The Rig

iTrader: (13)

I have a front bumper that was on a car that had a FMIC,mine doesnt,normal TMIC

anyhoo,as it has the huge hole at the front, i thought maybe of putting something to block the rad/fill this hole in this cold weather ?

my water temp needle is virtually at 0

classic 95

i tested the dial,earthed the sender out,the needle shot to the top,so the dials good.

If stood still for a while the dial increases,soon as i move,needle drops

so either replace the sender in the alloy water pipe or the bumper to blame ?

cheers

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

thermostats knackered by the sounds of it, half covering the rad would marginally help but not a lot

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

i thought that but i get hot air from the vents/heater matrix very quick,no heating issues at all,if the thermostat was knackered,stuck open i assume we mean,surely it would be cool air for a long time ?

On a sidenote, i dont get how the cooling system flows on the flat 4,normal engines have the thermostat near the top rad hose,this opens and allows the water to flow thru the rad

on the flat 4,the thermostat is right on the bottom of the engine next to the bottom hose,surely it doesnt flow upwards and then into the engine via the top rad hose ?????

Or does it stay closed as normal,then open up when the waters hot and allows the cold water waiting from the Rad to then flow thru the engine ?

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

you will get hot air until you start moving, when you move the cold air cools the coolant in the rad to quick and because the thermostat isn't working properly it cant close to keep the engine temp up.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

hmm,i hear what your saying,but the heat out the vents is constant,when driving, nice n hot,stationary,nice n hot, its just the needle that reads 0 or moves up a smidge when stationary,but the heat out the vents is toasty no matter what (unless i change it to cold)

my94wrx

iTrader: (4)

now i get you, i overlooked the heaters staying hot all the time, its more than likely the temperature sender that is failing then has done it for long?

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

no probs

yeah,it got worse when i fitted this bumper,hence me thinking it was this,but it always was a low reading on the dial even in summer hottest days 30+ outside stationary for a while it never seemed to get above half way although fans would kick in

ive done several coolant changes over the yrs,new Rad also,still no change in reading

Will change the single wire connector sendor unit in the alloy pipe and go from there i thinks LOL

cheers

fastboyslim

iTrader: (2)

i had the same problem with my 95. Was the thermostat. Spotted it one evening on the highway, running 0 degrees. You do run the risk of a cold seize. Dont worry about your bumper, the thermostat will regulate the temp of the water flowing thru your motor. This was wrong with mine, please bont take my advice as rock solid, this was told to me by the guy fixing my car at the time.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

cheers for the info, i will start with the easy job (sender) then the thermostat if no change,last time i did an impreza thermostat change the bolt head of the housing sheared off in the block,so im a bitwary now LOL

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

having trouble getting the dial sendor,main dealers arent answering,local scrappy had no imprezas/legacy etc

you can buy them online but not knowing what thermistor is inside the sendor i etter get the correct one from subaru LOL

drove car tonight, heater lovely n hot after 3 mins of driving in -4 yet dial showed cold,eventually got to 1/4 way then dropped a bit lower then rose to 1/4 again then a bit higher then dropped again LOL yet cabin heat remained constant

Top hose of the rad was scalding hot,middle of the rad hot, bottom hose stone cold, as it should be thermostat housing warm

Glowplug

iTrader: (8)

Cabin heaters hot within 3 mins of starting from cold in -4. That sounds way too quick to me. The whole thing smacks of thermostat problems to me mate.

The bottom hose should not be 'stone cold', but should be hot, in a uniform manner with the rest of the system.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

The bottom hose being cold, with the windchill it was pretty fresh,prob - 7,thing is, the thermostat is after the bottom hose so even if it was on the blink, it wouldnt effect the temp of the bottom hose,as the rad/wind cool this bit down ?????

The rad was hot,mid core was hot etc thermostat hosuing warm

f4la k

iTrader: (1)

I'd be 99% its thermostat, and ive red all your post about hot air out the heater. Change the stat and you will be sorted.
Its nothing to do with the sender..
Where are you located...

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

well, i assumed the sendor would be the cheapest of the 2 to fix,hence starting with that, BUT,after phoning 2 subaru garages (no other motor factors had it or knew what it was) they both quoted, wait for it, consdering all it is is a single spade connector thermistor................................
































£58 FFS !!!!!!!!!

couldnt believe it,nearly fell off my chair,the exact same looking,but not knowing its thermistor resisitance etc,were £3.99 on a U.S site

thermostat £25 so it looks like i will do that 1st LOL,just hope the bolt doesnt shear off the housing like my other impreza did eek !

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Scrap that last post, the robbing %&%*%$$ at subaru, found the same item for £15

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/part...en=&searchKey=

fecking robbin subaru, £40+ markup

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, I was gonna say!...

