Coolant loss?

**foxhound81** · #1: 04-11-2011, 06:58 AM

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some opinions on the current state of my Legacy GT. I was doing an oil change last week, and when I went to add oil to the car after it was drained there was a nice creamy mixture at the top of the filler tube

After cleaning it out and filling it back up with oil, I backed the car off the ramps and checked the dipstick, which seemed a bit streaky but that could just have been the residual oil and new oil trying to get along. However, my coolant level in the overflow was at the low mark which I thought to be odd since the car had just been in for its 30k service a few months ago.

So I brought it down to the dealer. They had my car from Friday to Tuesday, in which time I recieved a call that they had found nothing. It looked like all they did was top off the fluid, give it a drive, and check the oil. Upon my own inspection of the oil, I did not notice the streaks I saw earlier right after the new oil had been added.

After driving the car for about 200 miles from the day I picked it up (Wednesday) until Saturday, there is now no coolant in the reservoir at all! I checked the radiator itself, and there is coolant all the way to the top. I am looking for your guys' opinion if I should bring it back, or just get some subbie coolant and fill up the reservoir again. Also the bottom of the reservoir is covered in some sort of black gunk. What's up with that?

**foxhound81** · #2: 07-20-2011, 02:31 AM

I guess I should update this!

The dealer eventually found, after the second trip, that the thermostat housing was defective. The area where the radiator hose mounts to the housing, was full of pits and was allowing coolant loss. The dealership actually had to call Subaru to help diagnose my coolant loss. Once they found that part to be faulty ( it looked like it was part of a bad cast ), Subaru asked the dealership to send them back the faulty part.

Once the housing was replaced, I haven't had any more coolant loss. Hope this can help in the future.

**Max Capacity** · #3: 07-20-2011, 09:52 AM

Odd, glad you got it fixed.

Seems like no many people read this forum...

**AZP Installs** · #4: 07-21-2011, 05:53 AM

Just saw this, was going to say that the coolant must be going somewhere. I still wonder how the original oil got streaky. I would keep an eye on it and make sure it's the the beginnings of a bad head gasket.

-mike

**foxhound81** · #5: 07-21-2011, 10:02 AM

Yeah I just did an oil change last week, no messy oil this time. Very odd, but I'm glad I didnt see anything this time!

**AZP Installs** · #6: 07-26-2011, 05:59 PM

That's good news. You should be good to go then.

-mike

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**gonzo2186** · #7: 08-18-2011, 07:43 AM

Sorry to revive this, but I'm going through the same thing. Coolant at low mark and dropping. I'll have to check to see if this is what is causing it. Hopefully it is. I don't want it to be a head gasket.