Hi guys..

My '99 WRX is very poorly at the moment, and is at 4x4 centre, shipston-on-stour (scoob dealers)

Basically the other morning i was sitting on a hill at traffic lights (very frosty) and I had the cabin temp turned all the way up. I noticed it getting colder and colder in the car, then the engine temp began to rise quite quickly, witha few mm of the big "H" sign. I was just about to find somewhere to pull over, and the lights went green - as I pulled away the temp came back to normal and the cabin got nice and warm again.

That evening after work, I could get the car to turn over fine, but just won't fire. RAC man found a spark, but reckoned fuel pump was dead. She then got towed to the Scoob garage mentioned above, where they reset the ECU, and she fired up first time :(

They then found that major overheating problem, but think the coolant levels are ok, but hint that it might be a broken head gasket :( :(

Anyone had something similar? How much is a head gasket replacement? Anyone any ideas?

ta.

hi, i experienced the same problems, turned out to be a broken pipe on the tank where the water goes in, was affecting water flow. Head gasket job i think is about £550, maybe more from a subaru garage.

Hi drive - how much was the pipe job?

The pipe that was broken was attached to the water tank that sits ontop of the engine, so just needed to replace that tank. Mate had one spare so didnt cost me anything. It should'nt cost much, although many say to get a metal one as this one is made of plastic and easily breaks.

[Edited by DrivingMachine - 11/21/2002 10:54:47 AM]

definately sounds like headgasket failure :( bain of my life with previous cars, so sympathies if it is that.

oh god I really hope it isn't :( they are getting back to me today with a diagnosis.

Bioforge - cool game btw :)

hi guys. had a read through all your thoughts. alot of it makes sense but there is also another part that may be faulty. sitting at idle and the temp was going up could show a possible head gasket failure, but could also be a faulty water pump. you said that when you moved of from the lights the temp dropped and cabin temp went back to being hot. when you moved away the coolant system pressure went up causing the water to move that we bit that would allow for the temp to drop and for the water to move through the heater matrix to give you hot air. as they have checked the coolant levels and they appear to be "ok" your not loosing water this only leaves the water pump. i work as a auto diagnostic technician and this is the route i would tend to take.
good luck
iain