Why is my subaru still overheating

110

Asked by Gus_hunter May 20, 2015 at 11:43 AM about the 1999 Subaru Legacy 30th Anniversary Sedan AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 99 subaru legacy 2.5 gt and its been overheating lately... I changed out the
radiator bc it was leaking, then changed out the thermostat, only to find out there was a
leak in one of the small coolant hoes on the engine mount... Fix that, now theres no leak
but it still keeps overheating... I know about the common overhead gasket subarus have,
but i'm pretty sure thats not the issue or i would see signs of coolant in my oil. Out of
ideas, so all suggestions are welcome.

14 Answers

What did/does the waterpump look like? deteriorated? the coolant rough and discolored? sounds to me like the veins on the waterpump have gone weak~

13 people found this helpful.

replace all coolant hoses with stainless steel braided silicone (aircraft fuel line) custom indestructable lines~>>>summitracing.com is one source~

6 people found this helpful.

do you have a shroeder valve for belching the air out? some cars. at the highest point in the cooling loop~

16 people found this helpful.
110

I have not got a chance to take out the water pump yet... The coolant does not look discolorated, its all new coolant i just filled it with...

7 people found this helpful.
110

Also, after puting the engine parts n wires back together to replace the small leaking hoes, the car is idling at a lower rpm and jerking at 3k rpm when it switch cylinders... Then the at oil temp light started flashing, could that have anything to do with that? Im so stressed out with this: (

4 people found this helpful.

I'd take a measurement of the Idle air control or the TPS throttle position sensor, be sure they are connected properly...if vacuum operated replace with silicone hoses~

thought perhaps there was an ambient air temp sensor, but there is an environmental sensor>>>>still trying to understand what the ECU wants...a diagnostic check will reveal codes and we won't seem so foolish then.<<

7 people found this helpful.
110

i had a 2.5 in my lagacy outback and it was a blown headgasket all my collent would back up in the resv tank an over flowed turnd out to be a headgasket issues and i just went ahead and did a 2.2 swap with no complants

11 people found this helpful.
1,800

You have probably got an airlock in your heater element. This mimics all the symptoms of a head gasket leak. Water has to flow through the heater element to bypass the thermostat and make it open up...See my full explanation and solution here: - http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t17159_ds614293

62 people found this helpful.
90

Bleed the air out of the system, run the car, it will overheat again; bleed again. Repeat till it stops overheating. Other than that do a compression test for the head.

9 people found this helpful.
40

Check your thermostat. Thermostats can malfunction—the plunger can wiggle in its frame, bind and get stuck in the off or almost off position. Locking out cool water to engine causing it to over heat.

4 people found this helpful.
50

Your head gasket is blown, you'll need to rebuild the whole engine just to fix it . You can buy fibre lock but when you go between 90 and 100 you'll overheat still

5 people found this helpful.

I have the 2.5 limited sus legacy anniversary edition also. For the last 4 years I had two different garages do head gasket kit. The first garage kept it 5 months and never had the heads machined as I had requested. It made 1 trip to Kentucky and one to Ohio from WV and started putting all the coolant into the overflow jug popping the lid again. Oil stays clean all the time with no liquid in it. I left it set for about two more years and had towed to another garage, they did head gasket kit and machine shopped the heads with new head bolts. When done it still blows the white smoke badly out the tail pipe, then tappers off to almost quiting and now has started making a growling noise at back of engine and the steam coming out there. My heat guage worked when the garage took the car but has never moved off of cold sense I got it back, I still cannot run it. I suspect one of the small pipes at rear of engine by intake manifold has a rusted hole in it or the soft plug between the converter and started hog head is leaking out. I checked the rad. today and it had a little pressure when removing the cap, nothing much and the rad. stayed full as well as correct amount in bottle. I love this old car and now I am going to try to fix it myself if I can find the time to try to pull engine mounts loose and check between the tranny and motor. I have put new radiator, had engine flushed, new timing belts, water pump, thermastat, axles, brakes, rotors, tune up, coolant temp. sensor, o2 sensors, new steering pump, axles, tires, it is like a new auto yet with only 134,000 miles on it. I do not want to junk it out. I have over 7500 in this car. Heated seats, heated mirrors, nice insides of leather. If anyone has any ideas let me know please. These 2.5 engines had an additive put in them from manufacturer but they will not do a recall on the thousands of ones giving us all this trouble and they won't even offer to give appointment to take to subaru garage and check it out to see what is happening. I have tried everything also just like you folks.

Your Answer:

Legacy

Looking for a Used Legacy in your area?

CarGurus has 210 nationwide Legacy listings starting at $3,495.

Postal Code:

CarGurus Experts

  • #1
    TheSubaruGuruBoston
    Reputation
    2,780
  • #2
    Anthony_60
    Reputation
    1,800
  • #3
    Tom Hawkins
    Reputation
    1,490
View All

Find great deals from top-rated dealers

Search

Related Models For Sale

Used Subaru Outback
52 Great Deals out of 1,084 listings starting at $3,495
Used Subaru Impreza
36 Great Deals out of 652 listings starting at $5,995
Used Toyota Camry
45 Great Deals out of 1,150 listings starting at $3,900
Used Subaru Forester
25 Great Deals out of 1,365 listings starting at $3,995
Used Honda Accord
53 Great Deals out of 1,019 listings starting at $2,995
Used Subaru WRX
18 Great Deals out of 369 listings starting at $10,995
Used Honda Civic
186 Great Deals out of 4,226 listings starting at $2,499
Used Nissan Altima
31 Great Deals out of 708 listings starting at $654
Used Toyota Corolla
139 Great Deals out of 2,287 listings starting at $3,495
Used Toyota RAV4
124 Great Deals out of 2,931 listings starting at $6,950

Content submitted by Users is not endorsed by CarGurus, does not express the opinions of CarGurus, and should not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by CarGurus. Please refer to CarGurus Terms of Use. Content will be removed if CarGurus becomes aware that it violates our policies.