April 21, 200619 yr Hello all! I bought a 1990 Legacy wagon (5 speed) a while back with the intention of fixing it up and selling it. There is one problem though, that eludes me. Often when starting the car and driving it, ESPECIALLY when starting the car after it is already partially warm (during stop-and-go driving), the engine will tend to overheat. I am able to solve this problem by putting it into neutral and slamming the throttle up to 6000 RPM, which immediately causes the temperature to go back down and stay down. I've checked the thermostat. It is not clogged and works great. I've removed and cleaned the temperature gague sensor, and the connection is good. The coolant is fairly new, but I'm planning on flushing the whole system today to see if I can't solve the problem. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Could this be a clogged head gasket passageway? A mechanic who inspected the vehicle thought it might be a bad head gasket.... Any advice?
April 21, 200619 yr If anything, that sounds like air entrapment in the cooling system. Let us know how things go after the flush job.
April 21, 200619 yr Hello Sorry to give yo bad news but the exactly same thing happened to me with my 90 legacy wagon L 5 spd i had. It turned out to be the head gasket. sniiiifff that was a good car 200k miles when i sold her.
April 22, 200619 yr Did you remove the bleed screw on the passenger side of the radiator? Do you get heat alright? Does the waterpump sound ok? Is the thermostat and subaru thermostat or is it a generic one?
April 22, 200619 yr the big give away is if the car overheats and you have no heat in the car, then its a HG. Test the coolant for exhaust gasses or look for bubbles. How many miles are on this thing nipper
April 23, 200619 yr Author Hey guys. Sorry. Turned out to be about a quart and a half of coolant was missing from the radiator! I filled it up and ran it, and no more overheating! Air bubble 4 sure! But after filling the cooling system up I found a leak coming from the bottom center of the radiator. Poured in a bottle of powdered aluminium, ran it on the highway for 30 miles, and am waiting for results back now. It seems that the leak is gone for the moment... What do you guys think of powdered aluminium, by the way? I know it's god a bad rap and I've heard some negative stories, but I've personally never had an unpleasant experience using the stuff on small radiator leaks.
April 23, 200619 yr well eventually your radiator is going to clog, you can get a replacement for about 125 on the net. The fix may last a day, may last for ever. It's up to you since your going to resell the car as to what you want to do. nipper
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