laidoutdime Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 hey everyone im new to working on subarus and have a situation i need resolved asap so any helpful input would be appreciated. yesterday i pulled my dads 2.5 out of his obw and put in new head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, plugs, wires, water pump, rad hoses, and tb gasket. put the engine back in last night and fired her up this morning. its running hot but the rad is full along with the reservoir. and the tranny is pissing fluid from the pass side where the small dipstick is. and on the driver side dipstick for the tranny shows nothing when its running and when its shut off it reads full on the cold scale. im not a mechanic i work in a body shop and this has got me confused as all hell so if anyone could lead me in a step in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 oh forgot it is only running hot under a load. sat at idle for about 20 min and was fine needle was right where it should be. after about 100 yards on the road is started to sky rocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdjdc Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Welcome to the board. first, I hope you used suvaru head gaskets, if you didn't, you will be redoing them in short order. These are picky motors when it comes to the head gaskets. Now on to your overheating. There is a bleeder screw on the radiator on the passengers side tank. You must pull that and make sure you get all of the air out of the rad. It sounds to me like you have an air bubble in the system. As far as the tranny leaking fluid, I'm not sure what you have going on there. I hope you reseated the torque converter properly and didn't camage the pump for the tranny. there shouldn't be any fluid pissing out of that dipstick. That is the differential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 yeah these motors are notorious for overheating if you don't properly bleed the cooling system (easiest way via the radiator screw mdjc mentions). as for the trans - are you saying transmission fluid is pumping out of the differential fill tube on the passengers side? something sounds terribly wrong with that. it was running perfectly fine before this (i highly doubt it - there's just no way to have a head gasket and trans failure like this simultaneously). i'd drain the fluids and refill - to make sure someone didnt' accidentally fill the wrong one with the wrong fluid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Excellent burping video link around here somewhere. Be patient with it. The fluids are a seperate problem. Did you mess with tranny or diff at all? Someone here recently put the new ATF in the wrong hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 As stated before, the Short dipstick is for the differential gear oil, which is separate from the transmission fluid. You need to drain the front diff and refill with fresh 80w90 gear oil. Takes about a quart IIRC. The long dipstick is where ATF goes. Sounds like you need a couple quarts in there, though I'm not sure why it would be low unless you drained the fluid or have a leak that hasn't been addressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 thanks alot for the input guys. so i guess i made the mistake of filling up the diff with atf...more work for me. i jacked it up and ran it again and it seems to be leaking from the bottom of the tranny where it meets the block or somewhere in that general area. i did not remove the tranny or mess with it just unbolted and bolted the block. any sort of lines running there that i could have damaged? or any ideas of what i might have done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Did you remove the engine with the torque converter still bolted to the flex plate? Or did you leave it engaged in the transmission? (the torque converter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 i left the torque converter bolted to the block. im gonna tear into it again this morning so any more ideas would be helpful and ill post if i find anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 is a aftermarket therostat going to have an affect with the overheating?? cuz pops just picked one up from A&A and thats what i put in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzam Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Yes, most of us here on the board will tell you to only use the OEM Subaru T-Stat. I had an aftermarket that wouldn't let the engine maintain it's steady temp. it would continually let the temp rise to 3/4 of the gauge the drop back to half way which was normal. Burping the cooling system correctly is extremely important also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 i left the torque converter bolted to the block. im gonna tear into it again this morning so any more ideas would be helpful and ill post if i find anything Let us all bow our heads and pray, may the good lord have mercy on your transmissions soul. Here's the deal. The Torque converter should be unbolted from the engine and left attached to the transmission. The reason for that is that the torque converter has to be seated into the transmission a certain way or else it will destroy the trans fluid pump. Now the fact that it hasn't grenaded yet says that you might have dodged a ginormous bullet. Normally trans fluid pump death is nearly instant. There's about a one in a million chance that you got the TC lined up perfectly with the fluid pump, and It sounds like you actually got it. But it sounds like you cut the input seal in the process of mating the engine and trans together. You'll have to remove the engine or trans to repair that. Unfortunately removing and inspecting the fluid pump for damage isn't quite as simple as replacing that seal. Here's what I'd recommend. If the pump is damaged, it will throw in the towel before long, and basically you'll need to drop in a whole new (used) transmission. Tearing apart the trans to replace the pump unit just isn't worth it and there's no guarantee that other parts of the trans won't be damaged by all the metal shavings being pushed out of the pump in the fluid. I say, remove the engine (or trans, your choice) replace the input seal, seat the torque converter the correct way, and drive it 'til it quits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 ok well there is a small but stead stream of tranny fluid coming out of the bottom of the trans so im assuming i tore the seal...so im probably going to take the tranny out this time. but where is the seal located i didnt see a seal when i had it out. and how can i unbolt the TC from the engine unless its apart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 There's a black rubber/plastic access cover on the top right side of the block. You reach in there with a wrench to crack the bolts loose. You can hold the crank still with a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley bolt. The seal is right on the front of the transmission. Here's a pic to help you find it. http://static.opposedforces.com/epc_img/366494915602.png Number 10 is the seal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Bummer to read of your trouble, there is an access cover just below the throttle body on the passenger side. It's often missing, but if it's not it's a rectangularish rubber deal with a little tab to use to pull it off. That lets you access the four bolts holding on the torque converter. Access is pretty bad, but make sure you have a good solid hold on those bolts so you don't strip them, that's another headache you don't need, go on ask me how I know If it turns out that your pump is shot, I just pulled an auto trans out of a 2000 Forester. I don't know what year your pop's OBW is, but I'll sell it to ya cheap cheap. I don't need or want it. It shifts fine, but has light (probably fixable) torque bind. Good luck! Will- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laidoutdime Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share Posted January 3, 2010 well like i said im new to subarus and i wish i knew about that access port before hand lol but its a 97 obw and the tranny seems to be shifting fine and everything so i think the pump is ok for now but from your guys input im deff gonna have to replace the seal and pray that i get the pumped lined up. so ima gonna hit that with a full head of steam and pray for the best thanks for all the answer i really appreciate and ill let u know everything works out... -matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Do some searching on how to seat the torque converter, I'm sure it's covered. Use the advanced search, the drop down search sucks, and don't forget to sort your results by "relevancy" instead of last posting date. Good luck! Will- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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