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Hi ho hi ho, its off to the shop the PITA goes!


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Welp, the car still overheated after a dozen times burping it, new genuine urabus tstat, coolant, radiator cap, and bleeder screw. I went about 4 miles up the freeway, pulled over to check it out. I noticed the filler jug was getting full, so I turned it around and went back home. Another mile and the needle started moving up. I was going down hill, so I turned the car off, then back on so I could steer and coasted a couple miles and the needle had dropped back to normal. I got home just as it started moving north again.

So now, the symptoms are... Fills the overflow jug with no bubbles, temp gauge goes up, I loose a little bit of heat, but not all the way (maybe 15 deg. cooler then when it is normal)....

I am thinking the worst, but does anybody have any good news for me or should I just start getting the stuff together to do an STi motor swap? I have a connection for one of those motors for $2000...

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Man that sucks, I hate to say it, it sounds like a head gasket. They do make a fool proof test, it costs fifty bucks, but it will tell you if it is a head gasket or not. It's called block check and its a test kit that will test for hydro carbons in the coolant. If your cars anything like mine was when it went, it would fill up the reservoir with water and no bubbles at first but after running it a minuet they start coming out.

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My mechanic/friend checked that the last time I had it to him when it overheated the first time and it passed. We drove it home 40 miles just fine, then I flushed out the cooling system and it got worse. We think I might of scratched the scab off of a festering wound when I did that though... The guy I bought it from must of been running some stop leak crap or something.

Freakin awesome... Some people just dont have values... Why would you sell some body a car like that and not tell them.... He will have to live with it. He knew I was a young family... saw my young son when we did the paperwork.

Shoot, maybe it wasnt doing it when they had it... All I did was put maybe 200 miles on it from when I bought it to when it overheated the first time.

What do you think?

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Yeah bratman, I sent the guy a text. Nothing bad, just 'looks like you sold me that subaru just in time. I think the headgaskets went again.'

Never got a response, he knows what he did if he did anything....

It is a good looking car and runs good other than the overheating issue, like I said... Young family without a spare $900+ its going to cost for the hg job. If I had it when I was younger, and no kid, STi swap wouldnt of been a thought, I would of just done it...

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that sucks.  reminds me of when a friend of mine bought a house with a home warranty, two weeks later when he was on travel the dishwasher caught fire at night and his wife (and young kids) had house guests at the time.  firefighters came in and chucked the burning remains in the backyard.  warranty company wouldn't cover it because 'it had been moved from its original location.'  he just ended up eating it and moving on.  nothing else to do.

i just sold a car with a cylinder with low compression, clearly stated in the ad.  took a couple of weeks but the buyer knew what he was getting into.  on the good side, the ad filtered out the average buyers and basically only mechanics responded.

hope this is the only surprise and its a good runner from here out.

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Yeah, I paid $3800 for the car, which is a good deal around here, but not so good you are wondering what is wrong with it.

It has some minor paint scuffs from where his bike pedals would rub on the back bumper and a couple of minor dents here and there. Nothing too bad for a 14 yo car, but it made the price fair if it was a good running car.

It had been on cl for 5 minutes before I had called. I was on my way out to look at a forester when I seen it come up. Forester needed some front end work, but the guy was honest about it.... Kinda wished I went with that one now... :angry:

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Yeah, its a 99. The guy I bought it from had papers on the hg getting changed less 40k miles before I bought it. So yeah, there might be something else going on that might really warent a motor change. So my friend is going to do the hg job for about $1000. What does it normaly run for the 2.2 swap from start to finish roughly?

I am going to do some digging on the threads I have found so far. It seems like a pretty easy swap from what I have read so far.

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Yeah, its a 99. The guy I bought it from had papers on the hg getting changed less 40k miles before I bought it. So yeah, there might be something else going on that might really warent a motor change. So my friend is going to do the hg job for about $1000. What does it normaly run for the 2.2 swap from start to finish roughly?

I am going to do some digging on the threads I have found so far. It seems like a pretty easy swap from what I have read so far.

 

Your "friend" is charging more than I charge customers for that job. Just FYI.

 

I find good used 2.2s for $100-$300 on CL and in junkyards. I don't know what all is involved with the swap in terms of ECU/wiring, but it can't be much more than that. Might even be able to find a cheap ugly donor car and scrap what's left to make up some money.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright, so I just got the car to the shop yesterday night. I just got a call saying the tstat was sticking... It was a brand new Genuine Subaru thermostat!!

