[Roberto Valrico]

Hello, New to the Subaru Brand but decided to buy one for my son. Price was right, mileage was high. Looked through posts but did not see anything that matched up with the problem I am having.

It had coolant, now water dripping out from above the thermostat housing. Well the drip turned into water pouring out after a flush of the system. Appears to be center of the vehicle. I am thinking water pump. I did hear a squeal a couple times at start up.

It runs fine. Never overheated. Cooling fans kick in. I have heat. I checked oil, and it's not mixed with water. Before I broke this thing down to get to water pump, I thought I would try you guys and see if anyone had a similar issue.

I did flush system and had some stop leak which dumped out on the ground. prob. a no no but thought I would try it. It didn't stay in long.

Thanks

 

[Billgiblet]

If the engine isn't holding coolant, the sensor, located up high in the pipe that connects to the upper radiator hose, is probably dry. It has to be immersed in coolant to work, so saying it runs fine and isn't overheating may not be very accurate.

Sounds like the water pump seal is probably gone, better take care of that soon. It's a bit of a job, and involves removing the timing belt, so it might be a good idea to replace that and the idler pulleys etc, if they have not already been done. How many miles on the car?

 

[Roberto Valrico]

It has 205k miles on her. I am hoping it's the water pump. I am not excited about the extent of the job, but I will take my time on her and get it done. No we haven't been driving her. She is awaiting her new water pump install.

I will keep you posted.

 

[soobcrazy]

At 205k miles, I'm going to call head gaskets right now, probably the driver's side. Are the battery terminals corroded much?

 

[Roberto Valrico]

No corrosion. I am no expert, but wouldn't there be coolant in engine oil. There is not currently.

 

[Kevin]

If it were head gaskets, which hasn't been determined ATM, coolant can also escape via the exhaust. But that should be fairly obvious.

 

[Billgiblet]

So, after I weighed in on your coolant problem, Mr Smarty Pants here got in the Sub yesterday to go skiing and heard a belt chirping about a block from home. Opened the hood and the upper hose had developed a pinhole leak and was spritzing AF all over.

So soon, I too, will be under the car when the box of parts arrives from Rock Auto. Upper and lower hoses, thermostat and coolant temp sensor. Shoulda done all these when I had it drained to do the timing belt and water pump a month ago. Weather was nice that week, now it's really NOT.

Live and learn, but since I'm 66, I guess I better get with the program soon!
BG

 

[Kevin]

@Billgiblet Oh bugger! So what happened to the skiiing?

 

[Roberto Valrico]

Sorry to hear that buddy. I am opening mine up to today. Don't have to worry about that cold weather though.

 

[Billgiblet]

Thanks for sympathy, skiing went on hold for a few days, which is just fine, since it rained that night, and we're just getting back to ski-able conditions. Got my cooling parts put in in on Sunday, engine temp now back where it ought to be, with no AF irrigation running.

Interesting that the cockpit gauge would never have tipped me off to this, had to see it at 207F on the OBD Link. Guess I've seen some discussion of this, that the gauge reading is super non-linear. I've only seen it rise off the usual needle position once, when it was a disaster.

Robert, hope your project is going OK and that you are in a more temperate zone. It's almost up to 10 degF out there now. Gotta get out and work on my suntan!
BG

 

[soobcrazy]

Interesting that the cockpit gauge would never have tipped me off to this, had to see it at 207F on the OBD Link. Guess I've seen some discussion of this, that the gauge reading is super non-linear. I've only seen it rise off the usual needle position once, when it was a disaster.

The dash gauge and the ECU have different sensors for coolant temp and they are located in different areas of the cooling system. IIRC the dash sensor is mounted on the radiator and is higher in the system than the ECU's sensor, so when the coolant level drops, it can leave the dash sensor dry, in which case you'll never know you're overheating. (Better to have it this way and allow the ECU to keep seeing coolant temp versus the opposite.)

 

[Roberto Valrico]

So Update. The water pump was the issue. A bolt was broke off and the gasket was shot. Bad news this surpassed my expertise. Dropped off at local shop to re-tap the bolt that's broke off. They will go ahead and set timing as well. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Roberto Valrico]

Also the idler pulley was shot as well.

 

[Billgiblet]

Roberto,
Glad to you found the culprit, sort of GoodNews/BadNews!

To Soobcrazy: maybe on your model year there's a separate temp sensor on the radiator, but I can tell you for a fact that on my 2006 FosX, there is one sensor mounted on the coolant pipe on top of engine that connects to the upper radiator hose. It has three terminals and I from other threads here, I understand it has one sensor for the gauge and one for the ECU, but they are located in the same probe. I paid $35 for access to the factory service manual, and am sad to say I wasn't able to find enough detail to back up this idea that there are really two sensors connected this way. Maybe I just haven't seen the right sections.

But I trust you guys, with the usual grain of salt. Sometimes free advice is worth about what it costs ;-)

BG