Hopefully this will save someone from spending unnecessary money:
My 2002 Forester is the second best car I have ever owned. There has never been any problems. It's now June 2025 it now has 142,638 miles on it (yep, very low). Runs like a dream.
At the end of August 2024 it developed a very very significant coollant leak. In fact I nicknamed my car Niagara because there was such an incredible amount of water pouring from my engine.
Two mechanics told me it had to be one of a few possibilities:
Blown head gasket, warped head, cracked head or cracked block.
$3,000 - $3,500 "if it can be fixed at all".
Bar's Leaks had absolutely no effect (and I spoke repeatedly with them, they are quite helpful).
I will be 70 in 13 days, I have a severely messed-up back. I am a self-proprietor who can work very little. So I don't have the money to spend on a mechanic. I've worked on cars since I was 10 years old (thanks to my father and brother).
Long story MUCH shorter....... all that the problem was was that the coolant crossover tube from the driver's side (that comes from the heater-core metal tubing) had developed a hole on the bottom of that otherwise pristine metal tube (the rubber hose that then goes to the centerpiece of the intake slides down vertically onto the end of that metal tube). You cannot see the leak from looking down. But you can feel it if your hands and fingers are small enough (as mine are) to get down there.
The amount of water coming out of that small rust-hole was phenomenal. I really didn't think that that could be the problem because there was such an amazing amount of water flowing from the engine!!
My fix:
I cut a 3.5" piece of high-temp silicone tubing, slid it down as far as possible (which covered the entire horizontal section where the rust hole is), sprayed a bit of rust-inhibiting silicone spray into my tubing, and clamped it tightly at both ends.
Not ONE drop since.
Fixed it for $20.
My 2002 Forester is the second best car I have ever owned. There has never been any problems. It's now June 2025 it now has 142,638 miles on it (yep, very low). Runs like a dream.
At the end of August 2024 it developed a very very significant coollant leak. In fact I nicknamed my car Niagara because there was such an incredible amount of water pouring from my engine.
Two mechanics told me it had to be one of a few possibilities:
Blown head gasket, warped head, cracked head or cracked block.
$3,000 - $3,500 "if it can be fixed at all".
Bar's Leaks had absolutely no effect (and I spoke repeatedly with them, they are quite helpful).
I will be 70 in 13 days, I have a severely messed-up back. I am a self-proprietor who can work very little. So I don't have the money to spend on a mechanic. I've worked on cars since I was 10 years old (thanks to my father and brother).
Long story MUCH shorter....... all that the problem was was that the coolant crossover tube from the driver's side (that comes from the heater-core metal tubing) had developed a hole on the bottom of that otherwise pristine metal tube (the rubber hose that then goes to the centerpiece of the intake slides down vertically onto the end of that metal tube). You cannot see the leak from looking down. But you can feel it if your hands and fingers are small enough (as mine are) to get down there.
The amount of water coming out of that small rust-hole was phenomenal. I really didn't think that that could be the problem because there was such an amazing amount of water flowing from the engine!!
My fix:
I cut a 3.5" piece of high-temp silicone tubing, slid it down as far as possible (which covered the entire horizontal section where the rust hole is), sprayed a bit of rust-inhibiting silicone spray into my tubing, and clamped it tightly at both ends.
Not ONE drop since.
Fixed it for $20.
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