mikeamondo Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Hello... been a while, but my Subie's have all be doing pretty well! My brother is having an issue with his 97 Legacy GT, 2.5, auto, AWD. It has around 140k, I'm guess.... Here's what's been tried.... Thermostat (2X's) New radiator New water pump (with timing belt job) Here's what it continues to do. Car will run fine and cool for days or weeks... no prob. Then overheat unexpectedly under normal driving conditions. Up and down hills, in town, no major traffic. My brother pulls over quickly, as the temp will shoot up rapidly. Upon opening the hood, the jug is full to overflowing. As it cools, it will eventually (fairly quickly) suck back into the radiator and/or engine, in a matter of a few seconds to half a minute, leaving the jug empty, which he then refills. Sometimes, the car can then be run again with no problems... other times it may repeat itself a few times before he can drive it staying cool. There is no discoloration or frothiness to the fluid.... nice, green coolant. The only thing not yet changed is the radiator cap itself, though that suggestion was met with skepticism from the mechanics looking at the car. I had that be the issue on one of my '95's a while back. Thoughts? Thanks! He is trying to decide whether to fix the old boy or not, and any help would be appreciated! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstevens76 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Has he ever seen any coolant on the ground under his car (just little drops)? Does he check his coolant level regularly to see if he is losing it before these overheating issues occur? Intermittent doesn't tend to be the radiator cap, but I would still replace it as a precautionary measure. It's only around $15 (or less) from the dealer and well worth the peace of mind. The other question would be are the fans on when this occurs? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Textbook behavior would be this - With the engine warmed, look inside the coolant reservoir. If you see bubbles coming up from the bottom, it's head gaskets. If nothing, rev the engine a little bit and see if it pushes bubbles out. Same cause, less leak. Good chance it's head gaskets. If so the preferred method is to find a good 95-98 EJ22 motor (90-94 work as well with a 95-98 Intake manifold) and swap it in. With a bit of shopping you can find a good motor for $200-$300 and it takes about a day to swap it in. Or pay a shop the labor to do it. It's a little less horsepower but a far more reliable motor that you would have in there for much less $$$ than replacing the head gaskets in that Ej25. Where are you located? If that's Morgantown Pennsylvania you're about 20-30 minutes from one of the best Subaru shops in the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikec03 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 To answer the question "are these textbook HG symptoms?" I will summarize 100's of posts on this and other forums. Yes, they are! The suggestion to substitute a 2.2 engine is spot on. Thats really the only way to proceed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeamondo Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Thanks for the replies! We are in Morgantown, WV.. not PA. Not certain about the drops / leaks in the system... I'll need to ask him. And we can certainly run the bubbling test when we get it back from the shop it's in. With everything else that's been done, if the cap doesn't fix it, I'm guessing there are very few potential culprits left... Interesting thought about the 2.2... although last time we bought one we had to pay closer to $600 for it.... still likely cheaper than the head job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmoss5723 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 There are a few EJ22 motors on craigslist or available through junkyards in the Pittsburgh area for $2-300 right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeamondo Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Cool! We'll take a look at that option. The real question is whether the car will be worth that work and cost... rusty in all the usual Northern-Subaru places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertsubaru Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) I just did the 2.5 to 2.2 swap on a Forester. If you decide to do the 2.2 swap I am only about an hour and a half south of you on I79. I will do it for half of what a regular shop would charge but you have to buy the engine and all parts and gaskets. Edited June 12, 2015 by desertsubaru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 hey mike, good to "see" you - yep that's classic EJ25D headgasket issues. if he does repair it make sure to use Subaru headgaskets and resurface the heads - the NAPA in fairmont resurfaces heads, i don't know of anywhere in Morgantown that does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeamondo Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Hi Gary! Thanks for the advice! It's nice to come back here after a hiatus and see a lot of the same good ole' folks still around! We just had Insane Cycles do some rust work on our 03 Outback... incredible job, by the way..... so we'll be keeping that one on the road for a while! I'm sure there will be plenty of bugs to work out. dessertsubaru... thanks for the offer. I'll check with my brother and see how he wants to proceed. I've been down to Gassaway a few times... we do the Auto Expo mag and we deliver as far south as Sutton... so I get down there every now and again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now