My '01 Forester over the last few days has been occasionally overheating, then a few moments later going back to normal temp. If it helps anyone here diagnose the issue, here are some noticed issues:
~The overflow bottle of coolant is always cold, always full.
~The fans turn on and off normally (I am assuming here).
~I can't see any foam or discoloration of oil on the dipstick.
~There seems to be some junk in the overflow bottle, I'm not convinced it's oil though
~When I squeeze the big radiator hose on top, it always feels empty.
~I can't see any leaks.
~I added coolant to the system after it got low about a week back. While adding coolant with the radiator cap off, I was pressing the gas pedal to cycle the coolant with the heater on (per directions). I did, from inside the vehicle, looking under the open hood, see some foamed coolant come from the open radiator. I checked it out, there was still foam, but eventually went away and regular fluid could be seen flowing by again. This foam was only seen when I pressed the gas to about 3k RPM.
After reading about HG leaks here, I called my local Subaru dealer. He said $43 for a diagnoses, which seems plenty fair. He mentioned that this could possibly find other issues and that I may be a bit hasty jumping on the HG bandwagon. After asking for a quote on a HG fix anyway, he said usually sees them go out the door for 1,400 with no machining, 1500 with, and 1700 with machining as well as timing chain and water pump.
Does this sound like a good price?
Revvy
~The overflow bottle of coolant is always cold, always full.
~The fans turn on and off normally (I am assuming here).
~I can't see any foam or discoloration of oil on the dipstick.
~There seems to be some junk in the overflow bottle, I'm not convinced it's oil though
~When I squeeze the big radiator hose on top, it always feels empty.
~I can't see any leaks.
~I added coolant to the system after it got low about a week back. While adding coolant with the radiator cap off, I was pressing the gas pedal to cycle the coolant with the heater on (per directions). I did, from inside the vehicle, looking under the open hood, see some foamed coolant come from the open radiator. I checked it out, there was still foam, but eventually went away and regular fluid could be seen flowing by again. This foam was only seen when I pressed the gas to about 3k RPM.
After reading about HG leaks here, I called my local Subaru dealer. He said $43 for a diagnoses, which seems plenty fair. He mentioned that this could possibly find other issues and that I may be a bit hasty jumping on the HG bandwagon. After asking for a quote on a HG fix anyway, he said usually sees them go out the door for 1,400 with no machining, 1500 with, and 1700 with machining as well as timing chain and water pump.
Does this sound like a good price?
Revvy