97 Legacy L losing coolant fast and overheating

[Fairtax4me]

The oil could be from sticky oil control rings or the drain holes in the pistons are clogged. I wouldn't worry about that too much. Some oil running down is normal because the oil control ring holds oil to lubricate the cylinders. You can run some MMO in the oil to help clean out the rings.

 

 

Yes the brown seals in the Mizumo kits are good quality and they fit well.

 

Separator plate, just get the kit from a dealer. It's about $40 for the plate and all 6 new screws. Do not re-use the plastic separator plate.

[climbing4life]

Thank you Fairtax!

 

The heads are in the machine shop now. The guy took a look at the block and said that I'd rather change the rings "while in there".

The block isn't perfect, there is a very small dip right in the middle on both sides, but he thinks it'll do.There is a line, so he can get to my order only some time next week. He said he would check the valves first and let me know before doing any resurfacing.

[xdeadeye1]

96 legacy wagon 2.2.

 

Im having similar problems.  Mystery disappearance of coolant.   Then it acts like it gets an air bubble and the temp goes up.  Radiator coolant and overflow are not hot. hot..

 

im at a loss as to what to do.   

I stopped at an auto zone,, they didn't know what I was talking about  "testing the coolant for exhaust fumes"

 

I don't know where the coolant is going . 

 

If its my head gasket ,, do I just remove the heads and take them to machine shop and replace gaskets?

[climbing4life]

xdeadeye1,

I'm no expert. I haven't even rebuild this my first engine yet.

In my case with kinda similar problems, finally, it happened to be HG which I saw it was bad after I took the heads out.

But I do regret that I didn't take the car to someone who could do compression tests and leak down tests.

Look on youtube. There are videos in which people show how they make their own testers and how they check an engine for leaking.

Maybe find a good subaru shop. I wasn't happy with my mechanic. Read earlier in this thread.

Also, I didn't like how the previous timing belt job was done. Who ever mechanic it was, they didn't replace idlers on that job!

And when I took the heads to the shop, the machinist found old gouges on the heads from an earlier HG job. It looked like that the PO already had HGs replaced at some point. But the heads were not machined, and they did an awful job of cleaning the old HG material leaving multiple gouges. Yuck!

So, this is my personal experience that confirmed with a number of warning on this forum and elsewhere that many subarus don't get proper attention at many auto repair shops. Either learn it your self or find a good shop. I'm going the former route.

To get to the heads, I took the motor out of the car, which was relatively easy. I myself can't imagine working on the heads inside the car. Then you need to take the intake manifold out, then the timing components. I'm so glad that that I got to the timing components, so I can fix them too. I also want to reseal oil pump, front components, and the rear separator plate. I'll also reseal the steering pump which was leaking.

Good like to you in your findings! I'll try to keep a log of progress here. I'm a little bit ahead of you now, but I'm working slowly (the car isn't my daily driver). There are a lot of people on this forum who are super helpful. I hope you'll find some advice and keep enjoin driving your roo!

[xdeadeye1]

thanks climbing.

I recently did my timing belt and idlers and oil pump..  I really would rather do the heads in the car, but not sure if it isn't easier to pull it,,  gary gross may be able to tell me .  I do probably need to get  a new separator plate on the back of the engine though, so theres that.

 

Im not convinced its my head gasket yet.. but all signs are pointing there.

 

I understand about getting the heads resurfaced.  But what about the block?  

 

Am I going to need to scrape the block of all gasket residue or something?  Because to me that would be very hard while still in the car.  Mine is 96 legacy wagon 2.2.

[upnorthguy]

If you need to do the separator plate you might as well pull the engine.  It really isn't that bad.  Just take some photos and use tape to label your connections.  Briansmobile1 has

.  Tracking down an engine hoist is the hardest part.  

[xdeadeye1]

Hey Up north.   I went to Autozone and bought /rented a pressure tester for the radiator.  It didn't show any leaks.   

 

I topped off with water,, ran it up the road and back and got it warmed up good.   Came home , no sign of any leaks.

 

Removed Radiator cap,, and when accelerator hit,, it spewed water out the top.   I put the cap back on ,, and looked in the bottle.

Had my daughter push the accelerator to about 2k or 2500 rpms.     There was Air bubbles in the over flow tank.  

 

So im pretty sure this is Head Gasket.

