First things first, lets get some car info out of the way: 2002 2.5 RS Automatic 61,000 miles on it Bone stock (my wife’s car) Tuesday my wife came home and said her car smelt like coolant. She knew it was a bad smell and had me check out her car. She was full on coolant and no leaks, but the metal radiator cap was ice cold. I turned the car to the "on" position, but didn't turn over the motor to check the engine temp, her fans kicked on right away. That made me a little iffy. The engine temp was within normal range though. I turned on the car and heard a weird sound as if liquid was moving around in a tight pipe (like a pressurizing sound). I reved the motor a couple of times and it went away. I then turned off the car and smelt around the motor to see if I could figure anything out. I then put the car once again in the on position without starting the motor, this time the fans did not kick on. I drove it around the neighborhood and it was fine. Wednesday I had her check when she drove it to work and once again when she came home... no problems, no smells, nothing. Thursday I get an e-mail in the morning saying that the car had that coolant smell again. I had her go out and check the overflow tank once the car cooled down. She said there was nothing in there. I had her fill it when she was going to go home. When she got home she had filled the overflow tank almost to the top (she didn’t know what she was doing, and was very pissed off at me because of the whole situation). First thing I did was touch the metal radiator cap, which this time was hot. After waiting a few hours I lowered the overflow tank to about 1 inch above the fill line (to be safe). I also check the radiator and it was full. Today (Friday) she drove to work and took some pictures for me. It seems that the overflow tank has gone up from where I left it yesterday. I have attached the image. I will see what the level is when she gets home. A few notes: I don’t know the last time the coolant was changed out. We bought the car with 34k miles on it. It has never had any issues before in the past. The upper flow pipe is bone dry. The lower pipe is a little hard to tell because she spilt coolant on it while filling the overflow tank. The temp gauge on the car has never gone above the “normal†level (being in the middle). She did say that the car doesn’t seem to be as fast as it normally is, but she also said that she’s been driving it extra slow because she has been so freaked out about the whole coolant thing. I crawled under the car and I could not see any leaks from the block, but I wasn’t exactly sure where to be looking for those kinds of leaks. I spoke with Brian on the phone who advised I should get a coolant flush and maybe a new thermostat on the car. Anyone have any idea’s what might be going on with the car? Is it just because it’s the first time it has really got cold this year? Thanks in advance, Ryan
ryan, sorry to hear about the trouble. coolant smell, where does it comes from...vents, engine bay? IMO- If you don't want to mess with it I'd just have someone subaru worthy check it out. bring it to mtka and get the discount. just my 2 cents-if you're up to it just let the engine cool down, remove the radiator cap and let it idle. look for flow and maybe try to burp the system. btw- it does sound like a stuck thermostat
t stat could help, but seems like lately, 50% of the time customers smell coolant on any sohc 2.5 its headgaskets, dont mean to scare you
It comes from the engine bay. Ok, so worse case, ball park figure, how much you think that would run me? :ugh: Is there any ways to figure out if it's a headgasket or not without bring it to the dealership? Also, AWDimprezaL, what is your real name incase I gotta call mtka suby, i know who I can ask for
Hrm, Just thinking outloud, but I'm thinkin it might be worth my time to just pickup a therostat and replace that to see if it fixes anything. IIRC Brian said they are about $12. Erik can you confirm that? I might have the mrs drop by there after work and pick one up from you. She works really close to the mtka suby dealership.
externally leaking hgs arent that HUGE of a deal, just keep an eye on the coolant, you could make them last a long long time, just dont let it get hot!
Ok, I just replaced the thermostat, refilled the coolent, "burped" the system, and went for a fun little joy ride around my neighborhood for about 10 minutes. When i got back there was steam coming from the cap of the radiator, but the cap was ice cold. I'm thinking I might need to replace that cap also. Anyone else have ideas? The car seemed fine and I don't see any leaks. BTW: to anyone reading this in the future who is having this issue, getting off the old thermostat is kind of a PITA. I had to rip off the old gaskget all the way to get the dang thing to drop out.
hmm, well when the cap on my SVX went bad it would only close and stop venting when i tapped it with a screw driver... worth a shot, if i had tail lights i would come over and help out, but alas, i do not.
well, I replaced the cap and went around the neighborhood again. It's still steaming from the cap, but about half as much as it was before. I think i'll just watch the levels for a few days and see what happens
Ok, bringing this back up. This weekend I was warming up the car before going out. I had the garage door up. It warmed up for a good 5 to 10 minutes. I came out and started backing up the car. I smelt a coolent smell. I stopped and popped the hood. I could see a little bit of steam coming from the drivers side back part of the motor. I couldn't see exactly where it was coming from, but it was somewhat near where the spark plug is on that back side. I hope that makes a good enough mental picture of about where it was from. I'm guessing that she has a leaky head gasget. Anyone?
Negitive Ghostrider. (the pattern is full) Ok, back to 2007. I'll either stop by or have her stop by and get some. It won't be tonight. She e-mailed me saying she was "tired and cranky."
Oh, the poor little sailor. lol Sucks that its probably a headgasket. Try the coolant conditioner. That has helped some get by enough to sell.
For future people searching on this issue, it was the headgaskets. Now she's rollin with the sti head gaskets.
And rollin with no more leaks, fresh plugs, and a less stressed husband. How do your shoulders feel now without all that extra weight??
