Thtwudbeme

and I learned much from just reading your post. Yes, the radiator fluid is full to the cap, and the transmission fluid smells normal. This only happens for about 10 minutes after the car is good and warmed up (after sitting for 8 hours in steady rain) and has never been a problem on sunny dry days. It's very, very frustrating, and my mechanic thinks it's nothing....but, the cloud of steam is annoying me to pieces.

My first Subaru; I had a Nissan that I kept for 20 years, chose an Outback Legacy because I have heard good things about them. Here's my immediate problem....I have a 98 Legacy Outback with 85,000 miles on it, and an automatic transmission. Other than the lifters clicking, the car runs great. Since the weather turned cold in NC, after the car is parked overnight in a steady rain, I get steam from under the hood like the car is over heating. It appears to be coming from the radiator grill (I have pulled over 10 times and opened the hood)....there is NO loss of coolant, all the other fluid levels are fine. The steam smells like nothing; plain water...not a sweet smell at all. This stops after about 10 minutes after the car get really warmed up enough to do it in the first place. It never overheats-in fact, it runs below the halfway point on the gauge. My mechanic says, "big deal, it got wet," and that's all well and good, but it is driving me batty. It is not small wisps of steam....it is clouds of it. Drivers pull up beside me and point. What can I do to correct this? Thank you so much for your help, Stephanie