Color-Blind is right....At the dealership I worked at we did'nt replace the headgaskets in the 90 2.2 either....There was a design flaw in them and I have been through 3 count them 3 different 89-90 engines in my 90 Legacy failing with exactly the same symptoms, Finally installed a 91 engine and have had no problems since.

 

Seems the blocks get hairline cracks, I was always told that they appeared most frequenty in the #2 and #4 cylinders but I dont know, I never pulled any of my heads to examin them.

 

IMO I would definetly try to replace the engine with a newer model and you should be fine.

 

Yeah, wish I would have known 4 days ago that not all EJ22s were created equal...but at least for the time being it looks like this one has fixed its self.

 

Hmm, there is a used car lot around here, owned by a guy I know, with a '90 Legacy (5spd) in good shape, except for blowing bubbles/overheating... He said it needed a head gasket, and offered $600... I bet with my new found knowledge, I could get him to take like $300. Anybody, with a spare EJ, want me to try? :cool:

just for the record i have a 91 leg sw awd 2.2 with 244,000 miles with no engine work done except,3 waterpumps,2 alternators,and timing belts,trans replaced at 200,000,new axles at 221,000,3sets of spark plugs and still on original wires.car came from state of washington and bought new in idaho,im 3rd owner with all the history,lucky? probally so.but still running fine.forgot to add this is a automatic,and been on a diet of valvoline all its life.

I replaced the head gaskets on my '98 Outback (EJ25D) this fall. Same thing happened - the engine overheated the first time I started it. I was sure I'd screwed up big time, and posted a cry for help here. Thanks to some help from the friends at this board, I heard about 'burping' the cooling system. Did something like what you did, and the car began to run at the right temp, and has continued to do so.

 

Do a search on TheRed, and you should find the thread.

Exactly!

 

After filling the cooling system slowly, you must let the engine run, with the rad cap off and wait for the cooling fan to start. Top off the rad, screw on the cap.

My legacy did the exact same thing, every time it would over heat and I would rev it and the temp would go back down I later on after seeing there still was a problem I concluded it would do this because the water pump was able to pump through the air bubble since it was running so fast at high RPM's and circulate the coolant to cool it down.

I then decided to drive it after I cooled it down and it appeared fine. The temp never rose and everthing seemed ok, Then I had to pass someone on a 2 lane country road and I floored it and redlined it to pass them....shortly thereafter I lost all heat from the vents and she pegged in the red and overheated. Pulled it over and revved it to cool it down and it came down a little so I started to drive again and back up it went.

 

Point of story: Try driving your car hard and see what happens and i'm willing to bet that it will overheat again. It seems that the extra load put on the engine while driving is enough to cause the hairline crack in the block to let pressure into the system and over heat it.

Point of story: Try driving your car hard and see what happens and i'm willing to bet that it will overheat again. It seems that the extra load put on the engine while driving is enough to cause the hairline crack in the block to let pressure into the system and over heat it.

 

This is exactly what I'm doing...Kind of fun really. Just hoping (probably in vane) that the head gasket just didn't seal 100% the first night...I mean it was bubbling continuously even at an idle...what would cause cracks to stop leaking for a while??? That is the mystery.

So ya, I'm roding the pi$$ out of er', in hopes that if it does have cracks, or weak gaskets or something, I'll know sooner than later...close to home, instead of on a road trip or something.

 

After all I still have a semi-clean '94 EJ22 to pop in if I can get this lump to die.

 

As of yet though, she is staying below half hot...and I'm having fun driving like my hair is on fire!