so i know about hg's leaking pushing coolant out, etc..

 

so my 91' legacy wagon with the 2.2l in it just turned 100k.. it finally got cold enough here to use the heater. first time since i bought the car..i flushed it and changed thermostat when i got the car..

 

anyways.. heater was cold at idle, warmed up when it was revved.. so i thought air bubble in heater core.. then i notice my coolant bottle was about (----------) higher than normal. i get out my fill kit, put that much coolant in the radiator.. got some air out of it.. no big deal i think.. i put the cap back on, and open the overflow bottle and watch it start bubbling.. i then think ohh great i got hg's going bad.. but then again its a 2.2 and they either blow or they don't 99% of the time.. and this only has 100k on it with all service records (clean clean clean).

 

so later i go for a 30 min drive all over town.. car is deffinitely warm, fans working etc. (it never attempts to go over half on the gauge, never has)

i get home, shut car off, pop hood, overflow is same level ( i marked it) i pop radiator cap and there is no pressure at all.. not even a hint of pressure. radiator is still full... Wierdness..

 

 

think its a bad cap? or headgaskets? i replaced the cap already just haven't driven it to warm it up again. i will tomorrow..

May just still be air in the system, have you tried running it with the bleeder open and the front right of the car up higher, to let air out?

Ok lest start with -

 

1- get a new cap

2- try to get a subaru T stat if possible.

3- Fill it up properly

 

(I swear I am going to insist this becomes a sticky, I use it so often I just cut and paste from a file)

 

1- start car

2- SLOWLY fill the cooling system with 50/50

3- Watch temp gauge wait for t -stat to open )may overflow at radiator fot a minute) Continue to fill slowly.

4- Put cap on car. With overflow filled to the line, drive car around block. Allow to cool off. Check fluid level again and repeat if needed.

Definitely try a new radiator cap.

 

If you have a pressure tester or can rent/buy one - use it. I have the Harbor Freight one and while surprisingly not cheap ($80) it's also of distinctly higher quality than I am used to from them.

 

If you ever get up toward Portland - stop in! Grants Pass eh? Weren't you on the other coast last time I looked?!? Relocate for the cheap, rust-free soobs? LOL

 

GD

Edited October 14, 201114 yr by GeneralDisorder

Definitely try a new radiator cap.

 

If you have a pressure tester or can rent/buy one - use it. I have the Harbor Freight one and while surprisingly not cheap ($80) it's also of distinctly higher quality than I am used to from them.

 

If you ever get up toward Portland - stop in! Grants Pass eh? Weren't you on the other coast last time I looked?!? Relocate for the cheap, rust-free soobs? LOL

 

GD

 

 

hah yup, i had all the cool lifted scoobies in virginia.. wife was from oregon, so we moved back.. back to where rust free scoobies are.. now if only i could find another job

 

so i bought this car in portland actually.. it had water and no t-stat in it. it also had a brand new radiator. i drove it the 250+ miles home without any problems.

 

anyways, so i put a new subaru t-stat in it, drained, flushed and filled with antifreeze. never had a problem.. even with the ac on in the summer 100+ it was.. but i never ran the heater.. hopefully its a combo of bad radiator cap and me not gettin the air bubble out of it originally.. my driveway is pretty steep so when i burped it today i made sure it was on a nice incline.

i have a burp kit that attaches to the radiator, so nothing gets spilled its super handy..

 

the shop that was doin the work to it before i bought it was not very good IMO. they did the tbelt, oil pump, etc all to a tune of $1400 10k miles before i bought it. i had to reseal the oil pump cause they didn't know how to put silicone on it when reassembling. and it had a flat o-ring :/

 

i don't get up to portland area very often, but being unemployed i have lots of time lol. may have to drive up sometime.

I know of quite a few "reputable" shops up this way that I wouldn't trust with bicycle repair. Staffed with morons - couldn't fix a straw if it were bent.....

 

I would say you have classic radiator/hose leak or bad cap symptoms. The fact that you're not holding pressure when hot is a dead givaway. Even one's with blown HG's will typically hold pressure - till it exceeds the rating on the cap.

 

Don't forget to check the weep hole on the water pump.

 

GD

well i've yet to see anything leak, anywhere... but i'm gonna crawl around the motor today after a drive if it still doesn't have any pressure after it gets warm.

thanks

just to finish this post with an update. new radiator cap, it builds pressure now, no more bubbles. and it sucked the coolant back out of the overflow tank after sitting overnight..

 

glad it was just a bad cap