2002 Forester cooling system woes

[Cixcos]

I've owned my '02 Forester since new (it has 75K miles now). The car has
been trouble free to the point that I bought my second Subaru ('06
Impreza) 3 years ago.

Last week, while stopped in traffic, I noticed the temp needle was
approaching red. I immediately turned off my A/C and soon watched the
needle move back to normal.

When I got home I let it cool completely and checked the coolant level.
The reservoir was empty and the radiator was missing about one quart. I
replenished the fluid and started searching Google for causes.

A quick online search seems to point to the head gasket leaks which seem
to be endemic in this car. I have since observed bubbles in the
reservoir tank. The oil is good with no indication of coolant, so I
think the leak is external.

After reading the forums, my plan is to purchase Holts RadWeld and pour
into the radiator.

Hopefully, the bubbles should stop in a few days and them I plan to do a
full flush, replacing the thermostat just in case while at it and adding
more RadWelt as a preventive measure.

Any ideas or suggestions from the group are most welcome. TIA!

Best,

Ben

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Hopefully, it's just your radiator. The worse situation would be a head
gasket leak, because that's much more expensive to fix. I had this
situation on my 2000 OBW early on, and it got fixed under warranty
thankfully. It was a head gasket leak. I would see the temperature surge
for a few seconds, and then it would settle down to normal again, and
then surge again. Caught it early and got it fixed.

Yousuf Khan

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

I've owned my '02 Forester since new (it has 75K miles now). The car has
been trouble free to the point that I bought my second Subaru ('06
Impreza) 3 years ago.

Last week, while stopped in traffic, I noticed the temp needle was
approaching red. I immediately turned off my A/C and soon watched the
needle move back to normal.

When I got home I let it cool completely and checked the coolant level.
The reservoir was empty and the radiator was missing about one quart. I
replenished the fluid and started searching Google for causes.

A quick online search seems to point to the head gasket leaks which seem
to be endemic in this car. I have since observed bubbles in the
reservoir tank. The oil is good with no indication of coolant, so I
think the leak is external.

After reading the forums, my plan is to purchase Holts RadWeld and pour
into the radiator.

Hopefully, the bubbles should stop in a few days and them I plan to do a
full flush, replacing the thermostat just in case while at it and adding
more RadWelt as a preventive measure.

Any ideas or suggestions from the group are most welcome. TIA!

Best,

Ben

Bubbles in the reservoir tank COULD mean something like a stuck
thermostat/bad radiator cap.

I think you should try to some more analysis. The 'external leak' most
folks mention means you likely would see hot coolant dripping under
the car somwwhere.

 

[S]

Hi Ben!

I've owned my '02 Forester since new (it has 75K miles now). The car has
been trouble free to the point that I bought my second Subaru ('06
Impreza) 3 years ago.

Last week, while stopped in traffic, I noticed the temp needle was
approaching red. I immediately turned off my A/C and soon watched the
needle move back to normal.

When I got home I let it cool completely and checked the coolant level.
The reservoir was empty and the radiator was missing about one quart. I
replenished the fluid and started searching Google for causes.

A quick online search seems to point to the head gasket leaks which seem
to be endemic in this car. I have since observed bubbles in the
reservoir tank. The oil is good with no indication of coolant, so I
think the leak is external.

After reading the forums, my plan is to purchase Holts RadWeld and pour
into the radiator.

Hopefully, the bubbles should stop in a few days and them I plan to do a
full flush, replacing the thermostat just in case while at it and adding
more RadWelt as a preventive measure.

Any ideas or suggestions from the group are most welcome. TIA!

Best,

Ben

We have a '99 with 120K, and an '02 with close to 160K, and not a
whisker of engine woes. The notorious head gasket failures are, I
think, mostly in the DOHC 2.5l engines. I don't know if any of these
made it into the first gen Forrys. Anyone?
What I have seen, tho, are leaks at the radiator cap, thermostat
housing, various hoses, and once in awhile (but never on one of ours)
a weepy sort of external leak at the head gasket.
These will consume coolant slowly, and it's entirely possible that,
unless you regularly monitor the coolant level, you may simply have
run low over time.
I'd top it off, (and do so with the nose up so any trapped air can
work it's way out), and watch it for awhile before worrying about it
too much.
Unless it is going into the combustion chamber, you can add a cup or
two of coolant now and then for a long time with out issues. If it
_is_ going into the combustion chamber (head gasket failure; you'll
see white exhaust smoke, and it will smell sweet), or it is leaking
more than a once-in-awhile top-off, alas, _then_ start to worry about
a fix.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

I've owned my '02 Forester since new (it has 75K miles now). The car has
been trouble free to the point that I bought my second Subaru ('06
Impreza) 3 years ago.

