Hi all,

 

Just bougth my second Soobie, this time a '86 Leone part time 4WD (high/low) wagon. I probably paid way to much for it, but it was exactly the sort of car I was looking for, even if it has 330.000km on the clock (engine reconditioned @ 250.000kms). The previous owner has treated the car well it seems, except for the coolant system. Instead of real engine coolant it must have been fed just water, and looking into the expansion tank you see the redish residue along the side..

 

What should I do to stop my soob from suffering more? Is there anything else I can do than drain the water and replace it with new coolant?

 

I'll have some pics online soon..

 

thanks

 

-t

flush the system out, check all other fluids, or change them , oil, rear diff,front diff, take the rubber little stoppers off the timing covers and check the timing belts, give it a tune up , just my 2 cents

Subaru's don't like to run hot. If your Leone is showing any signs of running hot, make this a priority to fix.

 

The corrosive effects of water vs. radiator aluminum are pretty well established, hence all the anti-corrosion products out there. Running hot will accelerate the corrosive process.

 

Of course, there are backflush kits that can be used to clean out the mineral buildup (don't know about rust though), but the one I used didn't work well long-term, the cap of the plastic "tee" that I put in with the kit eventually crumbled to pieces. After 100k miles, running the a/c would cause the temp needle to approach the red. When flushing didn't work, replacing the radiator corrected the problem.

 

Use distilled water when you re-fill.

 

89Ru

Thank you both for your advice,

 

the engine runs just like it should when it comes to temperature. Reaches operating temp quite quickly and stays there. Haven't tried to push it to the extremes yet though, but I don't think there's enough build-up to restrict coolant flow.

 

I'll flush out the old stuff and fill it up with fresh juice. The engine oil is pretty dark too, so the same procedure there. Gear box oil looked good.

 

 

-t

just posting a pic of my wagon (more to come soon)...

 

http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~tomaslh/Leone/LeoneKZ1.jpg

 

One simple thing I can't figure out is what the button that says "R.Gate" is for. when I push it, nothing happens. There are other buttons for the rear window defrost and wiper/washer, so what more can you do to the rear gate?

 

I must say the ea81 bodies (preferably in red/maroon) are a bit cooler-looking than the 3.rd gen ea82 ones, but I still think any old-school subi wagon rocks!

 

Compared to my other subi (ea82 '90 Omega sedan) this one is quite tired, but after 330,000kms I guess I would be too...

 

-t

that car is sweet! I like the roof rack.

 

 

 

all I can say about the cooling system is just keep flushing it. eventually it will come clean.