Drive from Portland to Sac, saw a rolled WRX VIDEO WORKING!

[harrymaneuvers]

Ok so I have been having this uphill heating up issues on the ladies wrx wagon. So I was recording a video to post in order to get feedback. I was just into california coming down the siskiyous, when I came upon a WRX that had just been rolled. There was a truck and trailer that had pulled over to the other side of the road so I couldnt tell if the guy who was on the phone by the wrx was driving when it rolled or if it came off the trailer somehow.

When I got out, my two dogs were try to jump out, hence me telling Cheech (black and white 14 year old chihuahua) to say and then screaming at Chong (18 month old chihuahua) to get back in the car. The dude was almost mad that I had stopped (in his frusteration with the event), so I left without really saying or doing much. I think I arrived maybe 5-8 minutes after the whole thing happened.

Here is the video though... you can skip to the last 1/3rd for the rolled wrx. I pulled over and then backed up about 200 ft to get to him.

Just random that I actually happened to be shooting a video at the time.

1:45 is cresting the siskiyou summit.


Fast forward to 2:45 to right before I start to see the shattered glass and debris all over the highway.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjIkVjgYH0M


I am pretty sure the CA license plate was WRXNFEX, which is why I made the dry humored comment.

Please excuse the language and somewhat crude commentary.

Enjoy.

[GTDrifter]

9999 mpg? Lol...he was probably pissed that you were recording his misfortune

[harrymaneuvers]

yea it says 9999 mpg when your foot is off the accelerator.

[harrymaneuvers]

Video fixed!!

[ouch1011]

Ouch, that's too bad. The car was probably on the trailer and fell off. Some of the shoddy tie down work and pos trailers that people use are just scary, and that is why.

For your overheating problem...222* on a Subaru is HOT. IIRC the low speed fan kicks on at like 200-205 and the high speed comes on around 215. Does it get that hot in stop and go or just climbing hills? Either way, step one would be checking for airflow restrictions through the ac condenser and radiator. You may need to remove the top mounts and tilt the radiator back to make sure there isn't a bunch of stuff stuck between. Then, i'd flush the cooling system out and put in a new OE thermostat.

[harrymaneuvers]

Yea the car is perfect running around town or even on the freeway at 190 degrees... but once I start to go up a long incline... the temp starts to creep up.

I have already flushed the coolant system by emptying, refilling with 100% distilled, running untill thermo opens, then draining and refilling with 100% distilled. Then ran and drained that and put in 100% distilled with prestone radiatior flush. Followed directions and let that run at idle for 30 minutes. Then let it cool, drained and refilled with 100% distilled TWICE to remove all of the flushing product. Then drained and refilled with 50/50 distilled and OEM coolant with 1 bottle of readline water wetter.

During this whole process I also replaced the cheapo autozone thermo with a beefy OEM thermo...


At the moment, NASIOC seems to think that I either have a small headgasket leak or that one of my fans isnt hitting high speed...

I really dont think that it is HG's because through all of my draining and refilling and burping, I have yet to see any oil in the coolant, bubbles in the coolant, an exhaust smell in the coolant, or coolant/oil levels dropping even in the slightest.

Right now I am trying to find out how to test the higher fan speed on both fans...

[ouch1011]

The fans shouldn't need to come on when on the freeway. Even on high, the rad fans only produce about the same air flow as travelling about 20 mph in clear air.

Another thing to try, since you know the thermostat is good (new OE stat), try to get it to start running hot again, then turn the heater on full blast and see if it quickly cools down. If it does, you can be pretty certain that you have a radiator efficiency problem.

[r3v_v3ng3]

this happened to me twice on my 98 legacy

1st time when i drove to LA area to buy my friends gc8. As i'm going up hill and suddenly slowing down my temp gauge go sky high. Blew the headgasket and didn't figure out why.

changed the headgasket and everything was working good and i decided to take it to san diego. almost the same area it did the same thing. i had to drive in full heat and had to stop about 3-4 times (7-8 hr drive) to refill the radiator. i knew when to stop when the temp go to full heat then slowly go down. then spew of smoke came out under the hood.

what i found out is that my fan was always on, on low. so i didn't think much of it since my fans are always on but when it was time to switch to high when there is a load, specially uphill(like mountains) the fan on high speed won't come on.

try checking your relays/fuse and check where the fan connector is to the harness cause mine was corroded. it may need cleaning

i rebuilt the whole engine and got overkill on cooling. ended up putting a wrx aluminum radiator,70% water 30% coolant and the water wetter on top of that i have one of the fan hardwire to a relay so its always on (just need to put a sensor so it will only come on when need be). its been working good so far, took it up to monterey last weekend. it better not overheat again.