YellowSub Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 1998 Forester was running hot and pushnig coolant out. Had it checked out and the thermostat was stuck. They check for blown head gasket, and no coolant in oil and no hydrocarbons in coolant. That was four days ago and all seemed good. It's still not overheating, but I smelled antifreeze and coolant is again pushed out of radiator. Overflow tank is full and some was pushed out of it, too. Antifreeze doesn't seem to be getting sucked back in. Any ideas what is going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hohieu Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 You may have a faulty radiator cap. Many on this site insist on OEM Subaru parts. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
color-blind Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Here we go again. Most likely you did not have a stuck thermostat. 99.9% of the time their is an air bubble at the thermostat. This air bubble is caused from exhaust gases entering into the cooling system. The exhaust gases entered thru the failing head gaskets. Take your car to a shop that specializes in Subaru vehicles. From your post I doubt you took it to a Subaru shop, for they would know about the chronic head gasket problems. Please bear in mind that I could be wrong. Their is always a small chance that you have a plugged radiator or a bad radiator cap. Yet if I had to make an educated guess I'd stick with head gaskets. Be sure that when they pull the engine to also do the following. Replace the rear seperator plate, o-ring, and rear crankshaft oil seal. Have the heads surfaced by a machine shop. You could have the heads pressure tested yet in all honesty they rarely, if ever crack. Then install a new timing belt, water pump, cam seals x4, crank seal, and oil pump 0-ring. It would also be a good idea to have the radiator cleaned out or replaced. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Yep, I agree with CB 100%. I know that may be a heartbreaker though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowSub Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 It actually was a Subaru shop that checked it. They didn't do a compression test, but they did check for hydrocarbons in coolant. I thought it was head gasket, too (still do), but I felt better when they said no. I was just hoping that maybe there might be another explaination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opie Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 See my similar post: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50262 When all of the other cooling system work was done the car passed the gasses test...now it doesn't. Bet your Forester doesn't anymore either. Seems that once a Subaru is overheated it weakens the head gaskets and sooner or later you'll need to do them...at least the seem easy enough to do on SOHC motors... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 sometimes they have to be pretty bad to pick up on the usual tests. The little buggers seal back up when they are cold and act normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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