hi, was driving my02 wrx bug today when suddenly i started seeing what looked like smoke but was actually just the hot water from the radiator as i pulled over and got out it was leaking all over the floor so let it cool down and had a look there was liturally no water in the tank what so ever so went and got some water and i was near a halfords so got some radfix as thought it might be a split pipe, so put the radfix in and the water and then went to drive it and with in 2 miles the temperture just under the red which i pulled over and called the aa as no way was i gonna drive it anymore he came and looked at it done a test to see if the headgasket was ok which he did and he said was fine also done the sniff test which he said was fine also tried pumping the water round and for some reason could not get any into the top radiator hose??? so four hours later i get the car back to a garage which is in for analysis tomorrow just wondering if anybody has had the same problem or knows what might of happened any info greatly recieved

thanks
jamie

 

thermostat perhaps..

 

Thermostat unlikely to dump water.

Check both rad hoses, the top one is prone to going.
Replace rad if it's faulty. Refill with decent anti-freeze mix, buy one that is for alloy engines and has a corrosion inhibitor.

 

my thinking being that after he refilled it, it just overheated and didnt leak again. The first leak could have been caused by a stuck thermostat, increased pressure causing a blown house or whatever..

 

it turned out to be the top rad hose had a massive split as it was rubbing on the metal hose on the radiator so no wonder it dumped out water get it back tomorrow hopefully all will be good, subaru must have know this problem as the new hose was made smaller and doesnt touch anything. thanks for the info tho

 

Hoses............told you so