January 7, 200620 yr 1995 Impreza 1.8L Automatic, 103,000 miles After driving for approximately 30 minutes coolant begins to overflow out of the radiator overflow bottle. Car has original radiator cap Car has new radiator, new thermostat, new water pump & hoses Do I have a bad radiator cap....or a head gasket problem? Car does not overheat, it just overflows coolant... I'll be pressure & gasses testing it tomorrow to be sure, but wondered what you guys think the more likely cause is... Wish I could post a poll...
January 7, 200620 yr you put all those new parts on it and didn't spent the extra $6 on a new rad. cap???? shame shame shame... :-\ Go buy a cap and tell us what happens.... Welcome too by the way....
January 7, 200620 yr Author you put all those new parts on it and didn't spent the extra $6 on a new rad. cap???? shame shame shame... :-\ Go buy a cap and tell us what happens.... Welcome too by the way.... LOL, I'm a cheap bastard... actually I figured the radiator would come with a cap but didn't, so I just re-used the original one! Off to Advance!
January 7, 200620 yr totally understand.....totall cheap a-- here too sometimes. There is a guy that had a problem with his legacy on here....He thought it was a bad HG but it was just a bad cap...I hope you get that lucky.
January 7, 200620 yr Actually the cap is probably doing what it's supposed to do. Did you overfill the radiator? There will be a significant expansion of coolant when warm over cold. Also, there might be an air pocket in the cooling system that's expanding and causing this. But anyway, get a new cap after you've explored the simple solutions above.
January 7, 200620 yr Author ...and the winner is....Head Gasket(s)! I'm either going to install new Head Gaskets on this motor...or pull it out and install the "extra" 1.8L I have...probably take the same amount of time for either option... What do you guys think... Rebuild HG motor... Freshen "Spare" motor and install...
January 8, 200620 yr if you didn't overheat the engine I would just put new HG's in the motor and go for it. If you freshen up the spare would you put new ones in it....because if you wouldn't then I would hate to think if that one blew its HG then you'd be pretty pi$$ed.
January 14, 200620 yr I'd do the old motor up if everything else is equal. The head gaskets these days are made of a cardboard material that has a high failure rate once they have been used then drained of water. I've seen it heaps of times, you've got a good motor, no head leaks, so you pull it out for a spare, then, when you put it into service a few weeks later the head gasket blows within a real short time. If you're putting the spare motor in you should do it's gaskets before you fit it.
January 23, 200620 yr Author Well I decided to go ahead and freshen the spare motor as it's been a few weeks and the coolant and oil in the original motor are pretty well mixed...I'd rather not take any chances. My spare motor has approx. 130k on it and came out of a car maintained at the local dealer for all of it's life, every Subaru recomended service was done. The car it was in was totalled in an accident but had no engine compartment intrusion. I started on it last weekend, got the following done on Saturday: Head Gaskets Intake Manifold Gaskets Valve Cover Gaskets & Grommets Right Rear Cam O-ring Rear seperator plate re-sealed Rear Main Seal Rear Wrist pin access cover o-ring Oil Fill O-ring Cam Seals Oil pump reseal Crank Seal Resealed Oil Pan Water Pump & Gasket Thermostat & Gasket Water Pump By-pass hose Spark plugs Oil Filter Crush Ring I'm waiting on a right rear timing cover (cracked) and one of the timing belt idler pulleys (noisey bearing) before I can get the timing belt and covers all installed and then it will be ready to drop in. Guess I'll start pulling the old one out this week to get it ready to go... ...I had forgotton how much fun engine work could be!
January 24, 200620 yr I have never had a failure on a stored engine head gasket. I have stored many a used Subaru engine for up to years. I guess if the gaskets were bad to begin with, or going bad it could fail on reinstallation. I would not do head gaskets on a stored engine, unless there were "specific" indicators that led me to believe it's integrity was in question. Many people do replace and then they DO have head gasket issues, for failed installation methods. I feel the original head gasket installation is pretty hardy. I would replace all the easy stuff...seals ect. Oh.. replace that oil separator plate with the aluminum one!!!!!!!!! Just my 2 cents.
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