99 Forester SF Trickling water noise

[Mitchy]

Hello all

Our 1999 Forester SF is making a noise like gently trickling water at start up, from behind the dash, heard inside the car.     

The ‘trickle’ increases with engine revs and goes away after a minute or so. It does it every time, and this is a fairly recent situation.

There is no apparent external liquid loss nor wet carpet.

I’m going to make a closer  inspection soon, check coolant levels and burp the system, but  wonder if anyone has an idea about this.

Stock 2.0 NA

Many thanks

 

[el_freddo]

It’s the heater core. There might be an air bubble in the system. 

In the old L series this gurgling like sound would happen if the heater hoses were put on the wrong way. I doubt that’s an issue in the Foz though. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[Mitchy]

OK thanks Bennie

 

I’m under the bonnet burping right now.

 

Another thing I just found out is the heater blower only works on #4 setting...

unrelated?

[el_freddo]

Unrelated. 

It’ll be the resistance pack used for the fan settings. I don’t know if it’s the same as the older Subaru’s that have it in the air ducting before the AC evaporator. One or more might be broken, or the plug has detached from the resistor pack. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[1 Lucky Texan]

yeah, ANYTHING related to the cooling system requires a check inside the radiator for cooling system volume. It's important to keep the overflow bottle at proper level in a functioning cooling system, but the o'flow bottle is untrustworthy as an good indicator of coolant volume.

if original, a '99 could need a new OEM radiator cap.

[Mitchy]

Thank you fellas

The burping helped, as there was air in the system, likely due to not having filled correctly when I removed the radiator a while ago after a small bump.

The rad is maybe two years old, but the cap is likely the original. It is OEM Subaru and I have not replaced it in six years of owning the car. Next up.

 

Heater control:

The heater switch makes a relay tick at 1-3, but only runs at 4.

 

Thanks