stock90

same exact thing happened to me with a toyota I had, guy turned right in front of me on christmas eve, totalled both cars, I had to spend christmas morning getting checked out at the hospital, my neck killed for weeks. Thats how I got my Loyale, used the insurance money to buy it(insurance company jacked me though, hold out for as much as you can).

Just another update, I picked up the radiator yesterday and put it in today, drove it around a little, seems to be doing awesome, it almost takes too long to warm up now:) . The subie is ready to go now, no more frying myself on hot days, now I can use the AC instead of the heater:banana: !

Just updating those who helped me out on this, I ordered the radiator today ($85- brand new) It should come in on wednesday, when I'll put it in. The leak is proving difficult to pin point, It disappeared for a couple days, but yesterday I checked again and there are splash puddles in the lower engine compartment again, ther are no puddles up high this time and I can't see where the coolant is coming from, until I figure it out I'm not driving my car without the heater on, usually if I just keep the defog on low the temp barely even goes above midway. As a result of cleaning my lower engine compartment I also discovered where my oil leaks ( I lose about a quart every 1500) it's coming out of the timing belt cover ( oil pump gasket?) is this worth fixing, should I do it while i've got the radiator out or will it just start leaking again in a couple months? Thanks again for the advice.

exactly what I was planning on doing( with the radiator ), and thanks for the info n the hose (that's exactly where the coolant came from so i'm sure thats prolly what caused it (I'll get started tomorrow). thanks.

After cleaning up the coolant, and cleaning up the entire engine compartment a bit, i wiped the oil off of everything (the car only leaks about a quart every 1500 miles), and putting a quart of oil in, I started the car up to see what happened... nothing, no more coolant leaking at the moment, I drove it acouple miles and still no leak, it's not even pooling up in the engine where it was before either. I'll try starting it and turning the heat on later tonight or tomorrow. my guess is that I have a heater hose leaking. I hope not though, I hope it was a fluke. I'm still running hot so I think my next move there will be to flush the radiator. by the way, I really appreciate all the advice, as a subaru newb it's awesome to have people to talk to who know what they're talking about (or at least seem to .)

no signs of coolant on the spare, must be a leak.... crap:banghead: . any ideas?

The leak is above the pump. the coolant is pooling right under the intake manifold on the right(from the drivers seat) of the engine. I started the car and didn't notice any more coming out nor did it start back up when I took th radiator cap off and squeezed the hoses. I'm hoping it will just go away but not holding my breath. I had a hose blow violently about a month ago and I took my spare out of the engine compartment for the first time ever today. maybe coolant had pooled some where and I spilled it into the areas I see it now. I don't see how coolant could be coming from that high in the engine. the thermostat is the only thing I can see in the coolant system that is higher and it is totally dry.

Yeah it's got AC. I tink your right, it may be the condenser. just seems to be placed badly, it seems to block alot of the airflow to the radiator. BAD NEWS!!! After letting my car idle for about 20 minutes in the garage( to check the fan) and looking it over I noticed coolant dripping from the skid plate, at first I thought it was just because I had pulled the radiator cap and spilled alittle but when I stated it up and backed out there was a puddle where the car had been and a trail following my car . Upon closer examination there is a pool of coolant in the lower engine compartment and a trail leading down to it from behind where the thermostat is. nothing in front is leaking(non of the hoses, the thermo and the pump are all dry) there is a trough of coolant back underneath where the air intake connects to the engine. WTF. I try to solve one problem and another one decides to show up, FRICK .

Thanks, I just finished checking the guage, it's fine :-\ , fan comes on exactly at the mid point. I am low on oil but I've always had problems, even right after i changed the oil. When I got my car I noticed there seem to be two radiators. the one for the water system is back by the engine, it looks like it is fairly new, but the second radiator in front of it is in rough shape, has alot of gouges and stuff, is the front radiator for the hydraulic systems for the steering and brakes or something else, could it be part of the problem? Just curious. Thanks for all the advice. I think I may try flushing the whole system next. Does anyone know of a good trick for emptying the radiator, when I drained it to replace the thermostat I used what I thought was the lowest plug, it's just at the level of the lower hose connection, the coolant just trickled down the body and dripped off the skid plate, is there a more efficient way I can drain it, without getting a bunch of junk in my coolant (like the last time)? Thanks again.

