blatant Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Get a load of this. PHANTOM LEAK 2006 outback, MT, 2.5i, 25k. So I leave for the west coast on Wednesday morning from DC. I drive straight, aside from stopping for bathroom or fuel. Total gear weight is about 250lbs and two mt bikes on roof, clearly not heavy. I arrive in AZ on Thursday night, also arriving with me is a SPIKE in my TEMP GAUGE (whew, thankfully I noticed the gauge) followed by me pulling over and noticing that there is no coolant in the reservoir and none visible in the radiator. As I stopped for fuel every couple hundred miles I checked the oil and the coolant and they were always within acceptable ranges. Now, the temp indicator never went into the red, thankfully. So I resort to filling it with whatever water I had. I had no coolant available. Thankfully the radiator only took about ½ gallon, so it was not empty. I filled the reservoir all the way up and then went to a quickmart to buy coolant. 50/50 premixed, which the dealer claims is ok for use after I explained what I’d done. NEXT DAY at the dealer. Explain to them exactly what you read above. Dealer says “ok, we’ll check it out” Dealer calls me in an hour, come and get it………Nothing is wrong. I’m like “huh, there was coolant all over the place and you’re telling me it’s all good?” Yep. They said they pressure tested it and it was cool. They also checked the cap. It was cool. They adjusted the coolant level and that was that. Go figure. It looked like it was leaking from the lower hose on the right side, as you look down where it attaches to the radiator. My thoughts are a new car should have a mystery leak that a DEALER can’t find. So now I sit here wondering wtf…..wondering if I now have an UNRELIABLE Subaru and if road tripping it is a bad idea as I don’t want to break down in the middle of nowhere AND w/o roadside service as I sat on hold with Subaru roadside for 40minutes and NEVER spoke to anyone….what a joke. I had AAA but didn’t need them. ANYONE else ever have a phantom leak of any sort or ever hear of anything like this? thanks for reading and any insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I would imagine some very careful and diligent observation would uncover the source of the leak. I've seen coolant leaks come and go, seemingly at random, with no clear origin. I hate to be too pessimistic, but the phase II EJ25s are notorious for external head gasket leakage, which causes a slow, often intermittant, but relatively steady leak that will eventually drain the reservoir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatant Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 forgot to mention that they checked the hg and it was all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I pray a 2006 doesnt have a HG issue. HG issues when they first start come and go and are very hard to find. Keep your paperwork and document everything. When you say fluid was all over the place, can you be more specific? nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfcrane Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I have an 05 Forester XT and experienced a small, but steady leak for the first year. I carefully measured the replaced coolant and it eventually reached 1.5 liters. The dealer twice kept it and claimed they could find no leaks. Finally, I replaced the radiator cap with OEM($20!) and the leak completely stopped. I still don't trust it and check it often. My complaint to SOA naturally fell on deaf ears, they claimed it was normal leakage. I think the problem stemmed from the method of cooling the turbo. It is designed so that the water jacket around the turbo housing boils and draws heat away in the vapor. This goes to a small reservoir with the cap, rather than to the radiator itself. Somehow this creates excess pressure at this point in the system. It stopped for a while just from loosening the clamps and twisting the small hoses. I detected some indications of a leak there by the green stains but they were very faint and the dealer wasn't buying. I now have a definite green blob at the end of one hose but no leakage requiring any coolant addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Sometimes start with the simple things, like replacing the radiator cap as stated above nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatant Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 I pray a 2006 doesnt have a HG issue. HG issues when they first start come and go and are very hard to find. Keep your paperwork and document everything. When you say fluid was all over the place, can you be more specific? nipper as in all over the bottom of the radiator and lower right hand/driverside radiator hoses and that plastic "shield" that the out back has on it when you look down from above. radiator cap seems to be a popular culprit so far. nice informed responses, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatant Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 no one else? I can't be the only one? However with the luck i have i wouldn't be surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Replace the cap with OE and watch things. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.