bk2

___________________ Thanks for the info.... you are definitely right about the rad.......)) I flushed and flushed all the way to toronto ontario....and backflushed.....she is as clean as she will ever get.....and yes some junk came out... As for the hot and warm spots I do have some of those.... I will look for another rad at the jy....lol.....as I do not feel that replacing the rad is going to solve this problem...... Of concern is when the vehicle was up to temp...and going up....the upper rad hose (thermostat one) was fairly easy to pinch.....I do not know if it should be firmer or what.....but I feel a new thermostat is in order.... Concerning thermostats...could I use a chevy 350 small block...the 54mm one which I can get here in my home town instead of driving to the city? I have another thermostat in the trunk......could I test it by just putting it on the stove in some water and heating it up...and if it completely opens it is okay??? Another question is ........ the previous owner has a longer than normal vacumn hose hooked up to the vacumn advance on the distributor...if anyone has a schematic on the vacumn hoses that would be appreciated -I feel it is the vacumn advance or distributor..... so will continue with the thermostat....rad.... thanks for the help....

just wanted to clear up the color thing..... when I changed the oil.....I noticed when I first started it up in the morning....it would make tiny ticking noises....???lifters...????I would stop the motor and restart and it would be quiet. This is actually when I first noticed the exhaust.....inside the car it smelled just like oil....as for the color you were right....I never knew how blue was blue.....Frank who has done some mechanical stuff said it was blue smoke....buring oil....I thought it was whitish blue....and with the wind it would be pretty heavy....swirly...lol.... I hope that helps.... thanks for the help.

I by passed my fan thermosensor on the rad -even runs faster this way too. I does run cooler.....It might just do the job for the time being but when summertime comes with those 40+ I do not know...... thankyou very much for your help

________________________ Will try the big flush tomorrow morning....had to cancel weekend with my kids.....X sort of hopping over that....so have to get the old girl hopping soon. There were no bubbles comming up from the rad while the rad cap was off and the engine running...... only a few pieces of scaley stuff.....yep need a flush... What is the best way to thoroughly flush the system??? I have a flush kit attached to the heatercore hose. I have checked the oil and there is no water in the oil.....it just looks like oil to me...is there a site where I can see pics..? Great ideas thank you very much.

*************************************** I am not losing any antifreeze.....but now I am worried.....so first thing I do before I put a new rad in is get the vehicle checked for HG. Tomorrow, I will have time to flush this old girl all day if I have too.....back forward...etc.....today I ran it and checked in the front of the rad....and yes there are some inconsistencies which lead to your question....is the rad plugged....so tomorrow will see if the problem can be solved. I appreciate the help. As I requested in my first message I was trying to obtain a list.....1, 2, 3, ....etc on the procedures to take. Also today....I checked out the rad thermostat for controling the fan.....when the fan turned on....the fan was running slower than when I bypassed the sensor......so for the time being I have hooked it up as recommended by one great subaru lover here....... turns on with the key.... this will help until I nip this prob in the but... it is definetely not over heating when iddling anymore. Q: What is the best way to flush a subaru. I do have a flush system hooked up on one of the heatercore lines. I imagine take therostat out....and completely drain everything???? a step by step instruction would be appreciated or a site where I can follow the proper steps....do get hard to clean stuff out of the rad....thanks. If the car passes the HG test......and compression test....then a rad will be in order..... And NorthWet, what you say is exactly correct!!!! ps -if I can get one more year out of this subaru -I will be the happiest man alive....)) thanks again everyone.

Thank you very much...... I was going to pick up my children tomorrow and will cancel the weekend until I get this trouble licked. I cannot chance a breakdown on the highway with my son...he is special....so this soobi must be in top shape... Today I am really appreciative of all the great helpful people on this site...I now have a clue to how the cooling system works and all the tricks to it. I have rebuilt a ford 150 motor years ago.....with a mechanic supervising me....I would not let him touch a thing I just wanted to learn. He told me to take the motor out.......lol....he came back in 30 minutes later and I had the motor and transmission out in one peace....he just said how did you do that....lol.... If this subaru body was in good shape I would'nt be so cheap I feel.... thanks...will work on it tomorrow....

lol...yes I did miss your response... I will put some of that 20W-50 in it.... Castrol....as someone said is good...hopefully solves that smoking problem I have never had that before...hope it isn't from parking and running the vehicle on my steep driveway while I was burping the coolant... Also will be checking to make sure of the coolant mix too. Will check out the rad again -one of the experts said to take off the fan and make sure everything is warm/hot with no cold spots. Rads are on sale here for 130 bucks at canadian tire...might not be the best eh??? Subaru thermostats are 40 bucks here too....wow very expensive as compared to 10 bucks. Also a person told me about the flushing kit..... I put one of those on last year for a flush......it was warm last year too but never has overheated or touched the red.....don't know if the previous owner overheated it though. I believe there is another way to test out a HG.... take a plug out and put some pressure in it? and if the coolant bubbles there is a leak....how much pressure is enough??? I was just wondering. thanks again for the help everyone.....it is very depressing when a person is trying to save their lifeline.... This is not a Chevy....it is a Subaru...

