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I recently bought a 1998 subaru legacy GT 2.5. I drove 118 miles off the dealers lot and the car began blowing white smoke from under the the car.. I pulled off the road. when I lifted the hood the entire engine bay down the right side was covered in anti0freeze. I contacted the dealer they told me to let it cool, add some antifreeze and drive it and see what happens. the car made it roughly 100 miles before doing the same thing again. I returned it to the shop where they told me it was a good thing that i had bought the warranty because they werent going to help me. Gasoline Alley in Winchester Virginia is a a horrible business.. I have heard many things about them... Post purchase of course. anyway.. I contacted some friends that work at the subaru dealership. the dealership will not take the warranty. they recommended a shop that does good work.. I took it to the Ultimate Automotive group in Winchester. They replaced the thermostat and drove the car all week. The manager personally drove the car to and from work all week.. they put about 100 miles on the car and never had any problem. he told me the car is in excellent shape. I picked up my car yesterday and headed back to centreville.. the car made it about 10-15 miles and overheated again. The car is slowly pushing the antifreeze out into the overflow tank. once it pushes enough out the car overheates. after letting the car cool for a few minutes i uncapped the radiator.. I had done this several times before with no problems.. the cap wasn't hot or anything.. this time it blew the cap off and sprayed coolant all over the place. I had the car towed back to the place that did the work.. they gave me a loaner car. They had done a compression test and the results were excellent. they have no idea what is causing this. The car runs fine, but slowly pushes the coolant out.. anyone have any ideas?

stultus@hotmail.com

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the same exact thing happened to me when I bought my 97 outback. The first time I drove it the thing overheated. The dealer changed the thermostat, I picked it up drove it home and overheated again. Turned out to be the head gasket. Luckily the dealer honored his warranty and covered the $1000! bill. What's the story with your warranty? Good luck...hope it's not the gasket.

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If you just bought the vehicle and only drove 118 miles I can't see where the dealer is not responsible. Check into VA lemon laws. Start with calling consumer affairs or the States Attorney General office. They should be able to steer you in the right direction. Also let the dealer know that you're calling these people. Good luck.

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Classic 2.5L Phase I engine head gasket symptoms.

 

Compression test might be fine, because the engine is not under any load to speak of and the 'leak' doesn't exist. Driving around town for weeks can be fine too. Get it on the hiway, or tow, the engine is put under more load, the leak opens up, exhaust gases push into the coolant and force the coolant out into the overflow bottle. Spews it over the engine if bad enough. Temp gauge rises.

 

Been there, done that. 97 OB.

 

Commuter

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Yep. Definitely sounds like a head gasket. I just finished replacing my head gaskets yesterday on my 98 Outback. Today I drove it to work and NO MORE OVERHEATING! This is a difficult job, had to pull the engine. Took me 21 hours (also did clutch, timing belt, water pump, resurfaced heads, etc). If you have any questions email me and I will tell you of my experience. By the way, I am selling the car now if you are interested. It is a white Outback 5 spd, leather interior, 1998 2.5L 129K miles. I'd like to get 4000. Runs and looks perfect.

 

Rich

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Allow me to disagree with the head gasket consensus. I had the same symptoms in my 1990 Leagcy 2.2L when it had about 160k (178k now). The shop said the head gasket was fine. I had already tried changing the thermostat. The last thing to try was a new radiator. That fixed it. Subies are tricky in the cooling system.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Heres an update for you on this car. I cut and pasted 11 pages of stuff from this forum and sent it to the shop that has my car. they have been really great to me. They have had the car almost a month ( i left town for 2 weeks and told them no rush) and have let me have a loaner car for the entire time.. ok.. now on to what they have done. they started by replacing the thermostat... no good.. replaced it with a oem subaru thermostat.. no good... they tried to burp the system from the info i gave them.. still no good.. overheats.. top tube is hot bottom tube is cold. they did a compression check.. engine is in excellent condition they say.. finally they tore the heads off and looked at them.. no visible damage.. they took them and had them milled and cleaned and checked.. said they were perfect. they did however find a camshaft with a significant chip out of it.. no idea why.. they replaced that.. said there was no damage to the valves. so the engine is halfway rebuilt.. they put the new headgasket on the car and are putting it back together.. they are going to drive it and see what happens. the warranty company has paid for everything so far except for a 50$ deductible and a 57$ compression test. If anyone lives in the Winchester Virginia area.. NEVER BUY FROM GASOLINE ALLEY they are CROOKS!!!!!!!! they have been nothing but *********************s.... Ultimate Auto Group UAG.com has been nothing but helpful.. I will keep you posted and let you know how this comes out.. the next step is to try to replace the whole engine...

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Another update.. its been well over a month and i still dont have my car. they took the heads off and had them milled and found a bad camshaft and replaced it. i drove the car hard for about 40 miles with no change in coolant levels and no other noticeable signs. took the car back.. look underneath. OIL LEAK!!! leaking pretty consistent from somewhere on the back of the engine. and the check engine light came on. threw an front right O2 code. I know other things can cause O2 sensors to show up as bad so im not convinced that is the problem there.. as far as the oil leak they are going to tear it apart and see what they find again. if anybody has experience with this let me know please..

 

 

thanks

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