'97 Outback Overheating!

[nathh]

hey subaru fans

I have a '97 outback limited wagon. I completely love it and want to hang on to it as long as possible. the problem is this:

last week I noticed that the temperature gauge was noting SLIGHTLY higher than normal temperatures. you've probably noticed that the subaru temperature pins usually remain at just below half way up the gauge. well last week it was about half way up, so I decided to take the car in for 'preventative maintenance.' the next day they said they'd fixed it, cleaned the radiator, new thermostat and gasket. great. two days later as I was driving around I happend to look down and found the needle completely off the temperature gauge, in the bad direction. I pulled over and turned the car off.

took it back to the dealership and they say it's the headgasket. to be honest though, it doesn't seem they've made much of an effort to verify this diagnosis. now I'm still relatively young and not exactly rolling in cash, $1500 is a lot of money to me!

I haven't noticed ANY loss of power which, I've read, usually accompanies a head gasket problem. can any of you think of other possible problems that woulde cause the engine to overheat? how much stock should I put in the dealership's diagnosis? is it pretty straightforward to determine it's a head gasket problem or are they sort of just making a best guess?

thanks very much for all responses

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

sounds bad - did they change the rad cap? you could try taking the new
t'stat out and put it in a pot of hot water, as you heat it up it should
open before the water boils.
If they are incompetent, they may not have 'burped' all the air out of
the system. Soobs are notorious for entrapping air in the cooling
system. Unfortunately, they may never own up to any problem they caused.

 

[LC Brian]

You are the headgasket of the week.

I have the same car with a confirmed case of the head gasket disease.
I've made some posts on this problem in some other threads in this
group. You ought to still be able to access them.

I don't notice much of a power difference. I only notice is a slight
hesitation on acceleration after I first start up that I didn't notice
before. Other than that it drives normally. There isn't any white
smoke from the tailpipe and it looks and sounds normal. I can even
drive mine for about ten minutes and fool myself into thinking the
problem doesn't exist because the car comes up to temperature normally
and stays at the midpoint for a while. Then after pausing at the
midpoint it starts to climb until it overheats and expels coolant.

A local shop tested my car's coolant with a CO2 test kit. This is just
a chemical they add to a small sample of coolant that turns color in
the presence of CO2. The conclusion is that gas from the cylinder is
seeping past the gasket and overheating the coolant. The gas heats the
coolant, the coolant never gets a chance to do its job and your engine
overheats. You can actually buy this test kit from Snapon.com yourself
but it's about $60. (Stock# GDCT16) This test is easy and doesn't take
long to do. That and a check of the overflow container for a grey
sludgy residue is probably all they needed for a diagnosis.

Hopefully you can get it done for $1500. Quotes I've received are
upwards of $2400.

I would suggest you not drive the car any longer to avoid spot heating
the head. This would just make your problem worse.

It appears that when Subaru made the 2.5 engine, they just bored out
their 2.2 engine. In doing so the area on the headgasket that sealed
the different chambers on the head was reduced and appears to have
made it more prone to failure. The early 2.5 engines fail like mine.
Engines after 99 or so tend to leak coolant to the outside of the
engine. Subaru has changed gasket designs but there isn't any hard
evidence on how much this has solved the problem. Since post 99
engines still have HG problems I wonder if they really have a handle
on this at all. Interestingly, I haven't read anyone with H-6 engines
having HG problems.

Here are some links you might find useful.

Other Subaru newsgroups:

Edmunds.com
(http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/[email protected]@.ef0d013/2598)

Yahoo.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=subaru)

To see a picture of head gaskets and get a good idea of the problem
you have, go here:
http://wac.addr.com/auto/obs/headgasket/headgasket.html

To see a guy who replaced his own head gaskets on his 97 OB go here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze730qe/Head_gasket_replacement.html. You
can add your name to his list of people with bad Subaru head gaskets.

For info on testing head gaskets go here:
http://www.swedishbricks.net/700900FAQ/Engine-Mechanical1.html#Headgasket_Failure

To register your car with Subaru and see the recalls that affect your
car, go here: http://my.subaru.com/login/login.jsp

Finally, write, or at least call Subaru and complain. Ask them what
they can do to fix your problem. Ask them if there were any service
bulletins that pertain to this problem for your car. They have been
known to be flexible with their warranties but this depends a lot on
the mileage of your car. To be fair, they can't help you if you don't
ask. I would strongly suggest you write them and get a written
response.

They can be contacted at (800)-Subaru-3 (in the US) or at
Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru Plaza
P.O. Box 6000
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-6000
Attn: Customer/Dealer Services

Good luck

 

[gj]

Hi,
I had the same problem with my ´98 Outback a few years ago, it came the same
way you discribe,
and indeed I have the headgaskets still somewhere and one of them was
damaged.
First thermostat was renewed, I didn´t had any loss of power also, but the
temperature went up,
so went to a garage and then they measured exhaustgasses in my coolingfluid,
diagnoses: headgasket
And I went back about the same amount of money (

hey subaru fans

I have a '97 outback limited wagon. I completely love it and want to hang

last week I noticed that the temperature gauge was noting SLIGHTLY higher

than normal temperatures. you've probably noticed that the subaru
temperature pins usually remain at just below half way up the gauge. well
last week it was about half way up, so I decided to take the car in for
'preventative maintenance.' the next day they said they'd fixed it, cleaned
the radiator, new thermostat and gasket. great. two days later as I was
driving around I happend to look down and found the needle completely off
the temperature gauge, in the bad direction. I pulled over and turned the
car off.

took it back to the dealership and they say it's the headgasket. to be

honest though, it doesn't seem they've made much of an effort to verify this
diagnosis. now I'm still relatively young and not exactly rolling in cash,
$1500 is a lot of money to me!

I haven't noticed ANY loss of power which, I've read, usually accompanies

a head gasket problem. can any of you think of other possible problems that
woulde cause the engine to overheat? how much stock should I put in the
dealership's diagnosis? is it pretty straightforward to determine it's a
head gasket problem or are they sort of just making a best guess?

 

[LC Brian]

How has the repair held up? What was the mileage when you had it
repaired and how many do you have now?

Thanks

 

[RAJP53]

I have had the same problem with my 96 OBW that has 163,000 miles. Admittedly,
I am not that broken up over it. About every two weeks I have to add about a
pint of anti-freeze.

Can removing the thermostat help the matter for the Spring and Summer, if it
lasts?

By the way, I am buying a 2004 Outback Sedan LTD. Any opinions on my choice?
Should I be looking at a Forrester instead?

Thanks.