Losing water!
 

Hi folks.

I've only owned my 02 STI Type-UK for a week, love the car, but am having an issue with it losing water.

I'm terrified this is pointing to a knackered headgasket/s, although the only other symptom is what looks like black oil lining the walls of the expansion tank.

There are no other "usual" symptoms of a blown headgasket. It gets up to temperature and stays there (never overheats), no white smoke/steam from the exhaust, no cream in the oil filler or on the dipstick, no bubbles in the expansion or header tank.

If it is the headgasket/s, what sort of price am I looking at to replace them?

Any info would be much appreciated

Thanks

1st thing is get a sniff test done at a reputable garage (around £30) that will test for combustion gasses in the coolant

how much are you losing say over a week?

have you got a leak?

Its losing a quite a lot, I've put roughly 1.5-2 litres in this week. From under the bonnet I can't see any leaks.

get it to a specialist asap to get a proper diagnosis

scoobyclinic are not far from you,speak with kev

And if it is hg, it's not cheap.
Worth having new bearings while the engine is out;)

Thanks for the help so far folks, I have a little update for you. Still not had chance to get underneath and have a good rummage for any leaks, but a little more investigation into the coolant has shown thats its absolutely spotless, with a slight pink colour to it.

Also i took it for a run earlier, checked the levels before I went, the header was about 1/2in from full, and the expansion had a small amount near the bottom. Got back and checked the expansion tank, it was now almost full to the rim. Also by this point the heaters were blowing lukewarm, revving the car instantly turned the heaters red hot.

Any further suggestions?

I'm intending on having my usual, and trustworthy, mechanic to take a look this week and see what he comes up with. I hear good things about Scoobyclinic but they are about 40 miles from me, however I'm not far from another Subaru specialist called Autotecnica in Buxton, anyone know of them?

Thanks again

Could be rad/header tank cap.

There has been a few 'STI' ebay/chinese caps that do not hold the necessary pressure. These allow water to escape into the overflow bottle but also reduce the efficiency of the colling system by not holding pressure too.

Funny you should mention that, I noticed yesterday the header cap is off a Nissan (it has "nissan" printed on it, at least) could that be an issue?

As stated - get a sniffer test done ASAP

Scoobs don't tend to mix oil/water or blow white smoke when HG fail, the boost is pushed through into the coolant channels and causes the overflow tank to fill.

Nah, common user parts in Japan.

If you take off the window switches they are marked "Nissan" underneath.

ok folks, sorry for the late update, I've only just been able to get the car checked out. Ran a sniffer test and my worst fears were confirmed, the liquid went yellow almost instantly... Is this 100% proof that its a knackered head gasket (or worse, cracked block/head)? I'm going to give Autotecnica a call in buxton tomorrow and get the car booked in.

If you are in derbys, try ScoobyClinic, or Grahame Goode.