Yeah, I wish I had time to make the trip. It'd be kinda nice to have two loyales. It'd be kinda funny too though, the sister I'm shopping for is my twin (no we're not identical). I'm not sure I really want to drive the same car, I'd get too many comments(I get enough as it is choosing the same college as her). Thanks for the offer though, I seriously wish it were possible.

Hey, Just seein if anyone in the Spokane area is looking to sell thier soob. My sister is looking for a good car for school and work. she wants to spend around 1000 bucks.

I bought my Loyale a few months back (right before spring break). the week after I bought it I took a trip to the Oregon Coast to break it in (about 7 hours one way). The entire trip I had to blast the heat to keep the temp guage out of the red . I attributed this to the fact that I was with three other college guys plus camping gear and we averaged about 80 MPH. But the car still runs that hot, even around town it still is in the upper register (riding the red). I did alot of driving this summer and whenever I hit the highway after prolonged driving I have to turn the heat on (this sucks when it's already 100 degrees outside:eek: .) -I replaced the water pump at the beginning of the summer, blew two hoses on trips during the summer, got smart and replaced the third hose before it blew too plus the thermostat and the radiator cap (a trick that someone told me works sometimes- it didn't). I'm starting to think that either my radiator is getting too old or my guage isn't registering the correct temp. I never let the temp go red but I'm still afraid I might be slow cooking my engine. Any ideas? Did I miss something obvious? Thanks for any help. Sorry about the length.

Hey just dropped this job I thought would cost 350 down to 100 bucks. I bought a new pump (lifetime warranty) at NAPA for 30 bucks instead of the 85 the shop was gonna charge me for it (they gave me a deal cause I came in to get a refurbished one that they siad they had but didn't). I checked at another place for the installation costs and they siad it should run me around 80-90 bucks for the hour and a half to 2 hours it should take to install. Did I get a good deal on the pump?

Thanks for the info. I had already looked at the other discussions, I was just wondering if there was anything else. I'm gonna see how things go. I'll let you know if I get myself into any trouble . thanks again.

Hey, I just found out that my water pump is leaking coolant :-\ , It doesn't leak very badly and the coolant level doesn't drop fast enough to really notice. I was just wondering how easy it is to replace myself (my mechanic is quoting me around $350 ). from previuos threads it looks like buying just the pump would run me $65-$100. Is it worth the saved money to do it myself or should I just bite the bullet and shuck out the $350. Also, If I am to do it myself, is there anything I should be careful NOT to accidentally do or anything I should do at the same time. If I remember right the timing belt and oil pump were both already done (by the previous owner, who I think also did the water pump, so who knows how well they were done). Any advice is greatly appreciated. In 2 weeks I am moving about 1.5 hours away from my house for 8 weeks time, during which I need to be able to commute back and forth on the weekends so this has to be fixed by then. Thanks again.

Bad News! My head unit seems to be stuck in some kind of self-protect mode. I pulled it out of my last car (after it was totalled) and I must have done something to screw it up. anybody dealt with this before. I have an AIWA head unit. I don't recall the specific model. Thanks for all the other help it was all right on.

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how it works out.

I'm trying to install a CD player into my 90' Loyale. the wiring from the stock radio/cassette is really confusing, the wires don't even match each other (in color at least) on either end of each plug. Just wondering if anyone knew which wires went where. I already know the blue(from the old head unit) goes to power, but thats about all I could tell, the wires at each speaker don't match up to anything either, its really screwy. Thanks for any help.

Timing was done three months ago, along with the water and oil pumps. One more thing though, the previous owner siad it burns a little oil (1 quart per 1500 miles) what could this entail and is there anything I can do pre-emptively. It doesn't blow smoke at all, you can't smell burning oil either, the engine is spotless. Is this even a problem or just a typical characteristic for an older sube. Thanks for the replies, having a group of people to go to if anything goes wrong is reassuring.

I just bought a 1990 Loyale 4WD Wagon, it is a manual 5-spd, non-turbo, it has 198,000 miles but runs extremely well, seems to have been taken care of, and has a spotless interior. I was just wondering what anyone might suggest I do to keep this car in as good shape it is in now. Also I was wondering what kind of simple modifications I might be able to do to improve it (i.e. power, gas mileage, ect.) Remember I'm a poor college student, I don't have a lot of money and most of it just went to buy the car ( I payed 1200). Thanks for any input. I appreciate it. I got the car knowing it might run for another 50,000 miles if I take good care of it, I hope I'm that lucky. Thanks again