dansherman
09-02-2006, 10:28 PM
Here's a brief timeline of my 98 Outback EJ25:
Thursday evening - driving at 55-60 mph for 15-20 minutes, hear a sort of clicking sound but pass it off as the beater in front of me. Get to a stop light, car stalls. It starts a little rough, but it starts right away. Get to the next stop light, same thing but a little tougher to start. Turn off at next street and it dies. Pop the hood and woah! Check out the steam! Check the dash - yup it's running really hot!! (Sidenote: I wish subaru had a temperature warning light, or at least a red zone on the temperature gauge.) The coolant is all gone so I get some more dropped off and top it off. In the dark and since I haven't dealt with the coolant before I put it in too fast and it spills all over the side. I glance under the car and see the stream and the puddle so I call AAA and get towed to my father-in-laws house because we were in the boonies with no-one inside the free 5 mile tow zone.
Friday - Flush the system, change the lower hose and thermostat, add some Bars Leaks because there was a slight drip in the lower passenger side. One odd thing was that there wasn't very much drainage from the radiator itself (~1-2 liter) When I popped off the lower hose I got >3 liters. I followed the instructions in the Hayes manual but I didn't let the engine cool very long before I topped off the system. I did my best to bleed out the air though. I drive for a while (~45 minutes) everything seems fine until I stop and the coolant is leaking out of the air/overflow hole in the top of the resevoir. No big deal, there's still plenty of coolant in the tank.
Saturday morning - I check the coolant level, halfway between low and full on the tank. It looks a little dirty, but I figure I didn't flush quite enough so some more dirt came off in the new coolant. The CEL flashed a few times after starting, but stopped (possibly when the car got up to temperature). Drove about 10 minutes, everything normal.
A few hours later I fire it back up and the CEL is on steady but everything sounds ok. The CEL stays on the entire 10 min drive, but the temp is normal. Sat for 45 minutes, then 5 minutes of driving, 10 idle, 10 drive and the temp starts to climb quickly. Turn on the heat and the temp stablizes a little higher than normal (75%). Coolant level is a little over the full mark and looks dirtier (no longer neon green, I figure it's the Bars Leaks). Sat for 1 hour, then drive again, heats up 100% within 5 minutes. Turn the heat on, but the air isn't warm and the temp continues to climb. Drive another 5 minutes, stop for 5, drive for 5. The temperature gauge is pegged pretty much the whole time.
I get home and pop the hood, planning on another coolant flush and oil change. The coolant resevoir is full of bubble brown liquid (cloudy root beer). I open the drain plug and get ~.75 liter. I pour some clean water into the radiator to see if the drain is plugged but it comes right out. The upper hose was hot, the lower hose was warm, but not as hot. I flipped through the Hayes and checked the heater core lines but they both feel the same as each other.
I drained the oil, it looks pretty normal.
After perusing the forums it sounds to me like I blew a head gasket or two. I pulled a spark plug (front passenger - #1??) and it looks like it's been running hot but there's no drips on it (but it had been a few hours by then).
So, that's a lot of information but I always figure it's better to know more. I can get the engine lifted on Monday, but I can't pickup new gaskets till Tuesday. While I have everything out I might as well replace the timing belt and water pump et al, right?
Whaddyall figger? Headgasket or just a coolant flush gone horribly wrong?
Thursday evening - driving at 55-60 mph for 15-20 minutes, hear a sort of clicking sound but pass it off as the beater in front of me. Get to a stop light, car stalls. It starts a little rough, but it starts right away. Get to the next stop light, same thing but a little tougher to start. Turn off at next street and it dies. Pop the hood and woah! Check out the steam! Check the dash - yup it's running really hot!! (Sidenote: I wish subaru had a temperature warning light, or at least a red zone on the temperature gauge.) The coolant is all gone so I get some more dropped off and top it off. In the dark and since I haven't dealt with the coolant before I put it in too fast and it spills all over the side. I glance under the car and see the stream and the puddle so I call AAA and get towed to my father-in-laws house because we were in the boonies with no-one inside the free 5 mile tow zone.
Friday - Flush the system, change the lower hose and thermostat, add some Bars Leaks because there was a slight drip in the lower passenger side. One odd thing was that there wasn't very much drainage from the radiator itself (~1-2 liter) When I popped off the lower hose I got >3 liters. I followed the instructions in the Hayes manual but I didn't let the engine cool very long before I topped off the system. I did my best to bleed out the air though. I drive for a while (~45 minutes) everything seems fine until I stop and the coolant is leaking out of the air/overflow hole in the top of the resevoir. No big deal, there's still plenty of coolant in the tank.
Saturday morning - I check the coolant level, halfway between low and full on the tank. It looks a little dirty, but I figure I didn't flush quite enough so some more dirt came off in the new coolant. The CEL flashed a few times after starting, but stopped (possibly when the car got up to temperature). Drove about 10 minutes, everything normal.
A few hours later I fire it back up and the CEL is on steady but everything sounds ok. The CEL stays on the entire 10 min drive, but the temp is normal. Sat for 45 minutes, then 5 minutes of driving, 10 idle, 10 drive and the temp starts to climb quickly. Turn on the heat and the temp stablizes a little higher than normal (75%). Coolant level is a little over the full mark and looks dirtier (no longer neon green, I figure it's the Bars Leaks). Sat for 1 hour, then drive again, heats up 100% within 5 minutes. Turn the heat on, but the air isn't warm and the temp continues to climb. Drive another 5 minutes, stop for 5, drive for 5. The temperature gauge is pegged pretty much the whole time.
I get home and pop the hood, planning on another coolant flush and oil change. The coolant resevoir is full of bubble brown liquid (cloudy root beer). I open the drain plug and get ~.75 liter. I pour some clean water into the radiator to see if the drain is plugged but it comes right out. The upper hose was hot, the lower hose was warm, but not as hot. I flipped through the Hayes and checked the heater core lines but they both feel the same as each other.
I drained the oil, it looks pretty normal.
After perusing the forums it sounds to me like I blew a head gasket or two. I pulled a spark plug (front passenger - #1??) and it looks like it's been running hot but there's no drips on it (but it had been a few hours by then).
So, that's a lot of information but I always figure it's better to know more. I can get the engine lifted on Monday, but I can't pickup new gaskets till Tuesday. While I have everything out I might as well replace the timing belt and water pump et al, right?
Whaddyall figger? Headgasket or just a coolant flush gone horribly wrong?