95 legacy wagon 2.2 over heating question

[nosyt]

so this past week we picked up my dad a 95 legacy wagon for cheap. owner said it only needed a water pump and they never got it really hot. so today i replaced water pump and timing belt. add coolant and let it burp all the air out at idle till it stops bubbling and the fans kick on. i take it for a little drive around the block and not even 3/4 of the way around the temp needle is in the red. i get back home and the coolant overflow is full and the top rad hose is smoking hot while the lower rad hose is still quite cool . after it colled down the system sucked all the water back in from the over flow and both upper and lower rad hoses were collapsed

so my question ... is it head gaskets or a plug in the system
the water pump was leaking so i dont know if the previous owner tried dumping that stop leak shit in and plugged it up or if they ran it out of coolant and over heated it

[rallyak]

What thermostat do you have (oem Subaru or aftermarket )

[nosyt]

just put brand new aftermarket one in

[rallyak]

Most aftermarket ones don't work in our subaru's I would go with one from Subaru outhers just don't open and the rad stays cold.

[nosyt]

well good news! rebled the system tonight and it fixed all issues
took it for a good burn up the highway and it stayed right at operating temp and didnt puke any coolant out

thanks for all your input guys think this is going to be a great car for my dad

[Legacy777]

Did you replace the aftermarket t-stat with a Subaru one?

If not, you may still have issues in the future. I'd highly recommend replacing it with a Subaru t-stat. Or try one of these: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48642