Coolant leak

[alaskawade]

I am going to have the 2001 Legacy checked out, so any response is mostly to satisfy my curiosity until then.

In the car I just bought I am noticing a significant coolant leak underneath the middle of the motor. I fear it is the head gasket, of course. But I haven't noticed any of the other symptoms of a head gasket failure. I suppose there are other causes of a coolant leak such as a bad water pump or some hose or something? It's further back from the water pump though.

Just curious what you all think.

[rkrenicki]

The 2000-2004 4 cylinder engine is prone to external headgasket leaks that generally leak coolant or oil (or both) to the outside of the engine. The water pump would leak right at the pump, so it sounds like a headgasket to me from your description.

[alaskawade]

thank you for your views.

[meepers]

I would also check the hoses from the firewall to the motor for the heater box. One of the cars I picked up had a dried and cracked hose and was leaking at the cross over pipe dripping onto the motor itself. There really are not many places it can leak from. Heads, hoses and waterpump are pretty much it, unless you have a crack or hole in the block.

[Odycee]

Agree 100% it's common HG issue, my EJ251 SOHC had the same external coolant leaked, caught it early, replaced with MLS HG, still running like a champ. Unlike my 99 OB with EJ25D DOHC (96-99,) deadly internal coolant leak can damaged engine if not caught early from seeing my temp gauge started to fluctuate in highway driving.