new to me 1995 legacy wagon shutting off and getting hot

[chriswilhelmart]

Hey guys,

Im new to this forum, but not that new to subarus. my wife has had her 1995 legacy sedan for over 8 years now, and i have replaced the head gaskets, and recently replaced the ej22 motor with another one. That being said, I just bought myself another subaru. it was a $300 special because it needed a clutch and barely drove down the road without it. but i got it home.. It is also a 1995, and this time, it is a wagon. The car has about 213,xxx miles on it but the motor has around 160,xxx. head gaskets are original, but i freshened up the rear main seal, new valve cover gaskets because they were leaking, and because the previous owner thought he was a rally car driver, i had to replace the timing belt cover (and the belt while i was at it.. with new idler pulleys..) 

 

I put it all back together and the clutch works great. the car drives well too. I checked the water pump for play and replaced its gasket as well when i did the other work. no shaft play or sound, so im good there. The heat works great and the coolant doesnt bubble or diminish after it drives for a bit, and the temp gauge reads at about the halfway point, or just a hair under which has been the norm for every subaru i have ever owned, which has been a few. New bypass hose and new radiator and radiator hoses as well. Which is a mystery because when the car warms up, lets say after about 20 minutes of driving at highway speeds, it starts surging like its loosing power, and then dies if you dont clutch in and rev the motor. it gets progressively worse.

 

Well today it left me stranded. i literally coasted into work. had to drive my client's truck home tonight (im a freelance handyman) in fear that i would get stranded at night. the car wouldnt start again until it cooled down. but once it did, it started right up. heres the weird part.. when i checked the coolant, it was at the very top like it should be, the overflow tank still had (just water) in it which means it never mixed with the green coolant in the new radiator. And the upper hose was super hot while the lower one was completely cold. and by the time i looked under the hood and then went to try and turn it over (it was still hot and wouldnt even try) the temp gauge was through the freakin roof! on top of that, the fans keep going on then off, on then off, on then off, over and over, as well as the a/c pump clutch which goes on and off at the same time. all 6 of my main relays are clicking as this is happening.. 

 

i know that there is a temp sending unit and i know where it is because i have had issues with my wifes car before. But my questions are

1: what should i check first? it couldnt be the thermostat because it heats up fast and stays at the right temp according to the gauge. 

2: is there some sort of other temp sensor that will shut the motor down that doesnt have anything to do with the gauge?

 

Thanks for any help with this guys. I really love my car that i have under 1000 bucks into and i would love to fix it up right. For the record, i did not remove or inspect the thermostat because on the initial drive home, the heater worked great, and it continues to, so i thought it must be working fine. I have no idea of the condition of it.

[Rooster2]

maybe plugged up radiator??

[1 Lucky Texan]

just a coupla thoughts, did you connect the green connectors under the dash? they are only for diagnosis and make the relays all cycle.

 

on some older soobs, I have read of crank position sensors failing with temperature.

 

maybe pull the thermostat and test it on the stove? (OEM style ONLY!!)

 

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan

[chriswilhelmart]

I did connect the green connectors under the dash. I thought the previous owner must have disconnected it for some unknown reason. But that shouldnt make the coolant system havr the issues it is having. I will unplug them when i het back to the car this morming. I bet thats why my relays are freaking out. Even though it only happens when its warmed up. I will get an oem t stat and test it pronto. And i will make sure the radiator isnt clogged, along with the heater core. Could i still have an air pocket somewhere?

[Rooster2]

Doubtful that you have an air pocket somewhere, unless coolant was drained and re-filled. A good way to get rid of an air pocket is to park on an incline, with the front part of the car higher then the rear end of the car.

[chriswilhelmart]

so today i got my car back. It dies a LOT and barely got me home. It has to be either gas, or electrical issues because i can smell gas when im driving, and its coming from somewhere other than under the hood. Where is the fuel filter on these cars? No fuel drips when its stopped.. at all. its weird.

 

My friend suggested that it may be an ignition issue. What do you guys think? it cuts out completely pretty much constantly, and only revs up for a few seconds and best when it is running. My commute is about 1 hour, 1 way, and in that time tonight, the car would all of the sudden be fine for about a mile or less, and this happened 2 times. When it cuts out it does it pretty much immediately, and so that leads me to believe that it is something electronic, and not a fuel issue at all. the fuel smell may just be a separate problem. Anyway, that is my update, i would really appreciate some more feedback, and maybe a few suggestions as to where to check next. Thanks buddies. #ThanksAlot

[Rooster2]

fuel filter is located under the hood. Maybe bad coil pack??

[1 Lucky Texan]

you may be fighting 2-3 issues. A common fuel smell on older soobs is perforated filler neck. Take the plastic cover off to inspect.

[chriswilhelmart]

I will look at the filler neck today, how do i test my coil pack and any other electrical components like the other sensors? I already tested my tps and it tested good.

[1 Lucky Texan]

I have read that arcing might be spotted on an idling engine at night - perhaps if you use a plant mister to wet down the coil then individual plug wires to listen for engine stumbling and look for flashes.

 

otherwise - need a high voltage o'scope or probe of some kind.

[chriswilhelmart]

it was my MAF sensor guys.. i swapped my wifes for mine on a whim and it works perfectly now. on top of that, i opened it up and re-soldered the brittle points of interest myself, and although my wifes MAF sensor still makes it idle a little smoother (not much), it is otherwise fixed! Thanks for the help.

 

any idea why the car would have a cold lower radiator hose after a long drive, and when I open the radiator cap, the coolant is up at the top of the radiator like it should be, but the coolant is COLD, not hot, not luke warm, but COLD. temp gauge always stays at normal temp. this all goes away when i take the thermostat out. it is the original oem thermostat, and i put it in boiling water to see if it would open, and it works great. So i wonder why it isnt even heating up the coolant in the engine? what a weird symptom.

 

Thanks again.

[1 Lucky Texan]

MUST be OEM style t'stat (I think Stant and maybe WIX offer one now)