jboymechanic Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Background info: 1995 Legacy Wagon with 228,000 miles, automatic car (with EGR) and a 2.2 with dual port heads. Bought for $250, had blown head gasket (pass side, got hot enough to warp/partially melt the back timing cover) after it over heated. Pulled the motor, cleaned it, and re-sealed it (new head, valve cover, intake and exhaust gaskets), new water pump, thermostat, radiator and hoses, new timing kit. Flushed motor with water, new 50/50 coolant, bled all the air out of the system. Got the engine back in the car and everything hooked up and it runs great with good power. I did not mill the heads as this was a cheap car and I was trying to keep it that way. Issue: If I let the car idle, the temp gauge will stay right at just below half way up. If I drive the car down the highway (60 mph at about 2,500 RPM) the temp gauge starts climbing up. Pull over and let it idle, temp gauge comes back down to where it should be. Start driving again, temp gauge goes back up. I haven't let it peg the temp gauge as I don't want to over heat, but it has gone up to about 3/4 or 4/5 of the way to the top before I stop to let it idle. I do know that the secondary fan is not kicking in, but I would think that when the car is moving there should be plenty of flow through the radiator to cool it, normally when the fan is the problem it will over heat when idling. Is the head gasket f-ed again, possibly due to a warped head? Or is the secondary fan the issue (which I highly doubt)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 i would double / triple check to make sure all the air is out of the system first. this is the most common cause of overheating after filling the cooling system. open the vent plug , elevate the front end, and let it idle until the fan kicks in, or the t-stat opens. then add coolant until full and close it up. filling too fast will mess with the coolant level. and it's possible the gasket is bad, again, but that would be my last guess. a blocked radiator would come before a bad gasket, but some one else may know more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Drain and reburp. Somewhere around here is a video. I run them until the fans kick on then put the cap on, let it cool and suck out of overflow bottle. Hopefully overnight. You can cheat a little by having the drivers front wheel on a ramp or jacked up a bit to try and ensure that the rad cap is the high point. Full through upper radiator hose until full, then atttach it and top off rad. The head that was installed - was it checked for being warped? What brand of gaskets. DOes it blow coolant out the overflow when it does this (see burping). Otherwise I always get the rad flushed on HG cars because folks have run miracle cures and after market thermostats to try and solve their problem. If you look at an OEM thermostat and another brand (say Stant) side by side you'll notice a major quality difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rverdoold Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Is the radiator getting hot? Maybe the thermostat is not working properly and it only has the short loop. Or the radiator pressure cap is faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Radiator is new, thermostat was bought at Napa. I just got a genuine Subaru one to try this weekend. Head gaskets were Felpro (had the Fuji Heavy Industries logo on them). Head did not appear to be warped or cracked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Felpro is usually o.k. on 2.2's. You gotta have a straight edge to have a clue about whether a head is warped. If it's visually bad, it's really, really bad and likely junk. Pull the lower rad hose, put the OEM thermostat in, burp it right. If you've still got issues, well, you're likely to get a chance to check the head for straightness. For kicks double check the timing belt. I have seen this with other brands of cars from it being off a tooth or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Felpro is usually o.k. on 2.2's. the felpro HG's that i got, once again, are genuine oem units with fuji stampings. I agree with the burping procedure. Easy enough to fool a novice at subarus, and a-typical of the operation of other vehicles. Plus, an NEW thermostat may take a litle more temp to pop open until it breaks in. Run the heat full blast, as this helps move the coolatn throught the rest of the system, and move any air out. Be patient. If you had a bad head or gasket, the temp spike would be more severe and more abrupt. hold the revs at 1500 while filling, if need be, while heat is on full hot. generally the 2nd fan only comes on with the AC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 You replaced just the passenger side head gasket? If the engine was overheated, the driver side head gasket may be compromised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 We replaced both headgaskets with Fel-Pro which are AGAIN Genuine Fuji Gaskets as every Fel-pro kit I have seen. I am thinking the air is not burped out of this engine enough, as Jim's Forester had the same issue until I did it... Jon, maybe if you want I can come out and take a look at this thing Saturday. Fox offered to poke it with a stick, but was turned down, seeing as we were there we could have looked at it, but oh well. Also, fill the top hose first as I'm sure that was mentioned already. And again, this is why I should have just finished the install my self even if you had to go in and spend time with Heidi, it would have been done and you would have been driving it by now Let me know what you want to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Tom, come on over on Saturday. We'll put the genuine thermostat in and save the NAPA as a spare. Then we'll see if we can get this car going properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 If burped properly and still doing this, it sounds like your water pump is on its way out. When was it last changed? O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 The waterpump and seal were replace when we did the HGs, we also changed the by-pass hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 I'm not questioning the integrity of the replacement gaskets, just wasn't sure if you did one or both. Hopefully it's just because the thermostat isn't opening all the way. A bad head gasket or cracked head/block would almost certainly make air bubbles in the coolant. Might be worth doing a Block Test if the Subaru T stat doesn't fix it. You did mix the coolant 50/50 right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Head gaskets are okay, put in the Subaru thermostat and drove it around for like 20 minutes at highway speeds, temp gauge stayed right where it should. I have now learned the hard way to use the Subaru thermostat, sorry to any one I doubted (especially you, davebugs). I couldn't believe how different the Napa thermostat was from the genuine. Any way, good to finally be able to drive this beotch! Thanks for the help everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Don't forget you probably "accidentally" filled/burped the cooling system as well. after the thermostat swap. Glad it ended well. Major thermostat difference though. IIR it's also hard to install an OEM one the wrong way (which folks also do). Yet another reason to use OEM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 And I don't consider you home free until a 45 minute or so drive - that's how long it often takes the 2.5's to have issues. Take a longer trip as soon as you can to test it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 And I don't consider you home free until a 45 minute or so drive - that's how long it often takes the 2.5's to have issues. Take a longer trip as soon as you can to test it. This a Duel-Port EJ22. Yeah I say your in the clear now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboymechanic Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Been driving it around quite a bit tonight, it's definitely good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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