************* actually I have never gone into the red but just below.......but I do not know what the person did to it 4 years ago....they could have had a melt down with it ....lol......as I found many different types of thermostats in boxes.... sooner or later at a high temp something will give as you know.... I usually use quakerstate and it has been good....then the oil change then all of a sudden this mess....and you are right.....a Fram filter...and yes I am upset about it....I will change the oil and the filter again.....and take that other oil that was onsale back to Canadian Tire....that was terrible. I will also check the coolant ratio....you never know I might have over 50-50....so will do that again and see. Concerning thermostats the subaru dealer here states for my vehicle that I should be using a 88 C thermostat and nothing else because of overhead cam....hmmmm now is that 195? now have to look at my conversion charts..lol. If you could describe the technique of keeping the fan on all the time that would be appreciated....thanks. Your spirit is always higher when someone thinks it is not a blown head gasket....loll....how hard is it to put in? the gasket is 34.50.... would that hold it temporarily or do you need the whole 180 dollar kit for it? Will check the things you told me to look at... Thanks ...

******************************* Well things just sort of happen for a reason. 2 days ago I changed my oil and oil filter....formula 1 Canadian tire special 10W 30 and their oil filter....my vehicle was not smoking at all before this change....lol. today the ol girl is smoking white blue smoke and smells of fresh oil....tink this 1985 soobi will be hitting the heap if someone cannot figure it out....lol. as you can see from my initial troubles they are getting too complicated for this boy....lol. anyone in the Okanagan BC area with a 400 dollar subaru that runs good....I do not care what it looks like.....just want it safe for the kids..... my buddy Frank says get another vehicle....and that it is old is only burning oil....I do think there is something big time wrong with this machine....my gut is calling out to me... thanks guys....any info????

thanks for the help....this might be silly.... but you said one of the fans...? Now is this subaru suppose to have two....))) I have to say I only bought it with one.....now if there is suppose to be I do think we might have a solution here...)) stranger things have happened...lol. anyway if I have to take the electric fan off I will surely warm up the vehicle to operating temp.....shut it off...disconnect the power to the fan and then take it off....and check the whole thing out. the rad is not a perfect looking thing either....will check it tomorrow.... thank you very much for the help I will definitely recheck it to make sure.....if I am not comfortable will take it to a rad shop.....as the rad is the main cooling .....

****************** So the temp sensor is the main temperature gauge that we see displayed inside on the dash....hmmmm think we are getting somewhere here. Would be a treat to see that this was the only problem. It that sensor expensive? Can call Lordco... stuff like this would drive the normal person nuts....lol....will look into the site.... thank you so much...for the info..

Actually, Critial Max - when I parked the ol girl on the steep driveway hill...I thought I was going to need a lot of coolant.....filled to top.....with no more than 3/4 cup full. I believe there was a small air pocket in there. When the fan was running without the cap on the water never overflowed but was moving pretty good from what my friend said. Concerning the temperature sensor (coolant) - I believe you are referring to the one that is mounted into the rad? Last year I replaced that with another one and did not make a difference. I do not know if this is what you meant.....hope this helps....I appreciate the help from everyone ..... your all great....!

I used my hand.......with the battery cable off....I used my fingers....crammed them in there for a while....checked all over the rad like that..... I also have white finger from being a professional logger .....so one might shake their head......I told my friend that I was going to buy a new rad to make sure.....he started to get pretty fussy....and said you are just going to waste your money on it.....sell it....lol.... I have a disability so I have a very minimum income....it is a life line to see my children and get to physio and hospital too.... Is there another way to check the rad????? I will definitely check it your way....it does not cost anything... Will await your recommendations....thanks for your help...

to note: The rad is pretty warm over the entirety of the whole rad no notable cold spots to feel. The fan works. I ran the vehicle for 30 minutes -it idles rather high....1000 rpm....never overheated. my friend who has some mechanical experience told me it was not my HG....and might be looking towards vacumn advance or timing belt. before I go here I want to exhaust all options before I even start thinking of that timing stuff as I do not know how to put a timing belt(s) on or have any experience riping out or rebuilding distributors....lol. so what is next my expert subaru friends? so just a little low in potassium is all...

I must say that the gushing water sound in the heater core is quiet now......the temperature at idle goes to 3/8 of an inch below red. There is good circulation in the rad my friend said and that means the thermostat is opening good. There are no bubbles either. There is no loss of antifreeze. Oil looks good....burning a tad still....getting old. .....those steep hills will still need the heater fan on full I feel....another hot summer in the mountains....lol.... any other ideas...?

so the burping is it better done with beer? )

************ Thanks for the info. I will go outside and do the burping now.....and then run it and check for the cold spots....will get back soon....

Just wanted to introduce myself -name is Bryan and I am an owner of a 1985 Subaru GL Wagon front wheel 1.8 manual tran. I picked this girl up for 400 bucks, that is 70,000 km ago and she is at 205,000km.... I have babied vehicles before, maintenance and washing until it sparkled all to get bills coming out my ears. This subaru only gets washed when it rains....lol. In this time frame (70,000) I personally change the oil like crazy, did a couple slick 50 treatments, and the normal plugs, distributor cap/router, air filters..... Reason I am here is to get money saving tips....from you pros. I have a couple big hills here in BC where I visit and pickup my kids. As we progress into the summer the temp will slowly start rising on the ol temp guage. So I do the pre-cool down techniques by turning the heater fan on full with all the windows down a minute or so before the hills -I have touched just the start of the red yesterday. I would appreciate if a person could take me through the complete checklist from the free ones to the ones that cost money. I have done some tests myself but would like to again go through everything....even the purging for air locks....hoses....proper thermostats...etc....cheap fixes....hopefully. What is strange when I pulled up to a stop light and also when I drove into my garage just yesterday there was this sound of rushing water running under my dash...lol... it would speed up with rpm. The temp guage is at normal operating temp. thanks for the help everyone....