Kmenex

Thanks a lot guys...

Greeting! ​So if anyone remembers i replace the HG on my legacy and the timing pulleys and belts and all that jazzz... All those repairs went well. ​I knew the tranny would be going soon but did not replace it yet... However now I am encountering the problems. ​I have come to the forums to help narrow down the potential problem before decided to swap a new tranny. ​NOTE THIS IS A MANUAL 5 SPEED TRANSMISSION ​Detail of the problems: First gear works fine... ​in second gear onwards if there is any type of extra load on the car (going up hill) or if you put too much gas then the RPM shoot up but the car does not accelerate. It feels like the power of the engine is just not transferring to the drive assembly. ​So the RPM go up and if you let off the gas they will drop down very quickly to "where they should be" relative to the speed and current gear the car is in. If you try to add more gas often the RPM will just increase without actually accelerating the car.... So In essence I have to go up every hill in first or second gear... ​To me this reminds me of when my "Tranny went out" (whatever that means) on my first car, a Toyota truck. Feels similar. ​However I am wondering if it might be the clutch instead? or maybe something related to the transmission that does not warrant a swap? ​Additional details: there is no grinding or whirling noises or anything like that... and no burning smell... 180k miles ​Anyone want to help me get to the source of the problem? ​Thanks! -k

Speedo cable won't press back together, maybe I'm doing it wrong.. So I reset the ECU and fans worked properly, still rough idle.. however the next day fans started coming in again as soon as car was started... So thinking the CTS... Not sure if this will effect the idle though. I am aware that some ECU systems use coolant temp to adjust fuel air ratios but not sure about this one... Other culprit could be the original spark plug wires are still on there ( how much of a difference does this really make ? ), Problems with the intake system or throttle body: head gasket was failed for a while before replacing, giving ample time for all types of cruddy mixing to take place in various recesses... Pcv valve less than a month old... Perhaps throttle cables are not at correct tension ( doesn't explain the perfect smooth idling right after the hg fix )... Maybe the head gasket is failing again after a few weeks?

Greetings, So car has been running fine but now that I've done work on it I've started to notice every little thing and can't rest until it's back to normal. Maybe this is a good thing? Anyways there have been a few changes since everything got up and running and the overheating issue solved.. details as follows: The cooling fans constantly run now. I suspect the coolant temp sensor but wanted to pick the forums brain in regards to a few things. Also the manual transmission cable linked speedometer cable broke off at the point where it connects to the sensor inside the transmission. My bad probably when putting the engine back in. When I first changed the timing and head gasket, before fixing the over heat problem, and before the speedometer sensor broke, the idle rpm was dead still and the engine ran without any hiccups. Smooth, not even a slight wobbling jitter, just clean even running. However now it idles a bit rough, RPM at initial start is a bit higher than normal but then settles down after heating up, yet still has that little hiccup thing going on about every 3 - 5 seconds, and idle rpm doesn't stay still.. moves around maybe by 100 RPM fluctuation. Also engine gets up to temp very quickly, in 3 min as opposed to 10 or so, however that could be due to it being July...? Would this type of behavior be produced from a faulty coolant temperature sensor? Also could have the 20+ year old sensor been driven to failure after the one time the car was driven before the over heat problem was fixed? Maybe it got too hot and ruined the electronics. Any input welcome. Other than that car is running fine.

Test drive success! Stable temp, no check engine light... Strong running, great sounding timing.. Two New hg and resurfaced heads, water pump, timing belt and all pulleys, new CV joints.... Next up replace steering line boots and front brake... Then clutch and new tranny some day when they start acting up. Thank you all for providing such wonderful information and guidance.

Yes I noticed a slight residue under the dash looking like slow long term leaking. Test drive time! Thank you all so much for helping me understand. I love this car and have plans for it ( lift few inches, new wheels, make it a mnt vehicle )... Thanks! P.s: Arco gas sucks and makes you idle rough!

Bypass the heater core let it idle for a long time temperature stable increased RPMs temperature started to rise Reservoir is full turned it off let it sit for a couple minutes something happened I heard a gurgling noise all of the coolant reservoir got sucked up into into the radiator and cooling system I'm thinking there was a large air bubble around the water pump area and it prevented thermostat from opening but now it's somehow opened and sucked everything up into the block hoping it'll stay stable on my test drive also there's water in the upper rad hose where's before there was not good sign right

Thanks so much for input. I'm going to bypass the heater core first because it started having light coolant vapor and sweet smell prior to massive repairs, and the day I shut it down and opened it up it was having temp spikes and vapor... Highly suspect heater core is clogged due to erratic nature of temp motion... as well as staying stable temp at idling rpm... Until you apply increase rpm then maybe becomes too much pressure to flow normally through clogged core... When I took off the old head gaskets they were very wet and deteriorating with gummy reddish substance. Could easily see this, along with general coolant debris and erosion, to clog heater core... After i bypass I'm gonna idle it while facing up hill on incline and start trying to burp. Ah one last thing.... When I filled coolant initially I filled until it started coming out the bleeder hole.... And left the resivour empty... After few miles and starts now overflow is way over the full line and i notice the levels in the radiator have dropped. Suspecting large air hole.

Another interesting note: when I took for small test drive and it was showing high temperature... After I got back I let it idle and took off radiator cap ( i has gloves and face sheild on) and it sprayed out but was cool to the touch? Seems like there is a clog somewhere in the coolant system... Worked last night when I test drove it but not this morning... Maybe thermostat failed on the cool down? Maybe air trapped in there? Maybe heater core clogged?

Just went on quick test drive... Temp shot up but was no leaking coolant... Vapor did start to form wind sheild but not like before.... Possible I have air bubbles in there I need to get out? Also no more bubbles appearing in resivour.. thinking clamping that hose fixed it.

Been idling steady twenty minuets, no smoke, no temp increase ( dead center ) no leaking

Alright... I've given the beast a look over, pretty little thing... Poor cobber deserves a good looking after I suppose... Had to drive about 40 miles today, had 4 starting and the issue evolved... Started staying at high temp, not coming down and smoke was limited ( sweet smelling by the way ) and coming right under the steering wheel ( heater core connection )... Literally having a panic attack all day as I just did the light surgery and girl had to use car while I'm in the city... So looking over noticed both of the hoses on the water pipe at the top of the block ( to and out of heater core ) were not clamped down!! One had peeled back and was sputtering out coolant in small little droplets.. the other was just lose and wet around the edges... Checked in the overflow coolant tank and saw one bubble medium size ( roughly .75 cm diameter ) coming up every ten seconds or so... Looked at the rate of sputtering and seemed like to be connected.... Clamped those sons of bitches down! Now my theory about the high temp is related to what bratman said: the water temp sensor is high up in the coolant system and the potential for air bubbles to enter through proximal lose hose leads to air bubbles getting trapped near sensor position, giving a false high engine temp.. Thanks all for input and being willing to read my rants!!

it seems to do it consistently at a specific time during warm up, around 7-10 min, then it stops and goes back down ( temp ) and smoke disappears.

Did not install new thermostat, still using original oem

Sorry thought I posted info in original post. 170k miles 1992 legacy.