 

Im going to pull the engine. to replace both head gaskets and replace Seperator plate,, and rear main seal while im in there.

 

brains mobile has a  vid, but he leaves the engine in the car.

 

Do I need to pull the intake manifold off before I pull the engine.. or should I wait till after?     I have access to crane and stand.   but this will be biggest job ever attempted on a car.  (Other than my Heater core).

[xdeadeye1]

Oh and one other question.   before I remove the engine.. Should I go thru the access hole in the top of the engine wehre it meets the tranny,  and undo some bolts in there?     I saw this on a video somewhere and now I cant find that same vid.  

 

I have 96 2.2  Automatic.

[Fairtax4me]

Yes, there are four 12mm bolts that secure the flexplate to the torque converter that need to be removed before separating the engine and trans.

Kinda tricky because you need a thin profile ratchet, and they can be pretty tight. It helps to remove the intake manifold so you have more room around the access hole.

[xdeadeye1]

Fairtax. 

My friend who is a chevy guy,, is telling me to take the whole tranny out with the engine instead of taking just the motor out. 

 

Can you tell me why its done this way so I can explain it to him? 

 

He thinks its easier to do it this way.

 

yes I do need to do my separator plate.

[xdeadeye1]

... bueller?

[xdeadeye1]

https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=122608

 

 

Did I screw up by getting these for my head gasket?

[Fairtax4me]

Felpros are good for this engine. You can even seen the Fuji check logo in the lower part of the gasket just left of center.

 

 

Auto trans is a pain in the rump roast to pull still attached to the engine. Doable but way more work than its worth here, and no real reason, and you have to take WAY more spoob apart to do that.

 

Try looking on youtube for a video of someone taking the torque converter bolts out. They aren't that bad you just need the right tools to fit down into there. You can use a 12mm wrench but it needs to be a 6 point so you don't round the bolts.

Once all the bolts are out use a prybar or late screwdriver to push the torque converter back away from the flexplate (toward the trans). Make sure it stays shoved back while you're pulling the engine. A trick I use is to bolt a wrench to the bellhousing so it presses against the converter.

If the converter slides forward it can disengage from the pump drive in the trans and can damage the pump when you bolt the engine back up to the trans. This may be why your friend wants to pull the whole thing together, but this isn't an issue if you make sure the converter doesn't slide forward.

[xdeadeye1]

yeah hes was sayin how we have to make sure the torque converter don't get bumped and come off.. I never dealt with this so I don't know the consequences.. but ill take your hack and use it to keep the thing in there.

 

Thank you so much for your reply.

[upnorthguy]

Some people here take out the transmission to get at the back of the engine (rear main, clutch in the case of a manual, separator plate).  Since you need to do headgaskets, it is better/smarter/easier to pull the engine.  Much easier access for the heads, etc.

 

The vid by Briansmobile that I linked to above shows Brian going through the process of disconnecting everything needed before you pull the engine.  You're right that he doesn't actually show the lifting of the engine, but that is the easy part.

 

You could also check out beergarage.  Good write up and some pics.http://beergarage.com/SubyHoist.aspx.  Between the vid and beergarage, I got everything disconnected fairly easily.  I made sure to hit every fastener I could see with some penetrating oil ahead of time to maximize chance of easy removal.

 

I just used my regular metric sockets to access the bolts connecting the torque converter to the flex plate.  I think they are six point, but I'm not positive.  Seemed to work fine.  I made sure to stick a few fingers through the access hole to press in on the converter when I started separating the engine from the tranny to keep the converter tight against the tranny.  Seemed to work, but maybe I got lucky (?!).  As Fairtax sugggested, I think one of the hardest parts was getting the engine separated from the tranny.  It really took some prying to get them apart.  I used a couple of thin screwdrivers to get a crack started, then got a small pry bar in there to widen it more.

 

I pulled the intake manifold as it makes access much easier.  Not that bad.  This was also my biggest car maneuver to date.  It took me a while to complete, but I only had a couple of hours each night to work on it and I ended up chasing a stupid mistake to get it running again after I dropped the engine back in.  Now that I've done it, I could do it much much quicker.

 

Do some searches here for reseating the torque converter for those that have to deal with it separating from the tranny (worst case scenario is ugly!).  It is like something akin to the dog whisperer.  I'm glad I didn't have to learn the trick.