Hi everyone, posted a thread last night about the temp guage running hot. Here is what i have done so far : fulshed and burped the radiator, changed the the thermostat, check for oil in coolant, checked for white smoke. When the temp is on H the coolant is cold when we opened and cheked. In normal cases the coolant should be boiling hot. I have read the threads about the head gasket, seems to me that my situation is pointing to that. However there is no white smoke from the tail pipe. Any thoughts or suggestions 8would be helpful. Thanks to all.

have the car tested before you go any further.

 

that's my thought

that's my recommendation

your symptoms point to headgasket failure.

 

get the car checked before you spend hours/money invested chasing a ghost

 

save yourself the aggravation

 

Jamie

Sounds like you just have air in the system that got in when you flushed the system (as mentioned before).

 

Sometimes it can be really hard to purge. I'm not sure about a 98 forester, but look for either a coolant hose on the top of the engine or a plug (sometimes they put purge plugs that are typically plastic) that you can loosen up and let the air out.

 

Another method is to run the engine with the radiator cap off and add water as the engine warms up and the thermostat opens up. sometimes it will burp a little out the radiator, but just keep adding water until its circulating and air stops bubbling out.

 

If it was doing fine before you flushed the radiator I wouldn't suspect a head gasket. If you were having prior problems of overheating and air in the coolent system then you might look into it.

 

It's very important that you don't overheat the engine, keep an eye on the temp and let it cool down if the gauge starts climbing or you feel that things are getting to hot, better safe than sorry.

Hi everyone, posted a thread last night about the temp guage running hot. Here is what i have done so far : fulshed and burped the radiator, changed the the thermostat, check for oil in coolant, checked for white smoke. When the temp is on H the coolant is cold when we opened and cheked. In normal cases the coolant should be boiling hot. I have read the threads about the head gasket, seems to me that my situation is pointing to that. However there is no white smoke from the tail pipe. Any thoughts or suggestions 8would be helpful. Thanks to all.

again...our cars can be a huge pain the a$$ to get the air out of....I've done it many times and it almost never goes smoothly

Hi everyone, posted a thread last night about the temp guage running hot. Here is what i have done so far : fulshed and burped the radiator, changed the the thermostat, check for oil in coolant, checked for white smoke. When the temp is on H the coolant is cold when we opened and cheked. In normal cases the coolant should be boiling hot. I have read the threads about the head gasket, seems to me that my situation is pointing to that. However there is no white smoke from the tail pipe. Any thoughts or suggestions 8would be helpful. Thanks to all.

When you changed the thermostat, what did you change it with? A genuine OEM thermostat will have a small hole that is used to purge air out of the system. Many of the aftermarket thermostats do not have this hole, which makes "burping" the system very dificult. You say that when the guage goes to hot, the coolant in the radiator is still cold. This points to the coolant not circulating, which points to thermostat and water pump. With all your circulation parts in working order, it would point to a head gasket, but we do not know that all of your circulation components are in working order.