my engine ea81 is over heating really bad when i went to tacoma yesterday. i lost all oil pressure. when i took the radiator cap off their was little to no water their so i filled it up. when the accelerator is pushed the water begins to foam and boil. is this a blow head gasket..?? or is the water pump not working.?

Yeah - sounds like a blown HG to me. You should get Rob's opinion on it....

 

BTW - not a good idea to put water in a car that has overheated and has very little coolant in it. You should wait for it to cool down first. Rapid cooling from the introduction of cold water can cause serious damage. That actually may be what pushed it over the edge. It might have gradually run out of coolant and thus overheated - adding cool water could have caused the head gasket to blow or the head to crack.

 

The loss of oil pressure doesn't sound good, but if you got it real hot, the oil may have just thinned out too much. Still not a good sign. If it has oil, and the oil pressure doesn't return after the engine has cooled down you should check the oil pressure sending unit, and the oil pump and it's seals.... if none of those are the culprit, start looking for a new short block as you have probably chewed up a main bearing.....

 

GD

Its got oil pressure when cold, just when it warms up it drops down to above zero, which im pretty sure is normal for most ragged out EA81's. He also lost his brakes as well when a caliper decided to bust. It was a fun drive home following him when all he had was his E-Brake to stop (i dont recommend trying it) but we did what we could and we got it home.

 

Im thinking HG as well, but there was no bubbles or extra hot gasses coming out of the radiator, and there was no white smoke coming out the exhaust. Didn't hear any knocks, just normal lifter tick so i think its just a HG job, and pull the radiator out and spray it off to clean all the clay/soup/gumbo out from the fins which caused it to get hot in the first place.

 

Subaru's will always bring you back...

In my experience, older EA81's usually have a bad oil pressure reading due to crispy oil pump seals, and bad oil pressure sending units (when they start leaking from the bottom it's time to get a new one). With good seals and a new sending unit, my Brat (140k) settles down to about 15 psi when fully warmed at idle. Shoots up to about 40 psi or more at cruise. This is running 20w50. At the very least check those seals - a new seal kit is only about $6 from the dealer, and they get terribly crispy. The sending units are about $25.

 

GD

The only times it got warm on me was when I was in town and sitting at the lights. You have to turn on the fans when in traffic. The back battery runs the fans, and has a inline fuse close to the battery. That sucks about the caliper, I guess thats from a few years of offroading abuse.

It sounds like you might have a HG problem, due to the clogged rad fins. Hard lesson learned You really need to rinse it off when it gets stuffed with mud and junk. Will you have it fixed for the HP weekend?

The back battery runs the fans, and has a inline fuse close to the battery.

Interesting

 

Will you have it fixed for the HP weekend?

Caliper should be fixed by this weekend, and will have the engine out soon enough (maybe Sunday) to do oil pump seals, and HG's as well as that pesky T/O bearing.

i will try to get it ready i mean i will get it ready. so you should see me out thier

When you buy Head Gaskets, Fel Pro makes a line called "Permatorque". I used them last time I did HG's, and they seem to work very well. I overheated my engine very badly (lost all my coolant), and the HG's didn't budge. Plus they are only about $14 each from here:

 

www.pickproparts.com

 

GD

thnks ill check them out.