Hey guys,
Im new to this forum, but not that new to subarus. my wife has had her 1995 legacy sedan for over 8 years now, and i have replaced the head gaskets, and recently replaced the ej22 motor with another one. That being said, I just bought myself another subaru. it was a $300 special because it needed a clutch and barely drove down the road without it. but i got it home.. It is also a 1995, and this time, it is a wagon. The car has about 213,xxx miles on it but the motor has around 160,xxx. head gaskets are original, but i freshened up the rear main seal, new valve cover gaskets because they were leaking, and because the previous owner thought he was a rally car driver, i had to replace the timing belt cover (and the belt while i was at it.. with new idler pulleys..)
I put it all back together and the clutch works great. the car drives well too. I checked the water pump for play and replaced its gasket as well when i did the other work. no shaft play or sound, so im good there. The heat works great and the coolant doesnt bubble or diminish after it drives for a bit, and the temp gauge reads at about the halfway point, or just a hair under which has been the norm for every subaru i have ever owned, which has been a few. New bypass hose and new radiator and radiator hoses as well. Which is a mystery because when the car warms up, lets say after about 20 minutes of driving at highway speeds, it starts surging like its loosing power, and then dies if you dont clutch in and rev the motor. it gets progressively worse.
Well today it left me stranded. i literally coasted into work. had to drive my client's truck home tonight (im a freelance handyman) in fear that i would get stranded at night. the car wouldnt start again until it cooled down. but once it did, it started right up. heres the weird part.. when i checked the coolant, it was at the very top like it should be, the overflow tank still had (just water) in it which means it never mixed with the green coolant in the new radiator. And the upper hose was super hot while the lower one was completely cold. and by the time i looked under the hood and then went to try and turn it over (it was still hot and wouldnt even try) the temp gauge was through the freakin roof! on top of that, the fans keep going on then off, on then off, on then off, over and over, as well as the a/c pump clutch which goes on and off at the same time. all 6 of my main relays are clicking as this is happening..
i know that there is a temp sending unit and i know where it is because i have had issues with my wifes car before. But my questions are
1: what should i check first? it couldnt be the thermostat because it heats up fast and stays at the right temp according to the gauge.
2: is there some sort of other temp sensor that will shut the motor down that doesnt have anything to do with the gauge?
Thanks for any help with this guys. I really love my car that i have under 1000 bucks into and i would love to fix it up right. For the record, i did not remove or inspect the thermostat because on the initial drive home, the heater worked great, and it continues to, so i thought it must be working fine. I have no idea of the condition of it.