:

Jim:

I think this is a good idea. Your A/T is putting a strain on your radiator - especially with the hot weather we've had around here. The rad might not even be the problem at all.

 

This is an old school mod that street rodders used to do all the time. You can buy an aftermaket universal trans cooler, or you can sometimes salvage one from a different car. A lot of the european cars come with them stock. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a spot to mount it, and to re-route your transmission lines.

good luck, John

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ok, the radiator will not get hot 3/4 way unless you have the ac on , if the ac is off radiator temp is 1/2 way running 75mpr , ok on a tranny cooler , remember it is a 4 speed a/t full time 4wd wagon , would doing a tranny flush help ?i am still thinking it is a bad radiator , because last summer everything was good ,but different radiator was in it ,

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id guess radiator.

 

the "cooler" in these radiators, is just a 8 inch piece of metal tube, that goes through the 190degree coolant. its not much of a strain on the radiator, as it doesnt cool the tranny too much either.

 

either the rad is screwed, or plugged. make sure water can flow through the fins on the condensor, and radiator. and make sure the radiator still has fins.

 

or take out the ac condensor, it blocks alot of air from the radiator.

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the radiator was check out by a radiator shop , good pressure , all fins, no leaks, my wife drives it , can not take out ac condensor , very hot around here ,it only gets hot [ 3/4 on temp gauge] when the ac is on and running 75mpr

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Is it a 2-row radiator? One of those would help greatly.

 

Running the AC is putting heated air across the radiator, that don't help in the cooling of the coolant, hence the higher engine temp.

 

A tranny cooler mounted in-front of the AC coil will help with the tranny temp issue, but won't really affect the over-all engine temp that much. Still, it's a good idea to install one, makes the tranny happier with cooler fluid.

 

Another thing you could do is to get one of those oil cooler adapters and mount the cooler itself in-front of the AC coil. That will have an effect on the engine temp to an extent, as the cooler oil will help cool the engine down some.

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