Hey guys im brand new to this forum and I'm 20 yrs old learning this vehicle, but I just bought a 1998 Eclipse yesterday with the 2.0 non turbo engine in it. It has 152k miles. I'd like to know anything that I really need to before I start doing stuff to it. I know I have to replace the timing belt, and I'm doing the oil and brakes/rotors tomorrow. When I bought it the guy said that he took it to a "Mexican mechanic" an he hooked the radiator up to the air conditioning so the air conditioning has to be on or the car will over heat. Help with this? I'm gonna take it in eventually. But other than that, I'm here to learn please help me, I'll post pics as I go along. Than you.

 

that doesnt make any sense.

Diagnose your cooling system.

 

that's seems alittle out there, maybe he wired the secondary fan to the ac powerwire?

 

Maybe your radiator fan isn't working, so you have to turn the air on so the secondary/air conditioning fan kicks on, and will cool things down.

 

sounds to me like it put some sort of cooler or added fan system to prevent from over heating or possibly the fan is bad ,, it is suggested that if the fan does not come on that if you turn on the air conditioner it will trigger the fan motor to turn on.. so i would replace the fan motor or the fan assembly that should resolve the issue with not having to run the ac ,,, running the ac system actually puts more strain on the motor causing it to heat up faster, so to have to run it to prevent it from over heating is really an oxymoron
now to prevent from over heating I would honestly run the heater... which in turn pulls the heat out of the engine and disburses it out into the car..
if the problem still is present after checking the fan motor then it may be a problem with a head gasket leak.. this is easy to check the overfill reservoir when the car is running temperature take a look at it and watch for bubbles if you have a constant flow of bubbles developing then you most likely need a head job.. also a sure tell is if the head gasket is blown and you have interior leaking the water will be in the oil or oil in the radiator.. which will make a pudding consistency
if you have either water in your oil or oil in your radiator. it will turn into pudding like mush
just a few bits of info to help further if any one else has issues like this

 

always replace the radiator cap with new same pressure to start with.--pressure test cooling system and look for leaks, then go to fan operation.