vt_tj Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 I am leaving for vacation on Friday and Tuesday the water pump goes out on my '97 Outback 2.5L. The bearings were shot and it was making a heck of a racked. Pulled the car down and put in a new Napa OEm water pump and new thermostate. Sealed the car up and drove it around the block...(short block) Time I got back the gage was pegged to HOT. ????? Thought new thermostate was bad. Pulled it out and notice it was wide open. Went ahead and put old thermostate back in. Same thing. This time before I got it out the door of the garage it pegged Hot. Brand new pump. Timing Belt has about 20000 miles on it and looks great. No major oil leaks in time area. I am puzzled. Car has 108k miles and never had over heating problem. After the first test drive I noticed the lower water hose that connect to the pump was rather sucked in. The second time around it seemed to be fine. The top hose is holding pressure but I don't know if I should be able to fill flow. Can a clog radiator cause the bearings in a water pump to go out? I haven't flowed test the radiator yet but I am wondering if that is it. When I dumped the water out of the radiator though it seemed to run out with out any issues. Any suggestions? I read the one on the timing belt tensionar being soft could cause an issue. My tensionar still took a bench vise and a little might to get it to compress for reinstallation. I am confused and tired. This is not a easy job especially after trying to get the timing belt back on correcty which leads to another point. If the timing is that far off to make the car heat that quick I would think it would run rough and hard to start. Car starts right up and on the 1st test drive ran and sounded great. thanks for the help TJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svxpert Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 how did you bleed the air out of the system after you replaced the water pump and thermostat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 water pump will go with age. Sounds like you have an air buble in the cooling system. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 I agree sounds like air in system, Subaru is the worst car I have every had for getting radaitor filled back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Drain the coolant Jack the front as high as you can get it Open the bleed plug on the radiator and pull the cap SLOWLY fill the coolant system (I fill through the bleed plug) you have to do it slowly that way! When full, put the bleed plug in Keep on Squeezing the upper hose until you get all the air put Start the car and repeat step above Let it come to temp and shut it off When cool, let it off the jack, fill the coolant and take it for a test drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vt_tj Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 I did carfully fill the system up. I did not remove the vent plug but I did remove the radiator cap (on level ground) slowly fill the system up while squeezing the inlet hose with my hand (on and off). Then I started the car and continued to do this until I had added most of what came out. Some appears to have moved to the plastic overflow tank though. The napa thermostat and the original termostat is differenent. The original thermostat has a small hole with a check plug on the side (maybe a steam or hole or could be for preventing trapped air not sure). This thermostate didn't draw the lower suction line in like the napa. Both overheated anyway. I am wondering if I do have an air pocket sitting right on the water pump propeller. I will try once again to do this... this time removing the bleed plug. This car never made a reverse flow pump did it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Well technically it is reverse flow. The thermostat is on the botom of the engine. The coolant flows out of the bottom of the engine, across the radiator into the top. That hole in the the tstat is important and you need to use an oe tstat, radiator cap can be anyones. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vt_tj Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 That was it. To much air left in the system. thanks for the responses. Left the old tstat in place. Returning the napa one. :grin: :grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Well arent u happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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