I've got a 2004 Subarau Outback 2.5 EJ259 with california emissions. We got the car with 6,700. Cars got 204k miles on it. I changed head gaskets at 100K because of an external coolant leak. Never caused an issue, but was preventative with a timing belt replacement. I do all my own wrenching.
Anyway this spring around 190K miles I did the second timing belt water pump job. I used a gates kit. When I pulled off the 190K water pump the impeller was crooked on the shaft and you could see where it made slight marks on the engine block. I feel stupid for not changing it at 100K, but live and learn. I wasn't overly concerned about the grooves and installed the kit and all was well for a few weeks. The water pump was leaking coolant when changed.
Since the water pump job the car has had an intermittent issue with pushing coolant out to the overflow but never reclaiming it. Over the summer I would top the radiator off every few days and never had an issue. But it wasn't right so I wanted to fix it. I pressure checked it and found a leaky hose. I tightened it. I also found the thermostat inlet seemed to leak so I put a new one of those on.
Seemed fine. drove it and checked it for 2 weeks no issues. We took it on a 8hr drive and it was great until we went to the Black Hills of SD. Then we started pushing coolant out and running warm from the air pocket. I keep it topped off every day and we made the trip no issues. We made it about 3.5 hours on way home until we had issues. I pressure test it again and find another hose leak. I tighten it up and all seems OK.
Go on a 3hr drive and it's fine. On the way home it starts funning warm again and it's low on coolant.
So Here's where I'm at. I'm fairly confident i have a small internal gasket leak that is pushing the coolant out. Why i've had several weeks with no visible change in coolant in the recovery tank or radiator doesn't make sense. If it was a bad head gasket I would have thought it wouldn't come and go, but just get worse.
Installed parts so far:
Coolant Temp sensor
Water pump -Gates
Thermostat - Subaru
Thermostat inlet - New
Ac condensor - New old one was full of rocks
What I've got to install:
Radiator - Old one has 200K and is full of rocks we live on gravel road
Radiator hoses - 100K just needs it.
New water pump gasket - The one has a slight crease in it from shipping. and I'd like to inspect the block again to see the slight scratches from the bad impeller.
I do loose pressure within a few minutes of pressure testing it and that's why I think I have an internal leak. Or an external I can't find.
I did do the idle and warm test with the pressure kit as described in the instructions to test for head gasket issues and those came back OK. which doesn't support a bad head gasket.
I did perform a block test with the special fluid and test apparatus for the radiator and it came back OK.
I don't have noticeable bubbles in the cooling system when the engine runs.
So what should I do next? Is the next step the overnight pressure test
that I read about on here?
Sorry for the book. i'm an engineer and tend to be very analytical and collect lots of data.
Thanks
Jeremy
Anyway this spring around 190K miles I did the second timing belt water pump job. I used a gates kit. When I pulled off the 190K water pump the impeller was crooked on the shaft and you could see where it made slight marks on the engine block. I feel stupid for not changing it at 100K, but live and learn. I wasn't overly concerned about the grooves and installed the kit and all was well for a few weeks. The water pump was leaking coolant when changed.
Since the water pump job the car has had an intermittent issue with pushing coolant out to the overflow but never reclaiming it. Over the summer I would top the radiator off every few days and never had an issue. But it wasn't right so I wanted to fix it. I pressure checked it and found a leaky hose. I tightened it. I also found the thermostat inlet seemed to leak so I put a new one of those on.
Seemed fine. drove it and checked it for 2 weeks no issues. We took it on a 8hr drive and it was great until we went to the Black Hills of SD. Then we started pushing coolant out and running warm from the air pocket. I keep it topped off every day and we made the trip no issues. We made it about 3.5 hours on way home until we had issues. I pressure test it again and find another hose leak. I tighten it up and all seems OK.
Go on a 3hr drive and it's fine. On the way home it starts funning warm again and it's low on coolant.
So Here's where I'm at. I'm fairly confident i have a small internal gasket leak that is pushing the coolant out. Why i've had several weeks with no visible change in coolant in the recovery tank or radiator doesn't make sense. If it was a bad head gasket I would have thought it wouldn't come and go, but just get worse.
Installed parts so far:
Coolant Temp sensor
Water pump -Gates
Thermostat - Subaru
Thermostat inlet - New
Ac condensor - New old one was full of rocks
What I've got to install:
Radiator - Old one has 200K and is full of rocks we live on gravel road
Radiator hoses - 100K just needs it.
New water pump gasket - The one has a slight crease in it from shipping. and I'd like to inspect the block again to see the slight scratches from the bad impeller.
I do loose pressure within a few minutes of pressure testing it and that's why I think I have an internal leak. Or an external I can't find.
I did do the idle and warm test with the pressure kit as described in the instructions to test for head gasket issues and those came back OK. which doesn't support a bad head gasket.
I did perform a block test with the special fluid and test apparatus for the radiator and it came back OK.
I don't have noticeable bubbles in the cooling system when the engine runs.
So what should I do next? Is the next step the overnight pressure test
that I read about on here?
Sorry for the book. i'm an engineer and tend to be very analytical and collect lots of data.
Thanks
Jeremy