89 Mirage cooling problems

[JustBrutal]

Hello!!! Just stumbled upon this site out a desperation to fix a problem with a recently purchased 1989 Mitsubishi Mirage.. base model and in light of gas prices these days, my GF drives it to work and back normally. The car is in decent shape and gets around 34 MPG although one problem exists...below 55 miles an hour the temp gauge stays nice and cool but as soon as you hit the highway and drive for a while..especially with the AC on , the gauge goes to the upper limits..runs very hot. I jumped the gun and resigned myself to replace the radiator..ordered one and then noticed ...Theres two fans mounted to the radiator and the one on the driver side never seems to click on..also discovered the fuse box for the fans ..can anyone tell me which fuse to try for the Drivers side fan? Two block fuses , but one is larger than the others. Or possibly recommend a solution, any help would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks

[martinez205]

hey man i don't know much about the fuse information on the fan but one thing you might want to consider is the catalytic converter. If that thing is stopped up it could be building up extra back pressure that could be overheating you engine. I had the same problem on an car of mine. It drove fine under normal conditions but once i got on the freeway the temperature would gradually climb up until it was running hot.

[JustBrutal]

I hadnt thought of that and makes sense Seems the car also hesitates just a bit when the engine is working hard..as in climbing hills and what not . That also a symptom of Converter? My last Mitsubishi a 95 Eclipse turbo black with grey ground effects and ate up Mustang Gts with a few mods..lol unfamiliar with low end ones.Ill check into a catalytic then.

[martinez205]

yeah you might want to get that sucker changed. you can buy a universal one off of ebay and get it welded at a muffler shop. or just have them weld one on from their own inventory.