Coolant Overflow boiling

[onedownfiveup]

Anyone had problems with the over flow boiling coolant and changin the thermostat and fixing it?

Local Subaru Dealership Service guy said it's either bad thermostat or headgasket.

This is a 1998 Subaru Outback Legacy 2.5 120k miles

Edit: When the temp on the temp gauge goes up there is no heat out of the heater.

[JazzyMT]

Is the coolant dirty? If it is, you're almost garanteed it's a headgasket problem.

If it's not dirty, there's a slim chance you've got something else going on (although I kinda doubt it). Is your coolant level correct? It's possible it's low, or there could be bubbles causing it to flash & blow back into the resevoir.

I had this exact problem happen to me in my 97 OBW (looks like it's overheating, no heat due to an empty heater core & coolant all over the underside of the hood...filled her back up and no more problems for a few thousand more miles), but never got a straight answer on what was wrong before I traded it in, feeling it was a sign to get a new car asap.

Incidentally, i had all this happen on the coldest day of the year, it was like 15 or 20 below zero with crazy winds. I assumed my thermostat froze, so I warmed it up in a garage & everything seemed fine after that.

Still...it sounds ominously like a blown headgasket I narrowly escaped paying for...let us know what you find out & good luck.

[The_Lizard]

Yes, you are describing the exhaust-to-coolant headgasket failure symptoms perfectly. Did you also get

- water rushing/gurgling noises behind the dash

- wild indicated temp swings (both up and down)

Join the club, here's your membership card, expect a newsletter.

[onedownfiveup]

Originally posted by The_Lizard
Yes, you are describing the exhaust-to-coolant headgasket failure symptoms perfedtly. Did you also get

- water rushing/gurgling noises behind the dash

- wild indicated temp swings (both up and down)

Join the club, here's your membership card, expect a newsletter.

Great. Just Great.

What have people paid for a shop to do head gaskets?

[The_Lizard]

As I told another member recently, use the board's Search function to look for headgaskets, head gasket, etc. There have been pages written about it here, plus many links to outside sources of information.

[freedomdog]

my 98 obw today had the same. no heat at good temp. then i noticed a sound ,, it was spurting out of a crack in the heater core. leaked coolant onto the passenger side floor?

[ETC]

if it ends up being the h.g , and you can wrench, do it yourself. looks like you've got a back up vehicle, you'll save yourself about a grand.

[97riored]

Originally posted by onedownfiveup


Great. Just Great.

What have people paid for a shop to do head gaskets?

I think just the HG on mine cost about $1100. I had alot of other stuff done at the same time, some necessary for HG, some just appropriate to do at the same time (heads resurfaced, valves, main seals, valve cover gaskets, water pump, thermostat, timing belt). All told, it cost about right under $3000.

I will say too that for that price it has been done perfectly. I've gone on a couple 1000+ mile road trips since then, and the car keeps the temp perfect. It takes about a minute to get to operating temp, and its not once budged from there.

The shop I use specializes in Subarus, and my specific mechanic worked at a Subaru dealer for about 15 years, and builds all of the shop's Subaru race cars. He personally drives some monster Loyale thats a bizzarre DOHC 2.5 with the turbo off the old Legacy Touring sedan (2.2), and the only 360 (Subaru's microcar, not Modena ) I've ever seen personally, plus some bizarre 360 based microvan.

[ETC]

my heads ddn't need to be surfaced, all else looked fine.

cost me a little over $250 for the timing belt, head gaskets, valve cover/bolt gaskets, fan belts.

it's a little work, but that's alot of money you get to keep for something else.

[97_Limited]

Originally posted by JazzyMT
Is the coolant dirty? If it is, you're almost garanteed it's a headgasket problem.

If it's not dirty, there's a slim chance you've got something else going on (although I kinda doubt it). Is your coolant level correct? It's possible it's low, or there could be bubbles causing it to flash & blow back into the resevoir.

I had this exact problem happen to me in my 97 OBW (looks like it's overheating, no heat due to an empty heater core & coolant all over the underside of the hood...filled her back up and no more problems for a few thousand more miles), but never got a straight answer on what was wrong before I traded it in, feeling it was a sign to get a new car asap.

Incidentally, i had all this happen on the coldest day of the year, it was like 15 or 20 below zero with crazy winds. I assumed my thermostat froze, so I warmed it up in a garage & everything seemed fine after that.

Still...it sounds ominously like a blown headgasket I narrowly escaped paying for...let us know what you find out & good luck.

I had the exact same behavior with my '97. Even down to it acting up when it was freezing friggin cold. Paid $1200 for the repairs, including some incidentals.