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Overheating 1998 Legacy Outback has me stumped.


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I have had my 1998 Legacy Outback in the shop three times for this problem, and it has the mechanic stumped also.  Short trips the car comes up to operating temperature and is O.K..  If I go about twelve miles or more, the temperature climbs and the reserve tank fills up.  The water in the reserve isn't really hot ( at least as I would think it would be if it was overheating.  If I wait a few minutes, I can open up the radiator cap  and pump the coolant back into the radiator with a handpump I have taken to carrying since this started.

 

I had the water pump replaced when I first got this car a couple of years ago.  Recently, the mechanic replaced the radiator, thermostat, and radiator cap.  It is not leaking fluid.  The mechanic is saying that posiibly I have a leaking head gasket, but he can't explain why it doesn't overheat faster or all the time. The coolant looks clean and doesn't have any contaminants that I can see in it.

 

I love this car, but I am running out of AAA tows and it is below zero here right now.  Ideas anyone?

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headgasket.  fairly typical symptoms including randomness.

 

the breech happens on the lower half of the fire ring and pushes exhaust gases from the cylidner into the coolant passage there.  symptoms can vary...due to thermal, loading, and other dynamic characteristics, for instance the breech may only be exposed under certain conditions, hence the randomness.

 

i assume the fans are coming on properly and it's been properly burped and ideally the cap and tstat should be from Subaru.  but if all that work and testing has been done and the symptoms are identical....those items are unlikely the cause and that brings us back to headgaskets. 

 

 

use an electrical or chemical test kit to test for exhaust gases in the coolant - that is the best test.  report results back to us.

Edited by grossgary
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Agreed head gasket, very common issue.

Easy to stump the average mechanic since they don't show typical sighns of leakage.

Block test is well worth while.

 

Also use only Subaru OEM thermostat, aftermarket thermostats don't work

Edited by mikaleda
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Grossgary and mikaleda.  You were right on the money.  My mechanic tried to put some fluid in that he got from Subaru to stop the leak, but it didn't do the job.  He told me that it would be about $2200 to do the head gasket job.  Is this in the ballpark or is it way too high? I left a message on his answer machine to the effect of only using Subaru gaskets and parts for the job.  At that price, I don't want to have to do the job twice.  Any other things I should request/demand while this job is being done?  I had the belts, seals and water pump replaced when I got the car twenty thousand miles ago.  From what he told me, he must remove the engine to do the head gaskets.  So while it is out, should anything else be looked at?  I plan to drive this car to 250,000 miles and beyond (currently at 166,000) and am ready to eat beans and potatoes to get it right.

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2200 is steep.....espescially since you can reuse your T-belt, Idlers, WP...etc....since they are not old.  Just do the next timing belt job when that belt has 100k on it.

 

Engine doesn't NEED to be pulled but most do.....it amkes the job easier.

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been there before. head gaskets. the randomness can get really annoying!

I agree you might be able to leave the engine in but it makes it a lot easier to get to everything with it out. Its not physically impossible, but pretty dang close. Not to mention, the actual engine removal isn't removing a whole lot more off of the engine than you would need to if you left it in the car and took the heads off. the worst part is having some means of getting the engine out of the car, and the time to do so.

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2200 is quite steep, I was quoted 1600 on my 90 and that was with all OEM parts

They (Subaru dealer) quoted me $3400 for head gaskets, timing belt, oil seperator, crank seal, and an oil pan seal. Over $4000 if the exhaust "broke during removal." Dont know where they got that number from but I walked out of there laughing.

 

As for the question by CATM93, If you do it and they take the engine out, have them replace the oil seperator cover. Its a small plastic plate on the back of the engine behind the flywheel. ALL of them leak. All of them. The plasctic ones crack or warp. Subaru makes new ones out of steel as they realized they kinda cheaped out. If you dont mind an oil leak its no big deal, but its my opinion that if it starts to leak profusely, the only way you could get to it is by pulling the engine.

 

post-51430-0-69867800-1420122950_thumb.jpg

Heres a (pretty bad) picture of the plastic cover on my EJ25D

Edited by pginter96
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the 2.2 can't be beat for long term inexpensive reliability.

$500 engine - $500 install - $300 parts and you're coming in at half your current quote.  the engine and install can be had/done for even less than those numbers as well.

www.car-part.com

 

If you get it repaired:
1. Use Subaru or Six Star headgaskets

2. Have the heads resurfaced

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