Grrrrrrr....

I am going to wait for my friend to get back to the shop Monday and have them do a flush before filling it with fluid and maybe another new tstat from Subaru.

Do you guys think that Subaru will take back the bad one and give me my money back? Its kinda hard for me to exchange it, since the car is about 50 miles away right now. I was just going to have the shop buy the new one, and I would take the old one back and get a cash refund on it.

Also, once it has new coolant, I am going to have him drive it around for about a week, just to make sure that this is the problem. I am dying from paying a friend gas money to tow it for me.

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I think it depends on the Subaru dealer and your dealer relations but most likely it won't be returnable given you are not the original purchaser.. I would be more worried about cooking it any more. Subaru engines are open decked design, and in my experience, if an open deck engine gets hot it will puke the head gasket due to the bore itself moving around... I have a '99 Legacy SUS that I bought with blown head gaskets, and I'm doing the 2.2L swap. Once I get the motor next week

Edited by matt167
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I never really heated it up too bad. Once the needle started to move off of the normal spot, I would shut the car off and just coast for a while.

I was the original purchaser of the sticky one. I talked to one of the guys at the stealership near here. He just said I need to bring in the original invoice with the miles and it wont be a problem.

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Yep, as I would figure, with the invoice, no problem. I always test thermostat's before I install them. Plenty of bad aftermarkets. Never had a bad OEM from any manufacture, but I usually just buy a good stant. That is not recomended for Subaru tho.

Edited by matt167
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Did you drive it long enoguh for the T-stat to actually open up?

 

I've seen a few new thermostats that "hold tight" until the engine gets up to about 3/4 then finally open and work.  Espescially the first few drive cycles.

 

I would drive it long enough to amke sure it's actually gonna overheat. 

 

Not saying you DON"T have a headgasket issue, just saying that sometimes the new stats can seem a bit sticky at first.

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Yep, as I would figure, with the invoice, no problem. I always test thermostat's before I install them. Plenty of bad aftermarkets. Never had a bad OEM from any manufacture, but I usually just buy a good stant. That is not recomended for Subaru tho.

 

How do you test the thermostat?

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How do you test the thermostat?

Testing a t-stat is easy and is a good idea since they are not always good even expensive ones. All you have to do is boil a pan of water drop the t-stat in and watch it open, I usually put a candy thermometer in there, put the T-stat in while the waters cold and watch the opening temp as the water comes to a boil

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I have to admit that I came up with a bad OEM thermostat straight from the dealer.  But my problem was that it stuck open and I found out on a road trip to where there were no other Subaru dealers to get another.  I put in one from NAPA and it has ran fine for the last 45K miles.  I'm about to do a coolant flush and have mixed feelings about another dealer thermostat or just go with another one from NAPA. 

 

On a side note is anyone here old enough to remember the test kits that auto parts stores used to have to test thermostats?  It was a coffee cup with a electric heating element that they stuck into the cup with water and the thermostat.  You could watch it open right up on the parts counter. 

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Did you drive it long enoguh for the T-stat to actually open up?

 

I've seen a few new thermostats that "hold tight" until the engine gets up to about 3/4 then finally open and work.  Espescially the first few drive cycles.

 

I would drive it long enough to amke sure it's actually gonna overheat. 

 

Not saying you DON"T have a headgasket issue, just saying that sometimes the new stats can seem a bit sticky at first.

 

Honestley, I never got it up to the 3/4 mark. After it started moving up I would shut the car off and just coast it. I just didnt want to do any more damage to it than has already been done.

All the years running the el' cheapo parts store ones in my old Chevy Nova, I never had a bad one either.... I would figure since I shelled out the $35 for a Subaru one, it would of told me the minute I opened the box... Think the cans of 'Napa know how' but with a slight asian accent since it is Subaru... 'Do not stick me in the car.... For I am bad mechanic san...'

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Alright so the new tstat is on its way to my friend. Everything checked out good once again, so its just gonna be a new tstat and keeping the fingers crossed.

I had been running just water, and he said when they drained it out, it looked fine.

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Alright so the new tstat is on its way to my friend. Everything checked out good once again, so its just gonna be a new tstat and keeping the fingers crossed.

I had been running just water, and he said when they drained it out, it looked fine.

Get some antifreeze in there ASAP! It is the lubricant for the water pump and also increases cooling capability of the water, antifreeze is important for more than just winter time. ;) Edited by mikaleda
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