overheating legacy

[4 arm boxer]

i was driving home from work this morning and i noticed my (92 legacy 2.2 n/a 5 sp 170k) heater was not working. so i looked @ my temp gauge and she was almost to the red zone.. so i pulled over, let her cool added coolant and proceed onward. it did it again. and again:mad: and again:mad: work is 42 miles from home:eek: . by this point i know it is the thermostat, but my question is did i do any damage to the head gskt driving that far with the repeated heating up/cooling down episodes :confused: it is not steaming out the tailpipe and there is no water in oil or vicea-versa. will running kinda hot weaken headgaskets?? thanks for your response>>

 

korey

[idosubaru]

you could have damaged head gaskets, but that's all speculation for now.

 

start with what you know:

are you loosing coolant? you said you had to add it, so it sounds like you may be. find out where the coolant is going. a leak should be obvious, particularly if it's leaking enough that you have to keep adding. did you add coolant to the radiator or the overflow tank only? any excessive coolant/water out the tailpipe or along any leaks in the exhaust at start up?

 

replace the thermostat. very easy and costs under 10 bucks. test the old one in a pot of boiling water if you suspect it was bad.

 

any leaks from hoses or radiator? maybe the radiator is plugged?

 

if it happened while driving your fans are likely okay.

 

after it heats up (gets too hot), does it bubble in the overflow tank?

 

i may not be back on here for a couple more days, but answer these questions and the knowledgable folks here can help you pinpoint this and hopefully avoid blowing the headgasket.

[4 arm boxer]

fans work great, the overflow tank was full, no leaks anywhere else.. the water was escaping when i would stop and open up the little bleeder screw on top of the radiator, and it would steam like the dickens....big 10-4 on the thermostat.. i guess ill replace it and see what happens next. thanks for your response.. korey:headbang:

[lmdew]

Make sure you bleed the system so you do not trap air. If there is any oil (black junk in the overflow) the HG are leaking. Did is suck coolant back into the engine? If not the HG are leaking most likely.