Cooling system sealer/conditioner

[ndukane65]

I have a 2003 Outback with 98,780 miles and a small leak in the head gasket. I finally discovered that Subaru has a small blue bottle of liquid that you pour in the radiator and it supposedly seals any leaks in the engine. My mechanic used it today and took my car for a test drive on the highway and lo and behold the overheating stopped. Does anybody know any more info on this topic and how long this $2 fix will last? I will personally do a test run tomorrow on the highways. I'm feeling a little leery about getting stuck again. Thanks!

[Suzam]

Welcome to the board.

 

The sealant was a fix Subaru provided for the external leaks that 2000 thru 2003 head gaskets experience. It extended the warranty on leaks to 10 years or 100,000 miles. If you have it put in at each flush you should be good to go.

 

You can do a search here using the search feature at the top with the keywords "coolant additive" for more info or look at the bottom of this thread page for similar threads.

[bheinen74]

that 2003 with under 100k should be under warranty. you might not have done the correct thing here.

A Subaru dealer would have repaired the leaking head gasket correctly by replacing them under the extended warranty campaign.

Now you put that stop leak in, they wont be able to diagnose the leaking headgaskets correctly.

 

 

sorry about this. big time screw up.

 

you NEED to get the car to the nearest Subaru Dealer ASAP before it hits 100k, and let them inspect it maybe they will see the leaked coolant from when it was leaking. You need to do whatever it takes to get them to do warranty (FREE ) work to replace those gaskets so it is done correctly.

Edited February 14, 2010 by bheinen74

[mikec03]

I was told by my dealer that 2002 Legacy was not covered be the extended warranty! This is because Subaru supposedly fixed the head gasket problem during the '02 production run and that my car was made after the fix. Therefore none of the '03 cars would be covered, contrary to information above.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

[MilesFox]

i don't know hwat brand or chenical subaru is using, but i have had success with K&W block sealer.

 

So far it has worked on a few ea82's, and its working great on my toyota 3.0 v6 that used to blow steam out the tailpipe and bubbles in the radiator.

 

the stuff i have used is the sodium silicate(correct me if i'm wrong) "liquid glass" stuff. there is a regular version and a 'nano-technology' version

 

as far as you head gasket goes, it will probably, or has probably already, started to let go at the bottom of the cylinder where it meets the water jackets.

 

try and get a warranty repair if you can, but dont be afraid of the liquid glass type block sealers. at least it will buy you time towards a head gasket repair. just watch your temp and coolant levels

[bheinen74]

its made by Holts

 

really though, the correct fix is not this crap. the correct fix is getting the newer redesigned head gasket thru the subaru dealer only.

There are many of the old design no name headgaskets still out there in the no name offbrand discount warehouses, and that is a no go. need to get oem from Subaru updated gaskets to fix properly,

That particular EJ25 series engine has a 99% probability of Headgaskets letting go, anywhere from 50,000 miles to 150k miles. There are a few that have not let go yet, with more miles, but the probability it will, is quite high.

[Suzam]

One of the last times I was at a dealership was in 2009 and there was a copy of a TSB posted on the bulletin board in the service & parts area explaning that the coolant should be use in ALL coolant flushes including the current models. It was dated in 2008.

 

I thought the warranty covered 2000 to late 2002 which covered some early production models of 2003. This maybe incorrect but the best way to find out is contact the dealer and ask what model years and production dates are covered.

 

One thing I do know is, if under warranty, the additive must have a record for proof of being installed to be covered.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Suzam

[bheinen74]

even as Subaru recommends Holts, it is JUST to get the car past the 100k warranty period, then, well, when the gaskets finally blow out, you still have to convert to newer headgasket design to keep the car on the road.

 

As we have seen with the original posting member here, they added the conditioner and all is well for the time being. But, we know what is going on here, called bandaid.

[ndukane]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't think I'll be covered under the warranty for 3 reasons: 1) I'm not the original owner of the car. I bought it used. 2) The warranty covers 1999-2002. My car is an 2003 but it was built in 12/02 so maybe I could squeak by. 3) I don't have any official record of a dealer installing the coolant additive. My local mechanic put it in.

 

My local mechanic got a whole lesson on Subaru head gaskets last week. He replaced my radiator thinking that would solve my overheating problem. He spent hours doing all kinds of tests and reached out to many other mechanics.

It has only been three days on the road and the car seems normal again but I am leery driving it and I watch my temp gauge like a hawk. I was told that the leak I have is very small so I'm hoping this conditioner will hold for some time. I only have 2 or 3 payments left and this has to happen! Murphy's Law!