Need Some Diagnostic Help

The ole '99 LGT has 140,000 miles on it now and I was just raving on Tuesday how I never put any money into it other than the occasional minor repiar, such as the new temp. guage I got last year. So after working all day today...and I mean literally all day I pull on to my street and the car began to give me a problem. Exactly what I need at midnight.

 

For the past week I've noticed that the car will get warm and after a minute or two of heat it will turn cold again for a few more minutes and then go back to being warm. I typicall spend about 3 hours a day in the car for work and haven't noticed any other problems. This evening however, I noticed it was making a strange knocking sound at idle that only last for about two minutes...or at least that's all that I heard. Several minutes after the sound went away my vents were back to blowing out cold air and the temperature guage actually maxed out.

 

I shut off the car for a few minutes, popped the hood. No visible problems and the engine didn't feel any hotter than normal. So I started the car again and drove the two blocks two my house. I watched the temp. guage slowly turn back to normal and the knocking sound was gone.

 

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Have the headgaskets been replaced? When you opened the hood after it overheated, was coolant bubbling out into the coolant reservoir?

The water pump or thermostat could be on the way out.

Do you have a coolant leak? If so.. could be from your water pump onto the timing belt. I've seen a few water pump leaks take out hydraulic tensioner and make a noise (intermittently) that sounds damn close to rod knock

Sounds an awful lot like headgaskets...

Interesting. I've never had any HG problems and between my brother and I we have had 4 EJ25 equipped Subarus. Course I wouldn't rule that out. It's funny, I asked a year ago about replacing the water pump as preventitave maint. and the dealer told me that they typicall do not do that...thought it was weird.

 

Now, I have had a fowling plug on number 4, that fowls ever 10k miles or there abouts. I replace the plugs myself, as I am handy enough to do that. What does that say about compression on that cylinder? And the HG?

Looking at the car in the daylight, you can see where it is leaking around cylinders two and four, even from the plug sockets. There is white smoke coming from the tailpipe, so coolant is definately being burned, and there is a jingling noise at idle. Temperature remained normal.

White smoke=headgaskets. Hopefully the overheating didn't cause any other damage.

When you have the engine out to replace the headgaskets, you should change the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat as preventative maintenance.

The timing belt is pretty new. Unfortunately, I don't have the skill to replace the HG on my own. And my teacher is 200 miles away. And it really sucks because I just got hired as a mobile therapist a few weeks ago...can't really be mobile without a car. Dunno what I am gonna do.

If it is only the headgaskets that are the problem, and you only have to go 200 miles, you could remove the thermostat to prevent the car from overheating, and just do the drive very carefully. I don't know how bad your headgaskets are, so I can't make an accurate analysis of what problems this might cause.

R.I.P. Subaru Legacy GT Limited. Between $4k to $5k to repair. A hydrocarbon test is implicating that the block cracked. ...I dunno what am I going to do. I'm not going to pay that much to fix it.

Not gonna lie, sounds horrendously expensive

if the other parts are good, either another engine or a 2.2L swap. Tho you'll miss the extra horses with the 2.2.

That is providing you have a place and the wherewithall to do it.

 

O.

My friend has a shop that is and he is gonna pull it and look for free. He is not well versed in Subies though.

 

I don't want to do an engine swap, because 1. I don't trust anyone. 2. This car is going to need more. Suspension, being number one. It's time to move on, because I'm not going to spend thousands on a 13 year old car....or I can't afford to spend thousands on a 13 year old car. If it can be made functional so I can sell it for a decent price I am all for it. This car will surely be missed.

Wish you the best.

 

O.

If your friend with the shop can pull the motor for free, couldn't he just install a 2.2 for you.. It wouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks and you'll have your Subaru back. The rest of the car only has 140k miles on it. I say it's definitely worth swapping the motor if you can deal with a little less power.

Check http://car-part.com/

I just searched, and there are definitely some available, just no prices.

Four hours later the engine is almost out. I drained the oil and there was no coolant in it. This is good! I'm really learning a lot on this one and I think the ole GT might be salvagable. Fantastic!

If you find that it was indeed the HG.

Do all that you can now, while the engine is out.

Clutch,TOB,pilot bearing.( got an exedy kit for @$150 from Ebay),T belt kit with idlers and water pump(keep the older one as a spare).

Reseal the separator plate, and check the screws on the back of the oil pump and replace the o ring that's there.

Use Subaru HG,and T stat. I prefer to use Subaru H20 gasket as it's metal vs the cork one that comes with the kit.

Leave the rear main seal alone, but you should replace the front one as you have to remove it to do the oil pump.

This adds very little time to your labor costs and saves you from having to do it later.

If you nor your friend have it, download the FSM.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru_manual_scans/1999_Legacy_FSM/

and for future ref:

http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/

This should make you golden for another 100K.

 

O.

To update everybody, I replaced the HGs in the '99 and the clutch as well. After two weeks the clutch gave out and a tapping sound (which Im told requires the installation of some shims) made the car undriveable. After much bleeding of the clutch system and replacing the master and slave cylinders the car would not engage into a gear. As my luck would have it, I found my dream car, a 2005 Legacy GT Limited with a 5MT. I jumped on it!

 

A month later, because of time constraints I have not been able to get my '99 repaired. My plan was to get over to the shop with buddy and work on it tonight. However, the new tire, which replaced the new tire that blew out, blew out. So I never made it to the shop.

 

So my question is, does anyone have experience with the Continental Extreme Contact DWS? I just don't understand how two new tires can blow out on the sidewall, in the same manner. I even checked my fender and found nothing.

Are those the run flats? I know conti had recalls on two of there run flat models.. though I can't remember which two!

 

Id do some research, that may be the case

They're not run flats. They're just awful. Continental apparently doesn't make them any more either and the like vendor doesn't have any. Thus, I have a claim with Continental through that vendor, and I have Continental telling me to contact the vendor for assistance and the vendor has instructed me to contact Continental. This is shitty customer service. Glad that I wasted $160. I'd like to find the jerk that got these tires for the car in the first place.

Any idea what could cause a bent clutch fork? Replacing the one on my '99. Replaced the clutch and the fork bent. I don't get it.

I'd have the wheel examined!

Ive never heard of a bum wheel causing sidewall ruptures. I did find a bunch of complaints about this tire online. Lot of people describing exactly my problem. No wonder Continental doesn't make it anymore.