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:wave: I have been looking at other threads on this and haven't realy found an answer. My problem started about 2 weeks ago when driving to the store, our 90 legacy's temp aproched the red zone by the time I got to the store. I got out and checked the radiator. The uper hose was cold and coolent was sperting out the over flow. When I got back in the car after leaving the store all was good for a short time. It was chilly that morning and had the heater on and noticed that I had no heat and the temp was getting near the red zone again and then I had heat and the temp droped this happened twice more on the way home. So I replaced the thermostat, problem solve. So I thought. Today while driving I slowed for a truck that was turning I noticed the temp was climming, as soon as I started to speed up the temp went to normal. I drove a few miles more and at a stop light the temp went up again. When I started to go again the temp went to normal and the rest of the trip OK. My question Is if i remove the workings out of the old thermostat and used it as a restictor plate would there be any problems? P.S. the the thermostat in the car now has a weep hole.:burnout:

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check that your fans are working, and that there is not a buildup of crud in the radiator. otherwise, i would just replace the thermostat and cap - it shouldn't run more than $20, and isn't really worth the trouble of running without one for a while. also make sure that the cooling system is fully purged. air in the system will give a lot of wierd problems.

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:madder: I hate to be the one to break this to you but your symptoms are EXACTLY like those that were happening to my '90 Legacy Wagon when I had a head gasket leak.. When you have a head gasket leak (which I think you do) air from the cyl. is being forced into your cooling system. This keeps water from circulating through your radiator (cold upper hose and rad. ) and forces hot water out of your heater core (no heat) Several people have gotten by for awhile by removing their thermostat, but ultimately, I believe you have a headgasket leak.

I spent weeks replacing my thermostat, water pump, had the radiator rebuilt, and this did Nothing towards solving the problem.

I did the gaskets myself, and it was only about $100 in parts and a lot of labor, but I was able to take a LOT of shortcuts from what was suggested in my repair manual. The gasket replacement did solve the problem. GOOD LUCK

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:wave: Thanks for the quick responces but I got lucky it's just the rad cap. I just took a look under the hood for ideas I squesed the upper rad hose and had air and coolent enter the over flow tank. so I must be getting air in the system while driving because the cap is not sealing right. I'll pick up another one tomorrow and the problem should be solved. I'll keep y'all posted. And thanks again for your help!:burnout:

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Originally posted by jimmyberka

:madder: I hate to be the one to break this to you but your symptoms are EXACTLY like those that were happening to my '90 Legacy Wagon when I had a head gasket leak.. ... the gasket replacement did solve the problem. GOOD LUCK

 

What he said.

 

:(

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same here! Exactly the same symptoms I had in my 91 LS Wagon. First replaced rad and thermostat at Lithia in Reno and went on my merry way minus some cash. Month later car started running like crap just after pulling into North Tahoe, so we had it diagnosed by local shop as one leaky cylinder. Cut the trip short and headed home to have the head gasket and IIRC valve guides done. Car had about 155K miles at the time. You'll be EXTREMELY lucky if the thermo and cap fix the problem.:banghead:

 

Glenn O

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I am jumping on the head gasket bandwagon.

 

Don't bother doing a compression check, the leak is likely to be tiny and won't show up. That's why when you replace stuff in the cooling system, and purge the air out, the car will run fine for a while, but the overheating will come back. Just keep an eye on it, don't run it hot and dry, a blown gasket is one thing, but you don't want to warp the heads!

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:wave: OK. I'v removed the thermastat and modified it by removing the inerds. I was going to do this to the old thermastat

but because the new one had a smaller opening 1 inch vs. 1.4 inches it would slow the coolent just a little bit to let the radiator do its job. let it idle for a while, temp came up slowly and reached normal and stopped no fans came on. went for a drive temp normal at all speeds. stopped and let idle, fans came on then went off normally temp normal just below half way, about one third up from cold. I'm going to replace the cap as it looks to be the origanal, (208000+) is a little long. I'll keep ya'll posted. :burnout: Thanks again.

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