Hi back in May my top hose split. I replaced top and bottom hoses and topped up but didn't bleed as some have described on here. I squeezed the hoses and ran with the caps off etc. Everything was fine for a few months many trips up and down motorways etc and 2 weeks driving around in France with the family. On the drive home from France car over heated and it looked like coolant had been escaping from the filler tank. Waited for engine to cool, topped up with water and managed to drive the rest of the way home @ 60-70 mph 300+ miles. Got a local garage to pressure test and no issues and suggested I take to a dealer and get the coolant chsmged and get it bled properly (they didn't really want to do it). Just put it into the local dealer explained problem, so they ran engine under load said coolant was weak and that it was boiling and this was causing the expulsion of coolant out of the filler tank. They have pressure tested and confirmed no leaks,carried out a sniff test and all ok, so have replaced coolant bled system and I collected the car today. Drove home about 5 miles on b roads, given it a bit of revs at a couple of points and after 5 minutes of driving temp gauge is up near the red, so drove the 1/4 mile to my drive, lifted bonnet and I have coolant spray over top of battery same as before.

Any ideas?
Nick

 

Fried HG due to coolant system not been bled by dealership or whoever done the job unfortunately

 

There is no known way to bleed the coolant system. If a dealer told you they bled it, they are either stupid, or lying. Sorry.

You COULD try draining and refilling using my method, (Do a search), but it sounds like your goose...and probably your engine, is already cooked.

 

Hi they said it passed the sniff test so could it still be the head gasket?
Nick

 

Heads could be lifting under boost, hence sniff come ok as that's done on idle and can't test on boost

 

does the coolant level in the plastic expansion bottle next to the battery fill to more than normal ?

 

Maybe if you can,try driving off boost and see what the results are.

 

No. After overheating bottle is full but there is coolant sprayed across the battery. Once engine cools bottle is empty.
Nick

 

level should move consistently between the lower and higher marks in the bottle, i.e lower mark, engine cold after overnight, high mark, engine hot.
If the expansion bottle is filling up and blowing coolant out on hard driving then HG failure is highly likely. the fact it returns to empty is due to coolant loss. The levels cold to hot shouldn't normally move more than 2-3 inches.
I hope I'm wrong

 

I hope you are too. It passed the sniff test so hoping it might be something else

 

pressure test the cooling system and see where the leaks are

 

I wouldn't run it until you get to the source of the problem. If it is the HG, coolant may get into the cylinders and totally wreck your engine. I've been there.
Trev

 

done no leaks

 

Mines did the same and passed sniff test turned out to be head gasket was goosed

 

Well its been confirmed the head gasket is buggered. so booked it in to get sorted at Triton Motorsport in bournemouth, one upside cambelt needs doing so only have to pay for the belt.

Thanks for all the help and advice
Nick

 

OK.
Now, while it's got the engine out, look at having it split and new bearings fitted.

They have a nasty habit of failing after an HG rebuild.
Ask me how I know

 

I got rcm headgaskets and arp head studs done in hindsight I should have really got it forged at the same time but the funds and the missus wouldn't allow it lol

 

Any subaru garage worth their salt wont just do headgaskets without doing the bearings....

 

Agreed...but are all worth their salt?

Wish someone had warned me.......