I've been noticing low pressure on my cooling system;  within a short period of turning the car off I can take the radiator cap off with no spurt or pressured water coming out.  Not sure if this is good or bad.  Head gasket must have been done as the engine runs very well.  1997 2.5 limited Outback.  

 

Also, sister's 1996 2.2 recently had an overheating episode, car usually runs very well with problem of occasional loss of power soon after starting up as mentioned earlier.  Stuck thermostat is my guess.

Edited September 8, 20169 yr by ThosL

could be a bad rad cap - the system is supposed to hold - - what - 13-15 lbs w'ever. Maybe the cap is bad.

 

you can buy (maybe borrow from the tool collection at the parts store) a cooling system pressure testing kit - shoul include a way to test the cap too.

 

I've seen kits for sale at Amazon, never asked if the parts store had them to loan.

yep, the cooling system should hold pressure for hours. Leak could be a lot of places but yes start with the rad cap.

 

As for your sis's car, don't guess, troubleshoot.