Coolant leak? Steam under hood *UPDATE 5.3.10

[EyeOTheMastodon]

Hi, I just got my LGT a little over a week ago, and I am noticing steam coming up from the hood when I come to a stop and a pretty strong smell of what I think is coolant. It's not a lot of steam, and it isn't constant, so I'm assuming this is a slow leak of some kind, drip here-and-there type issue. Today I checked under the hood to see if I could locate it, and I found it to be coming from under the passenger side of the block. I don't have means to properly lift the car and look from the underside, so I'm still unsure what the problem is. Searching on here leads me to guessing its a gasket leak over the exhaust? Any help with this before I throw money at the problem (aka shop time)?


**UPDATE 5.3.10** (http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=18252&p=206219#p206219)

[green97gt]

are you sure its steam? not smoke? alot of the time, when you get that it it the cam/crank front seals/valve covers leaking oil onto the exhaust...

have you checked your fluid levels to see what your losing?

[EyeOTheMastodon]

It could be smoke, but it seems to evaporate quickly? Idk, however it has sweet smell to it, reminding me of the smoke oil for model trains, but also much like coolant. I've only had the car for about a week, so I haven't had the opportunity to see if I'm losing anything. However it occurs to me the correlation of smoke to how hard I'm driving the car, which is indicative that it's a gasket of somewhere. Another thing that comes to mind just now is that the guy I bought it from told me that he was recommended to have the oil pan resealed. Is that what my problem is and I'm just being silly thinking its something else?

Anyway, I haven't had much time to focus on this yet, I just spent all day getting the old car ready to sell. What a chore! Full strip of the audio gear, putting the OEM stereo back in, vacuuming, spraying, wiping, oh man I'm not even done yet... :-/

[Airgne]

check the top of the block under the intake for coolant. the cross-over tube (were the top rad hose connects), this tube has 2 o-rings that like to leak. check this and get back to us.

[Miker104]

2.5L Engines 2000 and up have experienced coolant leaks from the head gaskets. Area suggested by Airgne is a good one to look at as well.

[EyeOTheMastodon]

Found the problem :smt021 the front right cvt boot is torn and there's crap everwhere. Ill get pix up later, can't seem to share em from my phone at work.

[EyeOTheMastodon]

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7558/20100426161116.jpg (http://img512.imageshack.us/i/20100426161116.jpg/)
:grin:





:smt013

[Miker104]

That's a lot easier to fix than HGs. Brake cleaner and paper towels are your friend to fix that. Pressure washer if you have one to clean the area after you remove the axle

[birukun]

Simple Green FTW

Once you change an axle once, it becomes a 1 hours job after that......

Better than headgaskets!

[EyeOTheMastodon]

Ok, so I got the axel replaced, which had no noticeable improvement for any of my issues... at least its preventative maintenance right? So now the vibration pretty much has to be a wheel bearing, and now I am also certain that the smoke coming from the hood is coolant. I'm not losing oil after my oil change, but I am still losing coolant. Also, the smoke is white. Curiosity got the best of me for a free moment after I got home from work, and I got a couple good pix. At this point I am pointing my finger of blame at a gasket. Head gasket? Valve gasket? Exhaust? I don't quite know enough about this to figure it out. So what do you guys think?

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5642/coolant1.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/i/coolant1.jpg/)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1025/coolant2.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/i/coolant2.jpg/)

[Miker104]

Looks like oil and coolant. Phase 2 motors have experienced external oil and coolant leaks from HGs. Could also be Water pump. Make sure you
check your coolant at the rad (remove rad cap) when cold to make sure you don't run low, check oil often too. May not be a bad idea to clean it
up and once its clean try and find the source.

My vote is a Head Gasket.

[ouch1011]

Yeah, that looks like head gaskets to me.

Sorry. Common on those engines.

[Miker104]

There is an extended warranty for 99-02 2.5L engines for HG leaks. If you can prove the Subaru Coolant additive was added

http://www.cars101.com/recalls.html (scroll down to entry dated 2/6/04)

May not hurt to take it to a dealer for their opinion. The warranty extension was for 8yrs or 100,000 miles. You might be over the 8 years though

[vic66]

if you're loosing coolant .....just look at the level on the bottle, and subaru as a coolant additive ( stop leak) you can add to stop a smal leak

[EyeOTheMastodon]

2001, out of the 8 years and at 124k, also out of the miles :( I flushed the coolant and added the conditioner, problems have noticeably lessened, but inevitably I'm gonna have to do the head gaskets this summer.

[stu-nami]

i too have the same problem...once i stop at a light white "smoke" will come out from under my car adn you notice a distinct smell so i just took it into a subaru repair shop today to look at it and indeed the left gasket has a small leak so i'm going to have to get it replaced along with water pump, timing belts, etc.....complete fix will include: 765 parts 810 labour 160 to machine heads
headgasket, head bolts, water pump, timing belt, v/c gasket set, lower t/b cover gasket, hose clamps, 2 cam plugs....they would include new oil/filter, all belts and spark plugs but i just replaced all that so that may save me 60 bucks, still its not going to be the cheapest fix