i finally found out where i was losing my coolant from, a fairly good sized crack in the radiator that was hard to see until i removed the grill(94 legacy GT wgn 2.2)

 

i'm going to try the stops-leak stuff as a temporary fix, but plan to replace the radiator when i can afford to.

 

according to chiltons, it looks like a fairly straightforward job, is there anything i should be aware of?

 

also, anyone know what i can expect to pay? new at part store or approx. cost used at junkyard?

 

thanks all fo the feedback, and thanks shawnW for getting my account straightened out!!

Id avoid the stop leak if you can. If you can see the crack try a tube weld or take the radiator to a shop to have it repaired.

 

Junkyard radiators are a crap shoot but would be better than getting stop leak in the engine.

 

There is a guy parting out an outback on here right now, might check with him on its radiator being any good.

 

Shawn

I have fixed radiators on the road with epoxy. not the best but better than blocking up internal engine passages.

Try pulling the rdiator and plaed poverty to the guy in the local radiator shop.

If they really want to they can solder some pretty bad holes.

I used to hook my oxy acetelene out fit up with a propane tank and clean the thing really well when I had to do it myself.

The final stage trick was to loosen the radiator cap or put on a lower pressure cap to keep from blowing the soldered joints till you had the bucks for a new radiator.

It cracked on the front of the passenger end tank right? It's fairly common. You can try some jb weld or epoxy....but you really should replace it. I ran mine for a while with it leaking. After a certain point it would stop leaking because the water level was too low.

I fixed mine with some screening and JB weld, I also run a very low pressure radiator cap, so low that if you squeeze the radiator hose you can just see a tiny amount of coolant go into the reservoir. Even on 90+ degree days my 350,000mi. legacy doesn't overheat.

There's a 96 Legacy Wagon, I don't know if it has the same radiator, but if it does, its in good shape and the yard gets $40 for them. Plus shipping, its a deal. Lmdew@hotmail.com