Coolant Explosion (Long)

[patkennedy78]

Hello Everyone

 

I am a new member and this is my 1st post. I have already gotten a lot of useful information and fixed a few things, so thanks!

 

First off, 92 Loyale, 4 door, 5 spd, EA82, owned it for around 3 months.

 

Now for the problem. I got home from work, was on my way inside, and looked back to my car to notice streams of bright green coolant leaking down to ground. In the next couple minutes it leaked more and more til there was a little river running down the street.

 

The car did not overheat on the way home and it was not extremely hot. I opened the hood and the overflow tank was bubbling and boiling out. I could not find any other source of the leak. After a couple hours I took off the radiator cap and looked in, but saw no coolant in the radiator. I checked what hoses I could and saw nothing obvious. So I started it back up and the water pump and belts are intact and look to be working fine.

 

Now for the backstory. About 3 or 4 weeks ago I noticed that the overflow tank was dry. I check my fluids at every fill up, so it was unusual, but the car had not been overheating. So I filled up the overflow tank to the full line. I thought nothing of it til today. I don't smell anything sweet or notice any puddles on the ground.

 

Anyone have any help, or suggestions as to what might be wrong or what to do. Best I can guess is fill the radiator back up with 50/50 water antifreeze and hope for the best. I don't want to take it to a shop, but I may have to, maybe for a pressure test? Your help and advice is appreciated.

 

Pat

[azsubaru]

There are members here a lot more qualified than I to answer your question. On the other hand, my 91 Loyale went through some of the same heating problems, and I've touched a lot of the cooling system. There as plenty of possibilities - the radiator cap may simply need replaced, or the thermostat could be sticking. If you are running the AC, maybe the electric fan isn't kicking in, allowing it to overheat. At the outer end, the radiator could be clogged up after all these years. If it is you'll need a new one.

 

Also, if you your hoses look old, then replace them all, including the little tiny ones. Don't bother with just the radiator hoses, go ahead and do them all. My Loyale seemed to be 'drinking' the coolant at one point - it disappeared without a trace that I could find. It turned out to be a very tiny hole in a tiny hose in a hidden spot.

 

Good luck - this should't be that difficult to fix.

[Tom63050]

My 84 wagon had your symptoms--coolant bubbling out of the overflow tank--changed the radiator, which was clogged.

 

My 91 Loyale had coolant leakage, resulting in a nearly empty radiator. Changed the o-ring on the metal pipe that fits into the water pump from the top radiator hose; problem fixed. Use a little grease on the new o-ring to get the pipe back in; I didn't find that putting coolant on the o-ring was a good enough lubricant.

[patkennedy78]

So it happened again, same as explained above. I got home, barely made it to the front door, and noticed coolant pouring out.

 

After it happened the 1st time, I filled up the radiator, and put on a new radiator cap from the dealer. I started it up and everything was fine, no leaks, no smells, no puddles on the ground. I drove to work and back Monday, and again on Tue, and it overflowed Tue night when I got home. It wasen't nearly as bad though, I'd say about 1/3 as much coolant as the 1st time.

 

So on my way to work today I filled up the overflow tank a little below the MIN line. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

I would really apprecaite any tips on this. Troubleshooting, or what to look for, or any direction to go. Thanks

[Meeky Moose]

for a troubleshooting tip, make sure the AC is off, fill the radiator and the overflow tank (tank to the full mark, run the car sitting in a spot that doesn't have any puddle on the ground. don't drive it, just let her idle with the heat on.

 

after it reaches normal temp give her a couple revs if you don't see coolant leaking, keep an eye out for any leaks.

if you don't see any anywhere and the temp is good, keep an eye on the overflow tank and see if it starts filling up witth coolant when the temp gauge is normal. if it does it could be a possible headgasket leak..

also while its running when it gets to narmal temp, the electric fan should come on for a few minutes or less.. if it comes on and stays on when the car is sitting there idleing you prolly have a plugged radiator.. (the fan can't cool the coolant down thats why it would come on and stay on.)

