Im going to change my thermostat as ive been informed it might be stuck open. Its on a 95 wrx 2.0l. Ive been advised this as my car is never above 0°c when driving but warms when stood for 10 mins. Plus my idle is high so i guess because of faulty thermo its stuck on choke??!! Anyway ive googled the coolant and ive seen subaru advise using coolant conditioner. Is this necessary? If so do i use subaru stuff or is there an aftermarket one? Also...is there an aftermarket antifreeze/coolant i can use? And do i need a phosphate one?

 

If it doesn't get warm when driving, the odds are on the thermostat being stuck open.

BUT: don't be surprised to find there isn't one in there, because it's been removed to cover a deeper problem: overheating.

If you buy coolant from a decent auto-factor, ask for one suitable for alloy engines and that has corrosion inhibitor in it. They will know what is what.

Then, drain all old coolant, flush radiator, refit/fit thermostat and refill: DO do a search on here for how to refill without airlocking, since it's impossible to bleed it if you do airlock it. I've done a few posts recently about how to

 

Great thanks.. bit worried about the overheating issue now n im not goin to know until i work on it friday. Seems like ages now ha. Just the conditioner tho....yay or nay to using it? Wot do ya think?

 

You might want to consider going waterless
http://www.evanscooling.com/products/coolants/

 

I need to replace my Rad tomorrow and would like to know of an aftermarket antifreeze/coolant I can use, Would one from ECP of a factors do the job as I need to get my rad in asap to use the car for work!

 

So is that evans coolant really safe in an impreza engine? I know there funny about coolant due to alloy engine

 

generally speaking the majority of "blue glycol" anti-freeze available these days is perfectly fine...................

personally am unconvinced by "waterless" coolants

alyn

 

This^^^

One of the most trusted traders on here has spoken, take his advice

 

Standard glycol-based antifreeze, with corrosion inhibitor, from any decent factor.

 

Great thanks all

 

Sorry for slight hijack but has anyone used prestone coolant in an impreza? They sell it cheap as chips in Costco, they use it on that Boyd codington hot rod program, its in a yellow container and its luminous yellow in colour, according to the bumph on the label it's all singing all dancing best coolant in the world haha.

I've used it in a Volvo t5 before and it was fine, well as fine as having coolant in your car can be ie it never ran warmer or transformed into something different

Mick