February 12, 200620 yr I was about to purchase a '96OBW (would have been my 2nd '96 & 3rd phase I OBW currently owned). it had a CEL on (Cat related) After the first test drive up steep hills etc. it ran fine. I checked under the hood.... GOOP in the overflow tank. assumed it was HG BUT it did not overheat!!!! I took it to a mechanic (trusted & diagnosed a 4runner problem everyone else got wrong). His take: breach of the trans fluid IN THE RADIATOR! reasons: fumes eminating from the trans dip tube shifting not as smooth as my cars do (but no too terribly bad) the owner took the car to his mechanic He said HG!!! reasons: Subaru oil pressure is around 60 psi the water pressure is around 14 psi HGs go all the time because of this. My question is: since it never overheated since it shifted less than smooth was my mechanic on the money or is his????? Later, Peter:cool:
February 12, 200620 yr Its like an old ASE question! A:Technician A says its the tranny cooler B:Technician B says Technician A is an idiot. C:Both are correct D:Neither are correct. What'd I'd do is check by taste test... tast the oil and the tranny fluid... have a pepsi handy.. which ever one tastes sweet is the one containing the coolant... you might also run the car(after cold) with the rad cap off of it and lookie for bubbles... usually though if its the HG I'd say the coolant would go into the engine leaving the rsv clean... but if its the tranny cooler, the ATF would end up in the coolant... so my bets on Tech A.... That tech B guy is the idiot... (why wont my smilies work?)
February 12, 200620 yr if the trans fluid made it to the over flow,coolant should have made it to the trans,check transmission to see if it is milky.if not im taking bets on head gaskets. dont kill the messenger.
February 12, 200620 yr I was about to purchase a '96OBW (would have been my 2nd '96 & 3rd phase I OBW currently owned). it had a CEL on (Cat related) [...] GOOP in the overflow tank. [...] [...]I took it to a mechanic [...] His take: breach of the trans fluid IN THE RADIATOR! reasons: fumes eminating from the trans dip tube shifting not as smooth as my cars do (but no too terribly bad) the owner took the car to his mechanic He said HG!!! reasons: Subaru oil pressure is around 60 psi the water pressure is around 14 psi HGs go all the time because of this. My question is: since it never overheated since it shifted less than smooth was my mechanic on the money or is his????? My question is: Are you still seriously considering this OB, or is the discussion just to decide whose mechanic needs to go back to school ? For now, I'll assume the former, but touch on the latter later, Peter . Fumes coming from the trans dip tube isn't a good sign under any circumstance, even after a hard run "up steep hills". That could certainly indicate coolant in the trans fluid. Tunered is right in suggesting that the trans fluid would likely be "milky" (sort of translucent pink, not clear red) after a hard enough drive; pull the trans dipstick and check. We all know about the HG issue, but I suspect that the owner is misquoting his mechanic. It's more likely that the oil/coolant pressure differences were stated as the reason the oil winds up in the coolant, not as the reason for HG failure. Your mechanic has a good logical argument, while the owner's mechanic has statistics to fall back on. However, the OB may be suffering from either or possibly both a trans cooler breach and bad HGs. The "cat related" CEL, depending on the exact cause, might indicate poisoning of an O2 sensor or the cat by coolant components, perhaps supporting the bad HG theory. So who needs to go back to school? Since apparently neither mechanic did enough for a solid diagnosis, I'd say both of them. A third opinion from someone who'll take the time to better verify things is probably a good idea.
February 12, 200620 yr Author Oh definitely not buying this vehicle... But the couple selling it are nice folks with a baby due soon... wanted to not see them paying out for work that won't solve the problem... You genius' are amazing to me! Later, Peter
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