I knew that ICP did the larger ECU temp sender for around £30... So £58 quid from that other place for just the smaller gauge one is pulling your kecks right down!

£15 from ICP - that's more like it...

fastboyslim

iTrader: (2)

Good find! Will be using them a lot!

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Thinking about it some more, the bottom hose being cold,which is directly inline with the stat,wouldnt that suggest that the thermostat is still shut (not allowing the water in yet hence the pipes cold) ??

And i would of thought the top hose would be colder as well if the thermostat was stuck open ??? but its very hot


nothing seems to add up LOL

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Bottom hose stone cold normally indicates an airlock (had it on my old car when HG had failed).

When up to normal operating temp, bottom hose should be warm/very warm. Top hose should be hot enough so as to be unpleasant to hold onto.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

o.k, i just removed the header tank cap and ran it from cold.
i had to remove 180ml of fluid as as soon as i removed the cap water spewed out,and when engine was running it was spweing out,hence me removing 120ml-130ml of fluid.

settled down (the spweing out that is) and ran car for 15 minutes,top hose hot, bottom hose warm,cool.

temp dial still reading very low.

so after another 5 mins, i re-fitted the header tank cap revved it at 3k for a few mins,temp dial increased to just under half way,rad fans kicked in, tamp dial reading now at 1/4

so i did it again,revved to 3k,upto just under halfway on the dial,rad fans kick in,lower the reading down to 1/4

squeeze top hose,hot but not pressurised

removed header tank cap,water visible.

have to go out now, so will drive it etc and re-check levels

cheers

dazdavies

iTrader: (22)

Dude your thermostat is goosed. I cut the centre out of my thermostat during problems with my front mount turbo set up. I still get heat. It was fine in the warmer months but now its cold on a motorway cruise my temp gauge reads 0. Change your thermostat and your problems will disappear instantly.

It's not a massively difficult job to do either.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

well,the air lock didnt do anything so i will bow down to forum knowledge LOL and do the thermostat 1st before the sendor and see if it fixes it,my oil temp was 60 before the water temp needle started to move

i just ordered the genuine item from the same place that does the sendor, £25 delivered,looking at some od the OE ones they seemed alot smaller so thought,not a job i want to do twice, so got the proper one LOL

this time i`ll let the car warm up so the bolts are easier to undo,so hopefully the bolt wont shear like the last impreza i had did with the engine cold

wish me luck guys LOL

Glowplug

iTrader: (8)

My first thought was air lock, but as you never stated anything about working on your cooling system...

Just go steady on the bolts ya heavy handed grease monkey.

Oh yeah, good luck.

f4la k

iTrader: (1)

Just get the stat fitted when it comes, then come back and tell us the car is spot on. Remember when filling the car, take your time, fill the header tank and have the car running with the heaters on, just keep an eye on the header tank and every time it drops fill it again untill it dosent drop, could take 2-3 goes before it shows completely full.. Happy motoring...

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

o.k,so just removed the thermostat, new one should be here next week, i ride a motorbike to work etc,so anyhoo,removed it, tested it, it is foobard, so thats good, but the weird thing is, its foobard in the Closed position,when you put it in a pot of boiling water,it doesnt do anything,stuck shut.

so my main query,why didnt the car overheat,why give a cool reading ???

weird

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Yeah that is weird!

But yes, allegedly when the OEM stat totally fails, it does so in the closed position as you've seen. But... would have assumed overheating?!?!

If you were to now get a Zero Sports one, they allegedly fail in the open condition, so water would keep circulating. Plus they open 7deg earlier at 71C (prob don't make much difference though).

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

well,i boiled the water in a kettle and used that to test it,so thought id put the cup in the microwave 9without the termostat in it LOL) and put it on for 1 minute at 900w,put thermostat in that water,still nothing

so i put the water on for another 1 min 15 seconds,it was bubbling this time, put thermostat in this,it opened LOL

so i think my sender is still goosed as the thermostat being stuck closed i should of been showing ahigh temo,so might as well replace both items saves re-doing the coolant if i did the sender at a later date

off to order that now LOL

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, prob just a coincidence that the stat is past its best and gauge sender knackered as well!!!

The stat in hot water test doesn't seem to be a definitive test, as if you try and do it at 78C, the stat doesn't seem to open anyway! But it should do it in bubbling boiling water - and quickly(ish) too (I've done it myself... or rather Zen did lol).

musso2010

Hi mate, Im removing my FMIC this week to fit a top mount but im worried about the state of the bumper once its off. Have you got any pics of your car so i can see what the front looks like without the FMIC.

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Why why why?!?!