heat issue

[traildevil_rs25]

I have a 95 leggy that has the 2.2 in it. Its a 5 speed. And my problem is that when im sitting in traffic my heat will start blowing cold and if it idles long enough the heat gauge will start rising, But then if i take it up to 3,000 and hold it there the heat gauge will go down and it will start blowing hot again...

Anyone know whats going on? Im thinking maybe thermostat? I hope its not the pump.

[Grafton]

TBH it sounds like the water pump, its not that big of a deal on the 2.2 ~ $60 for the water pump
its ~$10 for the thermostat easy to change. you can test it if you really feel like it, take it off bring it inside grab a pot you dont need to keep ( automotive /= food clean ) put water in the pot drop the thermostat in and heat it right, before the water boils the thermostat should open up if it does it's good and your water needs to be replaced

if you do need to do the water pump you should do the timing belt while your in there if you haven't done it in the last 20k miles

[jey]

Overheating at idle could also be a dead fan - check and see if it's kicking on when the engine is hot.

[nipper]

Overheating at idle could also be a dead fan - check and see if it's kicking on when the engine is hot.

Except you still have heat under that scenario. Loosing heat is diturbing.

How many miles on the car?

Last time a timing belt was replaced?

Start off cheap, a new T-stat and radiator cap, but my gut tells me it may be something uglier. But lets hope its just a weak cap and a low cooling system.


nipper

[traildevil_rs25]

212,000 ish miles, i just did the timing belt about 4,000 ago. but im an idiot and didn't do the water pump. did the headgaskets and most the seals.

[nipper]

Lets start with the cap then, its the cheapest. SOoby waterpump leaks can be hard to trace due to the covers. You may want to get the cooling system pressure tested, that would help. You may also have a pinhole radiator leak.

nipper

[Plays_with_Toys]

You know whats even cheaper? Burping the system of air. Make sure your system is topped off. Get it all nice and warm and then crack open the air bleeder on the passenger side of the radiator (its a plastic phillips drive screw on the top of the radiator). I had the exact same issue on my car when I did my thermostat.

[traildevil_rs25]

hunh, never seen a plastic screw on it, but i'll give it a shot tomorrow. I've burped it of air by letting it warm up then squeezing the hoses top and bottom. I already have a new thermostat ready for it, but its cold outside. and i just had to pull the radiator out of my truck because of a rock being thrown into it. And i'll see if i can swing by and get a new cap for it tom. before work.

[TheAngryPidgeon]

You know whats even cheaper? Burping the system of air. Make sure your system is topped off. Get it all nice and warm and then crack open the air bleeder on the passenger side of the radiator (its a plastic phillips drive screw on the top of the radiator). I had the exact same issue on my car when I did my thermostat.

From what I understand, that doesn't work with Subaru's due to the layout of the HO Engine. We tried it on mine and all it did was blow massive amounts of steam.

[Grafton]

easy way to avoid air bubbles in the block is to have the lower hose connected unhook the upper hose, unhook one of the heater core lines and fill the block up untill antifreeze flows out of the unhooked heater core line, hook everything up and then the block is mostly topped off