'ello all,

Due to a frontal accident I had the radiator replaced. On receiving the car it started overheating. Subaru said it was because of how the radiator was filled and did it again. It still overheated. I've had the thermostat replaced. It still overheats. Problem is that some trips the water gauge will go into the red in as few as 4km's and stay there yet other times it will remain at normal temperatures for 30 or 40 km's. Oil temperature and pressure are within normal ranges.

Any ideas?

 

Have no actual experience, but could it be a simple sensor error rather than a real overheating problem?

 

I don't think so as it affects the efficiency of the air con. ie. as the temp gauge goes up so the air con doesn't cool as much.

 

Have you let the car warm up with the bonnet up and seen if the cooling fan kicks in?
Could be that?

Tony

 

Tony - fans kick in fine - they don't however drop the temperature.

 

Could you have a kink in one of the pipes thus leading to a bad flow of fluid and that causing the temp to go sky high?

Tony

 

Do kinks come and go? Could be but I'd have thought that would lead to the over heating being a permanent condition.

 

Only having a guess here but do you get the overheating just in traffic or on long runs or both?

Tony

 

'ello Tony,

Both. Again the problem is that it doesn't do it consistently ie. it will sometimes do it in traffic, other times on the freeway, othertimes not at all. When it starts doing it though it will keep doing it for the remainder of your journey and until it's cooled off totally.

I even took photo's of the darned gauge as it just wouldn't/won't do it for the Subaru mechanics or anyone else I tried showing!

 

If the radiator fans are switching in and out, then that would indicate that the water temperature is within limits (84c?) while they are not running (or the relay is faulty).

Has the car lost any coolant from the header tank or the level tube in front of the battery?

The fan switch is controlled by the ECU, and the temperature sender is on the front of the left hand cylinder bank viewed from the front. The temperature gauge sender is seperate, and I have seen mine behave very strangely before replacing it (showing very high temps, then dropping to zero, then normal etc etc).

If the gauge is reading very high and the fans are cutting in / out as normal, you probably have a sender problem. I'd get this replaced in the first instance and take it from there.

Edit: your dealer should be able to see the temperature as seen by the ECU via the select monitor... get them to check it out. If you still have problems after changing the gauge sender, then get them to drain / refill the system in case you have an airlock somewhere. Is the heater working?

Cheers,

Alex


[Edited by AlexM - 10/18/2002 12:45:07 PM]

 

>Has the car lost any coolant from the header tank or the level >tube in front of the battery?

Yes it has.

The fan switch is controlled by the ECU, and the temperature sender is on the front of the left hand cylinder bank viewed from the front. The temperature gauge sender is seperate, and I have seen mine behave very strangely before replacing it (showing very high temps, then dropping to zero, then normal etc etc).

>If the gauge is reading very high and the fans are cutting in / >out as normal, you probably have a sender problem. I'd get this >replaced in the first instance and take it from there.

When the gauge is reading very high the fans stay on ie. there does seem to be some correlation. I didn't realis there were two seperate senders.

>Edit: your dealer should be able to see the temperature as seen >by the ECU via the select monitor... get them to check it out. If

This is where the intermittent problem comes in. When I have had it there it hasn't overheated...

>you still have problems after changing the gauge sender, then get >them to drain / refill the system in case you have an airlock >somewhere. Is the heater working?

System has been drained again (when the thermostat was replaced). Heater does indeed work fine.