overheating.....again

Car is a '06 Legacy GT, MT, lightly modded with 91k miles.

 

Story short, last night I pushed the car hard a bit as it has been awhile. I noticed an odor that smelled like coolant. Looked at the temp gauge and the needle was right below H, or the redline. On the way home, reading would go down above middle mark, then rise back up again. Got home, opened hood, and found coolant all around the overflow tank. Also heard what sounded like coolant/liquid boiling(?). Filled the resevoir this morning, and radiator which didn't require much coolant. Drove to work, and same thing. Gauge would slowly rise up..stay right below H mark. I would turn the car off and back on (while driving)and the temp reading would slowly go down then rise back up again. Any clue what problem I may have? I say "again" in my title because I had this problem before. Oh, and a couple things to note:

• <LI itxtvisited="1">Heat stopped coming out of the passenger vents about 1.5 years ago/now no heat emits from drivers side but when car overheats it does
  
• Replaced thermostat (when the issue first arose, maybe 8 months ago)
  

Check both radiator caps to see if they are clean or replace them and also perform TSB mod to the hose in the overflow tank.

 

Check radiator hoses, do they bulge under a pressure test?

 

Any leaks? Radiator, head gasket?

Check both radiator caps to see if they are clean or replace them and also perform TSB mod to the hose in the overflow tank.

 

Check radiator hoses, do they bulge under a pressure test?

 

Any leaks? Radiator, head gasket?

 

I did replace the radiator cap but not the cap on the resevoir for the turbo.

 

I wasn't aware of a TSB for overflow tank hose:confused:

Overflow tank hose goes all the way down to the bottom where it can suck up debris. TSB requires cutting it 20mm shorter and at 45 degree angle.

I hate to say it but - it's probably a head gasket. I had exactly the same symptoms.

 

You can buy a 'block tester' from NAPA to check. After running the car for a while ( and seeing the bubbles) you then bubble the 'air' in the coolant tank through a blue liquid. Any exhaust gas in the air turns the liquid yellow. That said, that test was quite inconclusive - yet I still had a blown head gasket.

 

In my case, since I had a perfect maintenance record at 85K miles, SOA paid half of the cost ( $2.2K at the stealer-ship).

i had a cracked radiator...i already got a replacement radiator for cheap($90)

 

hopefully it will fit(08+ WRX radiator) and solves the problem