Last week, while stopped in traffic, I noticed the temp needle was
approaching red. I immediately turned off my A/C and soon watched the
needle move back to normal.

When I got home I let it cool completely and checked the coolant level.
The reservoir was empty and the radiator was missing about one quart. I
replenished the fluid and started searching Google for causes.

A quick online search seems to point to the head gasket leaks which seem
to be endemic in this car. I have since observed bubbles in the reservoir
tank. The oil is good with no indication of coolant, so I think the leak
is external.

After reading the forums, my plan is to purchase Holts RadWeld and pour
into the radiator.

Hopefully, the bubbles should stop in a few days and them I plan to do a
full flush, replacing the thermostat just in case while at it and adding
more RadWelt as a preventive measure.

Any ideas or suggestions from the group are most welcome. TIA!

Best,

Ben

Check the radiator and the water pump for leaks. If the HG was blown,
you'd see steam from the tailpipe, unless it's a really, really small leak.

On my '89 GL Coupe, I had a small leak from the HG on the driver's side. I
used Bar's Head GAsket Repair:

http://www.barsproducts.com/1100.htm

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!!! Before I used it I called and talked to Tech
Support. The woman there told me I had to get ALL the Anti-Freeze out of
the cooling system! EVERY SINGLE DROP! It binds with anti-freeze and makes
an engine-killing goo. I had to flush the cooling system 4 times just to
make sure I had nothing but clear water coming out. (On a 21 degree day,
filling the cooling system with just water is a trick...)

I mixed it and filled the cooling system according to instructions, and
that was ~2 years ago and still no leak. I had a couple small leaks and it
worked well.

However, on my Legacy wagon, the leak was on the exhast side, so the
exhaust keeps pushing the stuff out and it can't fill the leak...

Oh, and I also made a small 'bypass hose" and bypassed the heater core.
Since this car is for winter only the last thing I wanted was a plugged
heater core!

When you're done, you have to flushthe colling system again. And again.
And again. And again. I think replacing the head gaskets would have been
FASTER!

 

[StephenH]

I've owned my '02 Forester since new (it has 75K miles now). The car has
been trouble free to the point that I bought my second Subaru ('06
Impreza) 3 years ago.

Last week, while stopped in traffic, I noticed the temp needle was
approaching red. I immediately turned off my A/C and soon watched the
needle move back to normal.

When I got home I let it cool completely and checked the coolant level.
The reservoir was empty and the radiator was missing about one quart. I
replenished the fluid and started searching Google for causes.

A quick online search seems to point to the head gasket leaks which seem
to be endemic in this car. I have since observed bubbles in the
reservoir tank. The oil is good with no indication of coolant, so I
think the leak is external.

After reading the forums, my plan is to purchase Holts RadWeld and pour
into the radiator.

Hopefully, the bubbles should stop in a few days and them I plan to do a
full flush, replacing the thermostat just in case while at it and adding
more RadWelt as a preventive measure.

Any ideas or suggestions from the group are most welcome. TIA!

Best,

Ben

A don't panic, start with basics.
The overheat is just loss of fluid.
Look under the car for leaks. 90% of head gasket leaks are from the
drivers side, and they are not limited to the twin cam engine. A
decent leak will show on the crossmember of the eng, as also said,
look at the radiator for leaks. If it is a small leak and you can't
afford repairs at this time, many just learn to watch the antifreeze
level. The repair will be your decision.
The trick is getting the air out of the system.
fill the radiator up, start it and see if the level drops. top it off
and put the cap on. over fill the reservoir. let the engine run till
it gets warm. set the car heat on vent and full hot. feel the air
until you get nice hot temp from the vents, watching the temperature.
if it starts to over heat, shut the car off, turn on the a/c and key
on and let the fans run until the car cools, open rad and top off and
do this again. you want hot air from the dash and the eng fans turning
on automatically. Be sure you are not running the car in one of the
two defrost modes as the fans will cycle with the a/c. You may need to
hold the engine rpm at 2000-3000 rpm to get the engine hot enough to
cycle the cooling fans.
Once you see a stable vent temp, engine temp and the fans have cycled,
turn the engine off, key on with the a/c on again. when the engine is
cooled, you should loose the overfill in the reservoir into the rad.
test drive