im possibly going to be picking up a free 1998 imprezza outback tomarrow im told it overheats. i dont want to use this engine i have another car with sevear rust issues i will be using that cars engine. is there anything i can do to make the car run without overheating for maby 10 to 15 miles?

ive heard removing the thermostat will make it run without overheating if it has a bad head gasket. is this true?

Depends on the cause.  It should be a 2.2 fewer HG issues.

Check the fluid in the radiator

Check to see if the Fans come on with the AC

If all is OK you should be able to get 15 miles out of it.

run the heater on full?

Get in and drive , watch the gauge and pull over when needed. I’ve done this oh just a few times in my life. You’ll be fine and you don’t need that engine so don’t sweat it. 

Yeah , run the heater too , as mentioned. 

Good old New England humidity and it’s going to be around 90 degrees , higher this weekend. 

You should loose two or three pounds on the ride back. Lol

 

well i attempted to drive it and only made it 2 miles to my dads house instead of the 13 miles to where it needed to go it was overheating thanks traffic. ended up getting it aaa towed the rest of the way. it ran like crap too and was also smoking out the exhaust thankfully im not using that engine if i fix the car. next day im not working im planning to get back over to the car and get underneath it and inspect it for major rust as long as theres not any its getting built up in place of my current outback.

Good luck. Sounds like a scene I’ve lived through at least a few times. 

Yeah , can’t have traffic when you make these type of runs. 

Open the vent cap in the  passenger side top of radiator.  1~2 turns, just enough to vent.

Keeps the exhaust gas pressure from building up and causing an air pocket.

Leaving the rad cap loose will have same affect sometimes I'll do both.  

You will leak a little dribble of coolant, but it should keep it from pressurizing to the point of boil-over.