Need some mad help asap!

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BallinSubie
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Need some mad help asap!

Post by BallinSubie »

Alright, so I've got a 92 legacy wagon L non-turbo. The guy i bought it from dropped a 98 legacy gt 2.5L engine into it, keeping the old ej22 heads. The guy told me he put a brand new radiator in it. (Figured some background info wouldn't hurt...)
The problem I'm having is that when I beat on it, or rev it high, every so often the car starts overheating. I pop the hood and look at it and there's coolant all over the ground. The odd thing is that when it happens, i can throw some coolant in it and it'll run fine for a while until I start beating on it a little bit.
My buddy came over and he took the radiator cap off and we ran the car for a while, and there was a steady dripping coming somewhere from under the car, mostly near the radiator. we couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was dripping from. But when we put the radiator cap back on, the dripping went away. So i'm confused as hell about this and i was wondering if i could get some help with this.
I was told it might be the head gasket, but it's not leaking out anywhere near there. and there's no coolant in my oil. So i'm guessing that's fine. But idk if anyone else out there is having this problem, or whatsup.
Last edited by BallinSubie on Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Shaggy
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by Shaggy »

I had a similar problem after fixing my headgasket, when I would get on it it would start to over heat. I was hella pissed. When I would park it leak some fluid and I finaly found the colprate. I had to mob he shit out of my car up a hill then park it to see if any fluid or steam was comin out and sure enough the was a hole in one of my radiator hoses that looked like it had been stabbed with a ballpoint pen. The hole wasn't open enough for me to see it but building up the pressure from the heat made the steam come out of the hole and that's how I found it. The fluid would just come out while I was driving but when I would stop the fluid would stop squirting out and it would be dripping from everywhere. It could be a blown head gasket though. And like I said the pressure had to build up from all of the heat, but u said yours drips when u have the cap off. I'd check all of the hoses and all that kinda stuff before going with the haedgasket. Sounds kinda weird man. Maybe someone with the exact same problem will chime in soon. Just be carefull hotrodin ur car around for now man.
90 2.2 N/A legacy awd wagon with outback struts.
gijonas
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by gijonas »

Is the overflow tank hooked up? or is the hose just routed under the car?
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SLODRIVE
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by SLODRIVE »

^^What he said. It could also be your water pump going out, sometimes they only leak when the motor's hot.

Have you gotten under your car to look for a trail of coolant?

P.S. This thread should probably be moved to the Engine forum. :-)
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Legacy777
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by Legacy777 »

moved to engine forum
Josh

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subytech
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by subytech »

Sounds like you've blown a headgasket into the coolant passage causing excessive cooling system pressure causing the coolant to overflow at the radiator. This type of headgasket failure is internal and won't cause an external coolant leak and does not leak into the crank case, at first. Since it only happens when the car is warm/beat on, it sounds like its just starting out. Another less possible cause could be the wrong water pump, I've only seen this once but if you install an older style water pump on a phase 2 2.5l motor it will overheat. Dont know if this applies to older motors and differant combinations of pumps/heads/blocks. Lastly, maby someone else could chime in on this but it might be worth knowing what headgasket is in their and if its compatible with the cooling passages in the block/head.
92 Legacy Turbo, 5sp MT, Early Large CC 20G heads, Ported custom clocked td04, Cobb catted DP, Injen SS 3" exhaust, Turbosmart MBC @ 10psi, Apexi 20g intake, custom FMIC, Fidanza 11lb flywheel, stock 05 WRX clutch
BallinSubie
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by BallinSubie »

Is there anyway to test that it's a blown head gasket for sure? Is there any test I can do on it?
subytech
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by subytech »

the best way to know if its a headgasket it to do a combustion gas test. It consists of a tube of reactive fluid that you put at the radiator after you take the cap off, then the tube has a turky baster type ball on the end of it you use to suck air trapped between the tube and the coolant through the reactive fluid, if the fluid turns colors then there are cumbustion gasses in your coolant, meaning a blown headgaskget. This test is really easy and fast, problem is not everyone has this equipment. You might be able to rent it from a parts store if your lucky. Another way would be to get the car to its overheating point, shut it off, quickly go out and remove the radiator cap (dont burn yourself!) and then restart the car, depending on how bad the headgasket is you may get coolant flying out of the radiator from the combustion chamber pushing exhaust into the cooling system. This isn't full proof and it may not do it, also it requires you get the car to start overheating again which is never good. How does the coolant smell? if it really stinks, not like coolant this could also be another sign of combustion gasses in the coolant.
92 Legacy Turbo, 5sp MT, Early Large CC 20G heads, Ported custom clocked td04, Cobb catted DP, Injen SS 3" exhaust, Turbosmart MBC @ 10psi, Apexi 20g intake, custom FMIC, Fidanza 11lb flywheel, stock 05 WRX clutch
Torz_turbo
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Re: Need some mad help asap!

Post by Torz_turbo »

Hi there, I’ve just bought a Subaru Legacy 1997 last Friday, sadly, I'm experiencing the same issue. Water is dripping from somewhere below the radiator, but I do know it isn't flooding into the engine as my Oil appears totally fine. I'm taking it to my workshop this avo to have a look - but I just wanted to say thanks for posting the above as I was freaking out a bit and this totally puts me at ease, as now at least I know what the hells going on here.

Overall at this point I’m convinced its a leak with on of the pipes to the radiator as someone has mentioned above. Your situation sounds remarkably similar to mine so we could be both experiencing the same problem - which sounds like an easy fix!

Good luck mate
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