as title say im loosing coolent think its coming out of the header tank, put a new cap on but still the same. strange thing is though if im just driving round town or steady its doesnt use any. it also never overheats
its a 1994 wrx import if thats any use

thanks
mike

 

Sounds like Boost is leaking out of cylinder and pressurising the coolant system, head gasket, head liftfting, or crack.

 

head gasket issue as above

 

as above my money would be on head gasket

 

I had this. I was getting coolant on top of the header tank and steam was coming out of the bonnet. Found that the joint from the flat part of the header tank to the cylindrical bit that the cap goes on to had corroded to the extent that it was leaking but only when the engine had fully warmed up. Bought a new header tank from Subaru (£150), problem solved.

 

Is there any way to say for sure?

 

A sniff test or dye in the coolant to show if there are any hydro-carbons in the coolant.

 

is more coolant than normal being pushed into your expansion tank?
Trev

 

there isnt anything in the expansion tank its dry... could there be a blockage maby?

 

Mine was loosing coolent from water pipe that goes into turbo

 

Had an issue with mine last year once pressurised was leaking from the coolant cap neck, as this part is pressed in not welded tested by getting warm with cap off so water rises above the joint then saw the water leaking. Easy to test/eliminate

 

there should always be coolant in the expansion tank/bottle, when cold it's at low mark and hot comes up to high mark. I just thought if pressure was coming from the cylinders via a leaking head gasket, coolant would be pushed into the expansion bottle first being the easiest outlet.
Trev

 

Is passenger carpet wet? I say head gasket

 

a quick one to eliminate, I had a tiny hole in the bottom rad pipe that only leaked under hard work. Worth getting out of the way before you resign yourself to a HG failure (fingers crossed)

 

thanks guys. just went for a drive to warm her up then opened the bonnet and reved the engine via the throttle cable. looks like the leak is coming from the radiatior. its only slight but i guess when the engines under load when driving it gets worse hence all the coolent over the abs system etc. i have a rad in my garage from my old type r so going to fit that and fingers crossed its solves the problem!!
thanks again for everyones input

 

^^ what did it turn out to be?

 

Coolant can get past a knackered iacv gasket

 

Hi. I've had exactly same symptoms mate. Coolant been throwing out on the left hand side (header tank erea) only under hard acceleration etc. Never when cruising round the town. Bonnet was wet but couldn't locate the place it was leaking from. All hoses and header tank were dry !!! Put new Samco rad hoses thinking that OEM ones are "rotten" or something but no change... Still same.

In the end I've discovered a hair line crack on the front of the radiator. It was about an inch long so it was really hard to see it. Bought a new radiator and problem SORTED :-)

 

:-)