 

you might want to change the thermostat if it hasn't been changed in awhile, i recomend one from the dealer only. the thermostat housing is connected to the top radiator hose on teh passenger side of the engine. its right on top, 2 bolts and 10 minutes and its changed, very straight forward and simple.

[TurboSPFI]

Yeah, could be anything from a radiator cap to a headgasket...

 

 

Or a combination of the whole cooling system in my cars case.

[555Ron]

Sounds like an air lock in the cooling system. If you haven't changed the coolant for a while - perhaps a head gasket. Do a full service of the cooling system first.

[Hondasucks]

Try replacing the thermostat with an OEM thermostat, always a good thing to change whenever you change the coolant anyway.. (Although that is probably not it since a stuck Tstat will cause overheating..) Also, having too much coolant in the bottle will make it spew since once the bottle can't hold anymore it will spill out on the ground.

 

I'm only about an hour and a half north of you, maybe one of these times when I'm down in Loveland or whatever (we frequent the Habitat for Humanity thrift store there, but I usually take my truck since the last time we took the wagon Jessica stuffed a couch in there! But the truck is easy to spot since it has a "ultimatesubaru.org" sticker in the back window of the canopy BIIG noisy white and silver Dodge... can't miss it) we can get together or something. My subie is currenty down with a case of expired tags lol...

[patkennedy78]

So I took the advice above and did some more testing. When the engine was cold I topped off the radiator , which didn't take much, and filled the overflow tank. I removed the radiator cap and started her up.

 

Here is what happened. It warmed up to normal temp 1/3 on the gauge. I got a few bubbles out of the radiator, very small and infrequent. That was about it. After 20 min the electric rad fan did not kick on. I shut off the engine, put the rad cap back on, started it back up, and let it run for about 5 more min. Still no electric rad fan. So I turned on the A/C and in about a minute the elec rad fan kicked on. I turned off the A/C and shortly after the fan shut off. I am still stumped to find a problem.

 

I did have to take a rather long drive that day, and the car did not overheat, and ran fine. The temp was 1/3 on the gauge, I turned on the A/C and it went up to 2/3, I even got caught in a traffic jam, with lots of stop and go and it did not go over 2/3 on the gauge. When I exited the interstate and came to a stop I did faintly smell coolant.

 

I did some more searching and found out that if there are bubbles in the coolant that it might be a bad head gasket. But wouldn't a bad head gasket give consistant bubbles in the coolant? My next steps are to get a proper flush and fill, and then a compression check.

 

Anyone have anymore help on this? I really do appreciate the help!

 

Pat

[Qman]

Sounds like a fan problem. You say the fan didn't turn on until you turned the A/C on. Do you have two fans or one mechanical and one electrical? If you have one and one then the clutch fan(mechanical) is probably going bad. Not sufficiently cooling the engine and it continues to heat after you shut off the car. If you have two then the problem is a poor electrical connection or a bad sensor in the radiator. You will need to unhook the fan plugs and clean the connections real well.

[patkennedy78]

Sounds like a fan problem. You say the fan didn't turn on until you turned the A/C on. Do you have two fans or one mechanical and one electrical? If you have one and one then the clutch fan(mechanical) is probably going bad. Not sufficiently cooling the engine and it continues to heat after you shut off the car. If you have two then the problem is a poor electrical connection or a bad sensor in the radiator. You will need to unhook the fan plugs and clean the connections real well.

 

I have 2 fans. One connected to the engine, and the other smaller one is electrical. I think I read on here that there is some sensor that controls the fan. I'll do a search. Thanks

[Qman]

The electrical one on your car is controlled by the A/C. It only comes on when the A/C is on, either defrost or A/C modes. So, in my opinion, it's either the mechanical fan or you have a plugged coolant system. Either heater core or radiator. Just going off my personal experiences. Tough to diagnosis without seeing it.