wombatsauce Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Until my owner's guide shows up that is... First off, I owned this car before but it's been 5 years and many other cars so I do not remember everything. I think I used ~4.5qts of 10w40 oil (Castrol) and always a Subaru filter for oil changes. I need to change the oil or whatever is in the engine and put oil in it's place... Poor car! Also, after a drive it barfed coolant out of the holding tank all over the driver's side of the engine bay. I can see that it has done this before as I was wondering what all the "rust coloured" stains were on that side. Well, now I can see that it's the rust coloured coolant that has been spraying over that side of the car for quite some time and was apparently cleaned up for me to view the car... First of all - this car should not be running GM style red coolant right?? I am going to flush it all out today regardless, with the addition of a new radiator cap and thermostat. I just got the car back a couple days ago and have not driven it much since I have not had a chance to change the fluids yet. Today is the day. Going to attempt to do oil, coolant, trans fluid and diff fluid today with a top off of the low brake fluid and power steering. Going to squeeze in spark plugs today as well. I sold this car back in 2005 when I moved away and by the looks of it, I was most likely the last one to maintain it... So if anyone thinks the radiator cap may be the reason the car is puking coolant... Let me know! From my searching on here it sounds like it's head gaskets which would suck... I hope not (at least not yet, just not financially ready for my swap yet). The radiator cap looked like hell and this red coolant stuff is very odd. That is a new development as I vaguely remember doing coolant in this car too.. In short I would like to know: - What grade and amount of oil with a filter change (4.5 qts of 10w40?) - What grade and amount of oil for the trans and diff - What kind of coolant I should be using in this car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatsauce Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Wow, just checked the mail and my owner's guide is here already.. Thanks anyway! Wish me healthy headgaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Is the coolant kinda opaque milky looking? Coolant can overflow for plenty of reasons. Hopefully it's not the dreaded head gasket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatsauce Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 No, it's dark deep brick red and rather thick. It reminds me of the coolant in GM products I have had. I have a gallon of proper coolant, a new t-stat/gasket, two new oil filters (wtf happened to the Suby filter - I could swallow it!), 5qts of 10w30 Castrol, oil filler neck gasket, and a radiator cap to install ASAP. I am hoping it's a combo of too full and a bad radiator cap as I have seen this happen before, but the only thing punching a hole in that is the evidence of this happening multiple times before. I hope so too!! I am planning on swapping this car, but just not yet! I need to sell two other cars to fund this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatsauce Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 Well, I have put about 3 tanks of gas through this car since doing all the maintenance on it and replacing the radiator cap. I flushed the coolant multiple times - made a flushing tool out of the old crappy Thermostat so I can flush the system w/out leaks. Still left some red crap in there. I would have to hit it with some detergent and I am not sure what I can use. I am pretty sure the GM style red coolant was used in this car, and that, combined with a failed t-stat and radiator cap was the source of the coolant barfing. Engine compartment has been dry since the work. I am working on cleaning the old red coolant marks off the rest of the car now that the engine is clean... Yesterday I drove it about 100 miles, lots with the A/C on and at highway speeds. Couple times I took it through the gear shifting just under redline. Not a drop of coolant. I hope it will last for a while!!! It's been running great, nice and smooth as well. Put your hand on the dash when it's idling and you cannot tell it's running till you look at the tach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 It's been running great, nice and smooth as well. Put your hand on the dash when it's idling and you cannot tell it's running till you look at the tach. It's nice when you can take it back from barely running to top condition like that, with just some changing of parts and fluids. I've done that a few times -- put real oil back in the engine, stuff like that, to "parts cars" and drove them a few more years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 It's been running great, nice and smooth as well. Ain't that a great feeling? Congrats--and thanks for saving another Subie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprezaII Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Way to go , and yes , rad caps can cause many weird issues , It is nice to have some easy fixes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Way to go. I'm glad the head gaskets weren't murphed. The orange coolent is okay to use but I changed back to the green version just because of the cost difference and the orange was a bit finicky to use. Just one word of advice, if the owner's manual says to go more than 3000 miles between changes, don't. I tend to change my oil and filter every 2500 miles just for my own peace of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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