hiya guys and girls, i picked up my first scooby WRX last nite. When i took the car for a test spin it was fine bar a very light vibration noise coming from the turbo area (like a heat shield rattle) but there's not heat shields in that area. trailerd it back and took it off the trailer and went for a quick spin. i only went a mile or 2 up the road and back and when i got about 500yards away from my house i noticed loads of white smoke coming out the back, and she's dumped all the water, the car still runs sweet tho! i can see steam or somthing coming from the turbo aswel.

What does it sould like to you?

+ i think sponners has just posted about this car aswel!

 

my first one did the same thing... underside of radiator top hose split open (commen on early ones) the water then ran backwards covering the turbo / exhaust, lots of white smoke, burning antifreeze smell...

might be worth checkin..

 

the smokes coming out of the exhaust tho so i doubt it's that m8! cheers all the same tho

 

no worries, sounds like one of the head gaskets or turbo then, have you took the intake pipe off and felt for play or damage to the turbo?

 

no not yet! i'm guna whip the turbo off later on and have a good ganders and hopfully i find the problem

cheers
craig

 

ooh just heard oil is whitish/sludgy!

guessing head gasket! - ok what needed to fix??????

just gaskets and head skim?

cheers

 

Yes gaskets and a skim, if you can also find out the reason the headgasket went in the first place (ie radiator on its way out) then resolve that at the same time, though you should have had some warning signs like high water temps.
Oh and if you just picked it up, id go back to the owner and ask him to pay for the replacement gasket and work, like I say, they dont just go, you get warning signs first in most cases.

Tony

 

cheers tony

no signs that we were aware of, temperature seemed fine on gauge (were monitoring anyway as it was a new purchase)

the car has been off the road for a while and I think the last owner barely put his foot down in it!

maybe spirited driving, no being driven for a while, and boost of (I'm guessing) 1 - 1.1 bar, were all a bit much for the standard engine!

ps would it be wise to replace head bolts as well?

how much does it cost to skim heads?

thanks again

 

cheers for the help guys! i've just been to the car and when i turned the key it sounded if the engine had seized again so i put a spanner on the crank and it sounded like a load of water in the piston! as soon as it turned off compression i turned the key again and she started sweet! so it's definatly the head gasket!

so we'll have to whip the engine out 2moz and start fixing her!

ah well i think the fast show's just gone out the window

 

Skimming is usually about £35 per head. I personally would change the head bolts (& thermostat).

(consider pressure testing as well. Each head is about £35: worth doing for peace of mind on a job like this one). Also, as said previously, it's best to find the cause if it's not just old age such as checking water pump & rad is ok.

 

Hope you got it cheap!

 

cheap-ish maybee