Mitchael

Thanks all! I'll try burping it. There's no smoke or milky film in the fluid. It was flushed a couple months ago, and the fans work just fine, when it heats up and when the AC runs.

1997 Legacy Outback 2.5 Automatic trans ~200K miles. Every so often it spikes in temp, but a couple mechanics have looked at it, and no one has found a leak. Of course it doesn't overheat when I take it to the shop. Top radiator hose gets hot, so the thermostat doesn't seem like it's jammed shut. New radiator cap. Recently flushed, new fluid. The weep hole on the water pump isn't leaking, so the pump should be fine. The heater blows hot (really hot) and this will most of the time keep the temp gauge at or just above normal temp. The only fluid I seem to be loosing is from the overflow reservoir when the fluid is hot and boiling over. One forum suggested that the heater core may be bad. I was going to bypass it to see if that fixes it, but I'm concerned it won't, as I still get heat and I haven't noticed much fluid loss or any leaks into the cabin. My first 97 Legacy Outback 2.5 overheated like this at ~240K and I got rid of it before I solved the problem. Any suggestions? Is this a frequent thing?