Greetings. I'm the new owner of a 85 Subaru GL wagon. It has the EA82 engine and the Odo reads 163K. The other day, I was going up a big hill near my home of Grass Valley, CA, and I noticed the temperature gauge going towards the red. I pulled over, shut off the engine, and popped the hood to find coolant erupting from the overflow reservoir. My heart sank through the pavement.

 

So, I let the car completely cool, re-filled it with anti-freeze, and re-started the engine and began driving. When I started going uphill again, the car seemed to have very little power and even sputtered a bit. It didn't overheat again, but I found out why it did in the first place. The electric fan has been ghetto-wired to a switch under the dash, which quit working, and stopped the fan. It drives fine unless under a heavy load... i.e.- going uphill. I have been too worried to continue driving the car.

 

What do you guys think is the problem? Possibly a blown head? Let me know how to get this old Scooby back running strong. Oh yeh, haven't seen any coolant leaks, oil in coolant, coolant in oil, or anything obviously wrong.

 

I appreciate the feedback.

 

Cheers-- Will Pruett

Welcome!

 

I had similar problems long years ago with my EA82 BumbleBeast and it wasn't the Heads' Gaskets, it was due to a semi-clogged Single-Row Radiator.

 

The Solution in my case was to Swap the worn Single-Row Radiator for a New Double-Row Radiator...

 

I Hope this idea will Help you, if you're Really sure it doesn't have a Blown Head Gasket.

 

Kind Regards.