Well THAT figures.... coolant and check engine light problem

[Benfolio]

....right after passing emissions....

Got a whole 5 blocks away and the light popped back on, probably just the EGR again BUT.....

I got home and heard a slow ticking noise from the right side of the motor I hadn't heard before, so I opened the window and smelled coolant.
Popped the hood and yup, coolant had been spilling out of the overflow. Ticking noise was coming from thr right rear of the motor.

Well I just got home and I'm waiting for it to cool off, but the oil level was a little high (pretty sure it was high before) and smells a LITTLE like blow by, the coolant is clean, just.... FULL.

Car runs fine and the temp gauge read normal the whole way home.
They didn't run my car on the dyno, just plugged it in at the DMV, and I wasn't driving like a nut so what could be going on.

And please don't say "HEADGASKETS" :-(

I'm gonna go outside before it gets dark and check the radiator cap.

[Benfolio]

SO. Coolant level was a little low in the radiator, of course.

Took the cap off (no pressure was released) ran the car up to temp, burped the hose in case of air pockets, and left it running.

The level never changed. Once the t-stat opened I got bubbles in the tank, bubbles in the radiator. With the engine at about 3K RPMs coolant was flowing good in the radiator, and still looked clean. Put the cap back on and let the pressure build and a little bit of coolant got sucked out of the tank and back into the radiator.

Ran it for about ten more minutes at a fast idle and nothing weird happened, except for the ticking/chirping noise that went way at low idle, made noise at about 800-1000RPM, then went away above that as far as I could hear.

Going to take it for a ride to the clinic (my throat hurts too, WOOT! Fun day!) and see if it overflows again.

[decke48]

Car runs fine and the temp gauge read normal the whole way home.
They didn't run my car on the dyno, just plugged it in at the DMV, and I wasn't driving like a nut so what could be going on.

hmm well you own a obd2 car so its plug and play and its would be pretty hard to run a AWD car on a 2 wheel dyno.
you might have a bad radiator cap?

[Benfolio]

They had an AWD dyno... and I've heard of the DMV dynoing obdII cars for no reason, just wanted to clarify it here that they didn't beat on my car.

I'm hoping for a cap issue, and not a air pocket caused by HG leak.

The cap DID have a LITTLE pressure behind it after I ran the car with it on for awhile, but very, very little.

IF the car makes it to work tomorrow I'll pressure test the cap.

[decke48]

ohh here in mass its illegal to dyno AWD cars. even if the station has a 4 wheel dyno. actully its illegal to dyno subarus even the fwd :grin: ohh well no more dynos in mass in 2 years. soon to have no emissions for obd1 car. when obd3 comes out

[Sarra]

ODB 3? ****ing ****.

[decke48]

yeah its going to suck. complete gps control of your car.. emmisions up the wahoo. no reflashing ecus. no fun.

[Huffer]

yeah its going to suck. complete gps control of your car.. emmisions up the wahoo. no reflashing ecus. no fun.

OBD3 technology has been in development since 1998...
Reflashing etc will always be possible - it's software and hardware. Nothing's impossible anymore.

Start a new thread if you want to discuss it more. :)

[Benfolio]

Yeah, back to MY problem! :lol:

Just drove to work. Overflow filled up again but did not OVERFLOW..... radiator is still a little low
Pressure tested the cap (13lbs) and it held.

Pressure tested the car and it's holding as well.

I'm going to empty the bottle, fill the radiator and bottle to the full/cold marks and go from there unless someone has a clue what's going on.

[decke48]

are your radiator fans working?

[Benfolio]

Yep.

[4n70n1n0]

Had the same thing hapen to me but I just had a bad radiator cap. Good Luck I'll pray to Subaru that it's not your HG :grin:

[Benfolio]

Did you test your cap? Because twice yesterday when i took it off it had no pressure behind it, but the past few times it did, and it held pressure when I had it on the pressure tester here at work.

[Navig8r]

Good luck..... I had some overheating problems.... just solved them... New HGs.
I relpaced the cap, tested the system.. it held fine. No problems at idle or even continuous fast idle. Tested air in radiator for combustion gasses, looked for oil in coolant and vice-versa... nothing.
Car would only overheat when driving (moderate load). Turned out to be external HG leak, #1 cylinder. Small leak, not easy to spot. Giveaway was bublling when it overheated. Apparently the head was sufficiently warped to allow the leak only at higher temp and loading, not at idle or unloaded.
Now.. heads have been cut, New HGs, etc..... Running like a champ!
As I said... Good Luck!

[Benfolio]

Last couple days since draining the bottle and topping off the radiator it's been fine. Bought the car and never touched the coolant, but my buddy thinks the bottle WAS a little too full. The fill lines ARE kinda low on the bottle.
Beat on it yesterday too, and it never got fuller than the "full" mark.