Coolant Noob

[RhinO]

Hey Guys, I'm looking to change my coolant. I looked in the reserve tank today randomly, and saw that I had NONE! Eeek. I'm new to this and am A NOVICE! So really need little things explained in detail and in order. (Annoying) I know. Sorry.

Anyways, I was reading through the car manual and although it made sense, I wanted to ask you guys some details.

What type of coolant is best?
Should I drain before refilling? just to insure everything is stellar?
How do I avoid Air bubbles?


If anyone has a step-by-step guide that would be greatly appreciated. But I realize that is unrealistic. Thanks in advance, you guys are awesome! I love my car and I'm glad others love Subarus equally as much.

[kimokalihi]

Subaru recommends their brand coolant saying that it's specially formulated for their aluminum engines but most people just use prestone. They also recommend their coolant conditioner but I've never used it. I did however read a thread on NASIOC saying to avoid it as it was suspect of clogging up the heater core and radiator.

Just go pick up a jug of prestone coolant and a couple gallons of distilled water. Don't use tap water because it erodes the aluminum. Drain the coolant by opening the valve on the bottom of your radiator and then fill it up again. If you want you can flush it out with a hose first but I've never done this either so I'm not sure what the procedure is but I'd imagine you'd need to remove your thermostat for this to be effective.

You can park your car on a slight incline with the front of the car at the top of the incline to help air bubles get to the radiator cap or coolant tank if it's turbo. I don't do this either lol. I just fill it up and then run the engine until it gets to operating temp and keep filling it up until it stops going down. Don't forget to make sure the overflow tank is to the fill line. Then I just drive it like normal and keep checking it for a few days and adding more if needed.

Easy as pie.

[BoostedSubie]

If you really really want to flush it, Prestone sells a kit for like 5 bucks and has detailed instructions on how to use it. Any auto parts store or even wally word sells them. Also, there are two drain plugs on the underside of the engine, one on each side, that take a huge allen head. These will drain all the coolant out of the engine if removed. What year and model of legacy do you have? Like Kimo said, buy the coolant and distilled water , 50/50 is premixed but you're paying for half water.

[RhinO]

Great! You guys really know your stuff. I have a 1990 Legacy LS.

[kimokalihi]

Welcome to the board btw!

[RhinO]

I ended up just buying Prestone and filling up the reservoir.I checked the color of The fluid in the radiator before adding the prestione to the overflow and it seemed slightly more orange. Is that normal? Was I supposed to dilute the coolant with water before putting it in the reservoir?

Thanks kimokalihi! This is the first forum I've ever been active with and I'm loving the expert advice! Haha, Now I just need to figure out how to fix the door locks, what the Random fan rubbing noise when I get off the throttle is, Cost of a new windshield, O2 sensor replacement, How to improve gas mileage and better headlights. So look for my posts in those topics!

I really want to keep this car around til I'm old. I've become way too attached!

[kimokalihi]

I want to keep mine til I die too lol. I've spent countless manhours working on it so it would be hard to let it go.

You'll be fine if you added some coolant even unmixed. I'm running straight water right now but I'll be draining it soon and putting half and half coolant/distilled water.

It shouldn't be orange. It should be a clear green. I would drain it if I were you. That's probably from rust from not being changed in forever.

Best way to improve mileage is stay off the gas lol. On my car I get 19mpg if I get on it from time to time. If I drive it like an old lady I could get 25ish. Other than that, make sure you tire pressure is where it's supposed to be. If you go a little higher than it says to in the door frame I believe you can increase MPG though.

Headlights are about $300 shipped from the UK or somewhere over there like germany. They're glass lights instead of glass and have better light output and don't oxidize like plastic. Most of them are adjustable via an electric knob inside the cabin too so that's kinda neat. They also have the turn signals in the corner lights instead of the bumper.