hello,i've just bought a 96 turbo 2000,i noticed when i got it home the engine was very very hot,there was allso a sort of burning smell,is this normal for a subaru?
i'm pretty sure they will get warm...

also when the engine is ticking over idle the revs drop then speed back up,it is only very slight and the revs change speed after about 4 seconds,i'm pretty sure it just needs a tuening to sort that out....

 

I don't want to alarm you but you might want to tread carefully. I bought my MY96 WRX import two weeks ago. For the first week it was fine but, at the end of last week, when it was around 33 degrees, it started running right up to the line before the 'H' on the temp guage. It was losing water somehow.

On Saturday, after some very casual driving, I roasted it (really roasted it). The radiator was completely empty despite having recently filled it up. I let it cool for 3hrs and filled it back up and it was OK but still running hotter than it should. It was still losing water so I filled it up again and chucked in a bottle of RadWeld. It was totally sorted ......... for half an hour

At 10pm last night (about 23 degrees) on the A24, I was opening it up a bit (5500rpm) and the temp shot up before I could pull off into a layby. The engine cooked itself so much that it hasn't started since then and it's now sitting in the local Subaru garage waiting to clock up a big bill. The AA were pretty certain that the head gasket was knackered (and other symptoms such as stuttering at high revs / lack of compression) seem to confirm it.

If your car's not right, get it checked out before it roasts! Good luck mate

 

Not sure about the hot smells (haven't we all suffered with that? phewww!! ) but this thread might help about the tickover issue.....

Clicky

Hope this helps.............

Pete