subaru5555

the smell might be the cat. converter. but i dunno i know that smell and it just seems a little different, oh and also, crap how could i forget... today on the way home my car is starting to "miss", @ 2-3k rpms not pulling a hill no heavy stress on the car, it jerks. thought maybe the trans trying to catch the next gear, but manually put the car in 2nd then 1st and the jerking continued. possibly damage done by what ever my other problem is?

thanks so much everyone. everything and i mean everything you guys have said has been helpful. eh, no overheating since i filled the coolant last. actually done pretty good. nasty smell now though. not the maple syrup of coolant, but mmmm close to rotten eggs but not exactly hard to describe... also as was mentioned my coolant does bubble at idle and if i rev it with breather cap off ( i did this only once very breifly) coolant blows everywhere. so taking what you guys have said, blown gaskets sounds like my hole that i am in. damnit i need this car to stop having problems. but i will continue to show her love. umm to check with yall how bad am i going to be hurting ($$) to get the new gaskets in?

snotrocket you are right i noticed that little fact about my aftermarket thermostat... it did not have the little valve to allow the air to go thru. i wasn't sure it was necesary so i installed anyway. so i guess i will remove that tomorrow also and as you say you did drill a small hole thru it before i go pick up a new one thanks everyone, keep the suggestions coming, for some reason i feel like this might not be the end of my questions... and lets hope not the end of my car if i decide to drive the piece over a cliff, hahaha.... hehhhhh

no i don't think that i did. you never know though. i put it in how the previous one went in. i believe that it would only fit one way. ummm. i just drained it again and refilled it. i had it on the steepest incline i could. and i sat there until i was satisfied that the coolant level would not receed into the fill tube anymore. coolant was coming out the breather also. i am still worried that somewhere i might have the bubble or pocket of air. i am going to pick up another thermostat tomorrow and another cap. i have heard recently that aftermarket parts such as these that come from crappy places like advance or autozone have 50 50 chance of being good from the shelf. so tomorow off to napa i go. wish me luck keep up with the posts i will eventually get this S O B fixed. night

if anybody wants to lay out the absolute correct way to refill the coolant in my 90 subaru feel free to describe in detail below if i am not doing everything right........ heh

ok going to do it again now, in the dark, um, just to go thru the process i am following, open breather on left top of radiator, of course with car on incline, fill radiator with coolant, wait five minutes, fill a little more, wait five, fil, wait, fill, wait, fill the resevoir (overflow) and all the while squeezing hoses and jumping on bumper to try to release some more bubbles. but you are saying aa air pocket could be the cause. also another note i just thought of, it does not slowly over heat, when it does its like right now, we are fine we are fine we are fine and then voooooop, up goes the gauge like right now. normal? ok will wait for a sec to see if you or anyone replies then i am going to go fix the car

oh and no it generally doesn't overheat going uphill

new thermostat, drained all coolant, and refilled, may have not got all air out. radiator looks relatively new. car was hand me down from the grandparents. not sure what all they have done. umm again i don't think anything, if even, but the resevoir is leaking, frustrated, it is almost 11 and still working on car so i can go to work tomorrow at 5:30 am

hi, i have a question... the 90 overeats, but it is very abnormal. it overheats while going downhill. i could run it really hard and then drive downhill, (clarification i live in the mountains of virginia so "down hill" means down a long mountain road) and it overheats almost everytime... but i can have let the car completely cool down and then drive down the mountain very " nicely" "gently" slowly" whatever,,, (not hard) and it will sometimes overheat, more often yes. sooo... i have baffled a few mechanics, none who have actually looked at the vehicle, i am a "I WORK ON MY OWN CAR" type of guy and always have been, so i thought i might see what you guys might know think or suggest. ps. i haven't noticed until today that there is a leak in or aroud the overflow resevoir. but i am pretty sure thats not the problem, i do have to refill often, but i could have just refilled it and it will still overheat. my thoughts.... plugged radiator, but why doesnt' it overheat while driving under normal conditions on flat ground? water pump? HELP