Radiator/heat issues, please help quick

Oh what a day, meant to be on holiday, so we do everything we can, take it for an oil and filter change and they guy mentions our coolant reserve is low, thats odd I said it was just check over by a mechanic.

 

Anyway, 100km underway and only 15km from destination I start seeing what looks like is smoke but is steam i find out. There is a crack is the plastic joiner pipe that attaches to engine hose. Great, slow leak and I could hear the hissing. So I drive it across the road to a persons house and kindly once its cooled i fill it again. We decide to drive 11km back into the nearest town to see if a radiator guy has the part. He does but cant fit us in as hes closing. The whole time up until now the heat hadnt gone past middle gauge. He topped it up with boiled water as its still hot, only needed 200ml, so must be a slow leak.

 

But now we take off thinking its a slow leak we will make it to our destination as we hadnt over heated. BUT 2km into driving its climbing up to HOT. I stop check, sure its hissing at the crack but its not losing a lot of water.

 

We try again no good, goes climing to HOT again which it never does. The car has never risen above the middle until now.

 

So given that it didnt get hot driving back to the radiator mech, why all of a sudden would it be getting over heated now?

 

Could it be the thermostat?

 

Could it have been air coolness tricking the thermostat before?

 

Why would it overheat now when it has more water than before, especially when it ran fine for 11km fine when full?

 

Could I have blown a fuse?

 

Confused why would a car overheat if you have checked the water/coolant levels?

 

No coolant sludge in oil or reservoir, no water out the tail pipe. Check both fans are going on the far.

 

We need to have some ideas what to ask so we dont get taken to the cleaners within 2 days when return to the town.

 

97 2.5l

The first overheating probably created an air pocket that was not purged by just filling.

Remove the upper radiator hose to fill. Reattach,open the bleeder screw then fill from tank top.

Let it idle a few minutes with cap off. Close all and fill overflow tank.

 

O.

what he said.

 

search here and read :

''how to fill and burp your cooling system''.

Ok guys thanks. It never got to H. But it must have lost a lot of coolant before i filled it up with water, but it stayed in the middle the whole time and must have had some left as there is some green when i refilled, which took a while as you have to put some in, let it sink, but some in let it sink, couldnt get the hose slow enough to continuous fill.

 

How much coolant does it hold?

 

How likely is it ive done major damage like bent rods or cracked heads etc and how would i know?

Total capacity is 6.1 qts.

No damage or you'd know.

Keep the reservoir full and check regularly.

 

O.

So if was damage the car wouldnt move etc?

 

Some of my online friends have scared me a bit saying the head gasket will be blown. Im worried as the cars not worth the cost of that repair, and we have put so much money into it already.

 

i have it booked in with radiator specialist tomorrow to either replace the plastic end if he has the part or a new radiator. will they be able to tell if its something like the thermostat or water pump that caused the sudden overheating?

 

when i filled it up with water there was still coolant in it, id imagine i put about 2 quarts of water in.

 

It was full before we left, the crack in radiator plastic end must have occured or got worse as we were travelling. Oddly it has white looking droplets/beads on the crack, I almost wonder if somebody had tried sealant on it before. It could just be water thats a bit calcified im not sure.

Subaru water pumps rarely fail. When they do you'll get seepage from the weep hole for quite a while. They don't just go bang.

If you decide to replace your t stat (doesn't seem like your issue) use OEM or if available Stant Xactstat #48457 (no other Stant).

If the radiator is cracked, just replace it. Cheaper when you add labor costs.

Please note the t belt interval of 100K MILES or 10 years, whichever is first.

Whenever doing a t belt you must replace all the idlers and the tensioner pulley (if 2 piece) or the complete tensioner (if one piece).

Mind your fluids and enjoy your car.

 

O.

because it is a 2.5L engine,

the potential damage is head gasket failure.

in fact,

if you had not found a leak in thew plastic on the radiator,

head gasket would be very near the top of the list.

 

repair, replace, the leak spot.

then ''correctly'' refill and burp the system.

 

sometimes the leak causes overheating,

and severe overheating causes the head gasket to vfial.

 

but sometimes the head gasket fail causes overheating which then causes a cooling system leak.

 

you might want to read up on some of the ''ej25 bad head gaskets'' posts.

 

there is lots of info out there,

and there are lots of WEIRD ways head gaskets can cause overheating.

 

good luck.

cheers guys. i had no idea about burping the radiator when you fill it. so i definitely didnt do that so air pockets are likely.

 

worst case just to get home, are there any good temp sealants? would chemiweld temp plug the gasket?

i would just leave the cap loose,

and add coolant frequently.

with the cap loose you will not build up pressure.

depending on the conditions,

you will boil away some coolant, so add often.

 

and i would keep the AC on, adjust the heat accordingly.

with the AC on it always engages the second fan for more cooling.

 

if the rad has a crack,

anything you do to slow the flow is ok.

but plan on replacing it soon.

jb weld might help.

i used jbweld for a few months on my truck, worked well. i also used it for a couple weeks while i found a good radiator (upgraded) for my LGT. just make sure you scrub the area well so the stuff has some radiator to stick to instead of the dirt/ stuff that is on it

i think i was over freaking out about the head gasket thing. we never got to hot. i think whats happened is i havnt burped the car. i added coolant with engine off.