kents1stoutback Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 1st off i'd like to say hello to all my fellow subaru owners and heres to wishing all head gaskets last forever... now on to my question,just bought a 97 outback legacy with the 2.5 from a guy who told me that he was informed my a subaru dealer the water pump was bad which seemed logical to me seeing as he said it was overheating after driving short distances and he'd already changed the thermostat and flushed the radiator so long story short he wanted a bigger vehicle and sold it to me....heres the problem i ended up changing the water pump and i'd drive it like 3 miles and all of a sudden i'd lose my heat and the temperature guage would shoot up and it would build up killer pressure in the top radiator hose and blow the coolant back into the overflow bottle so needless to say that wasn't the problem so moved on to replacing the radiator with a double thick sized radiator still didnt fix the problem changed the cap and thermostat still no dice ended up gutting the thermostat and no i can drive it...with no heat and living in this part of new york this time of year it;s kinda rough not having heat...lol..so what do you think it could be just an airpocket i could hear the heater core making bubbling sounds after i'd shut it down when the temp guage would go up and i'm prety sure its not a HG problem due to it not having any symptoms car runs great and the sytem seems to be holding pressure even after sitting all night...think a good burping would do or should i try a oem subaru thermostat that lets air pass through it...what i was thinking about doing was drilling a couple small holes in a regular thermostat and putting it in,think it would work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Sorry, it sounds like head gaskets to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kents1stoutback Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 well if it runs that good with a head gasket blown i think im gonna be really impressed with how it runs after i get it fixed...b/c other than the lifter tick it has the engine sounds and runs as smooth as can be...so if and or when any other problems develop i'm just gonna try getting a thermostat through subaru and if that doesn't work i'll modify one and try that...all else fails i'll run the gutted one...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 If you do a search you may find that some folks have limped by with no thermostat until they could fix it.How about just fixing the gasket on the blown side? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kents1stoutback Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 b/c i don't have any idea if one is actually blown and what side it would be on and i know its not a cheap operation to have done i just bought the car and have already put pretty much all i can into it at the moment got my wedding and other things ahead of the outback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jts99OBW Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Have you looked for other blown-HG indicators like bubbling (or smoke) in the coolant reservoir? Or carbon-like pieces floating on top of the coolant or lining the reservoir? My car ran fine, never overheated, but had both indicators. The HG wasn't blown, but it was heading that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMattyD Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I would get an oem thermostat, and make sure it is facing the right direction when replacing it. After you reassemble the thermostat housing and hose, park the car on a steep uphill grade or jack up the front end, and fill the cooling system, getting as much air out as possible by squeezing the hoses, etc. When it's full, run the engine long enough for it to warm up, then let it cool a bit, and see if you can put any more coolant in the system. Then put the cap back on the radiator. Make sure you then remove the plastic bleeder screw on the passenger side of the radiator. It has a large phillips-style slot for easy removal. After I removed the plug, I put the end of a plastic funnel into the opening and filled the funnel with a couple inches of coolant and squeezed the hoses to burp out any left over air. I think I also did it with the engine running. I haven't had any problem with air bubbles since. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 1st off i'd like to say hello to all my fellow subaru owners and heres to wishing all head gaskets last forever...now on to my question,just bought a 97 outback legacy with the 2.5 from a guy who told me that he was informed my a subaru dealer the water pump was bad which seemed logical to me seeing as he said it was overheating after driving short distances and he'd already changed the thermostat and flushed the radiator so long story short he wanted a bigger vehicle and sold it to me....heres the problem i ended up changing the water pump and i'd drive it like 3 miles and all of a sudden i'd lose my heat and the temperature guage would shoot up and it would build up killer pressure in the top radiator hose and blow the coolant back into the overflow bottle so needless to say that wasn't the problem so moved on to replacing the radiator with a double thick sized radiator still didnt fix the problem changed the cap and thermostat still no dice ended up gutting the thermostat and no i can drive it...with no heat and living in this part of new york this time of year it;s kinda rough not having heat...lol..so what do you think it could be just an airpocket i could hear the heater core making bubbling sounds after i'd shut it down when the temp guage would go up and i'm prety sure its not a HG problem due to it not having any symptoms car runs great and the sytem seems to be holding pressure even after sitting all night...think a good burping would do or should i try a oem subaru thermostat that lets air pass through it...what i was thinking about doing was drilling a couple small holes in a regular thermostat and putting it in,think it would work? Loosing heat is a bad bad bad sign. You have the sympton of head gasket for a subaru. unlike other cars, subarus dont make a thick cloud when they blow a head gasket. The thermostate is at one of the lower points on the cooling system, so it will have zero affect. Time to remove the raditor cap and start the car and look for bubbles. If you have a blown head gasket, you will have noticble bubbles ( not the tiny ones from liquid agitation. Also you can have the radiator checked for exhaust gasses nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 just bought a 97 outback legacy with the 2.5 from a guy who told me that he was informed my a subaru dealer the water pump was bad which seemed logical to me seeing as he said it was overheating after driving short distances and he'd already changed the thermostat and flushed the radiator so long story short he wanted a bigger vehicle and sold it to me.... The problem was he lied to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kents1stoutback Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 think im just gonna run it till it won't go anymore...lol..a guy i work with has a 95 legacy that he had the motor replaced in. Engine he had put in is out another 95 that only had 60,000 on it, he drove it for a few months then started having other problems wheel bearing, brake lines, now something electrical and he's given up on it. the car itself has over 250,000 on it he said so he doesn't want to put anymore money into it told me to come get it out of his yard and i know i read in another post a 95 2.2 will drop right in a bolt up without any modifications just have to use my flex plate i think it said or something like that.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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