well, my 97 legacy gt just did something really stange.

on a short drive to the grocery, had been driving 5 minutes,

temp gauge goes all the way up real fast, never happened before.

so i pull over, let it cool down, crank back up, start down the road,

temp gauge starts climbing again, but before i can pull over,

the needle starts to go back down,whats up, the needle finally sat right in the middle the rest of the way home.

got home,let it cool down, added a little antifreeze to the overflow tank.

cranked it up,drove a little ways, temp gauge started climbing , got almost to the H and started dropping back to a normal spot, continued to grocery,

ran fine, did not repeat on the way home.

soooo, whats going on here.

 

less than a 100 miles ago i had the timing belt and crankseal replaced.

any ideas.

<<less than a 100 miles ago i had the timing belt and crankseal replaced.

any ideas.>>

 

who did the work and did the take the radiator out to do it?

a local import garage w/ an ok suby mechanic.

 

yes, radiator was taken out to replace timing belt.

<<yes, radiator was taken out to replace timing belt.>>

 

any good subaru mechanic can do a timing belt without taking the radiator out. my bet is he didn't bleed the air out correctly, and you might have just blown your head gasket because of it.

well, that does not sound good.

if it was a head gasket, why did the temp gauge spike high and then drop

back down a second or two later?

anybody else got an opinion??

ok, the radiator did not come out, only the fans were removed to do the timing belt. i added coolant to the overflow tank. drove it around for 30 minutes. the temp gauge stayed normal, confused, i was really expecting it to do the same thing it did last night within 5 minutes.

ok, the radiator did not come out, only the fans were removed to do the timing belt. i added coolant to the overflow tank. drove it around for 30 minutes. the temp gauge stayed normal, confused, i was really expecting it to do the same thing it did last night within 5 minutes.

 

keep an eye on it. If there was an airbuble, it may have cleared itself up, or you may have been low on coolant. If it is anything more evil, it will show up again. Yu may want to get a test kit from an autopart store to check for exhaust gasses in the coolant. Also turn the heat on and tell us if you have heat if it happens again.

 

how many miles are on this

 

nipper

I think you also had the air bubble in the system, even if the radatior was not taken out most likly the hose was pulled off to make more room. I think you headgasket should be fine if you did not continue to drive after it got hot.

ok, the radiator did not come out, only the fans were removed to do the timing belt. i added coolant to the overflow tank. drove it around for 30 minutes. the temp gauge stayed normal, confused, i was really expecting it to do the same thing it did last night within 5 minutes.

114,670 miles:headbang:

 

air bubble sounds much better.

 

drove it around today, ran fine, temp gauge stayed normal.

 

still confused about the needle going up and down and back up and down again.

 

and yes the heat works and i did turn it on last night when it initially seemed to be running hot.

After replacing my heater core, the same rapid cooling heat was happening to me.

 

When cool, take off the radiator cap, start the engine, and squeeze the hose that runs from the radiator back to the engine. If you have a bubble, you'll hear a gurgle sound, after 5-10 good squeezes, the gurgle should stop and the engine will be without the bubbles that block up the system.

drove the car for 1 hour, all normal.

drove the car for 1 hour, all normal.

 

way cool

 

nipper

i think i am going to flush the radiator, and maybe check on how much a new one would cost.

I got a new radiator for my 98 Legacy, I had a raditor shop order me a new one I think it cost around 130.00 dollars.

i think i am going to flush the radiator, and maybe check on how much a new one would cost.

i think i am going to flush the radiator, and maybe check on how much a new one would cost.

 

if you go that route try http://www.radiator.com thats where i get mine from.

 

nipper

When you bleed the air from the cooling system it helps a lot if the car is way nose-high. I just park it nose up on the steepest part of my driveway. Then you can do the squeeze-the-hose trick. It's a little tricky to get all the air out of the cooling system but it's important to do it right.