97 wrx bottom hose cold top hot
 

hey all this is my first post of many im 23 and live near brighton sussex and this is my 4th impreza right strait to the point

i have a p reg uk impreza wrx sallon now the problem i have is i bought the car today now the problem im haveing is the car on the gauge gets to half way and even after a 15 min drive the top hose is boilling hot but the bottom hose is cold and the same with the rad also the pipe feals rather presurised any ideas ?

Sounds like an air lock in your cooling system. Bleed out air at the highest point of the engine :thumb:

Top hose should be very hot yes.

Bottom hose should be warm/hot... but NOT cold/stone cold. If cold, usually indicates an airlock has got into the system. An airlock can happen in a number of ways; the worst case scenario being a head gasket failure i.e. the charged air from the turbo gets into the coolant via the fracture in the gasket, when under boost conditions.

But it could have happened by another means, so don't want to frighten you.... yet. ;)

Does the temp gauge rise from just below the halfway mark (just under half is normal operating temp.)

Does the heater not blow hot air, when in the max heat position?

Is it very wet by the battey tray after a run?

Have you checked the coolant level in the header tank (attached to the driver side of the inlet manifold)?

yes water level is fine
no water by the tray
heater blows hot
temp gauge sits in the middle of the gauge and dosent move from there

its a great subaru so much history and just had £1200 on a new box and clutch cant complain as i got it dirt cheap but my god shes a high miles car

also how do i bleed it the right way to make shore its right thanks

Disconnect the header tank pressure cap and the narrow hose that goes from the header tank to the nipple on the rad (NOT the wider hose of the two that goes to the rad).

Disconnect the large turbo coolant hose from the header tank, fit a funnel into it, and fill very slowly till the coolant/water mix runs out of that small hose (will take a while). With the water still flowing out, reconnect that little hose and replace the header tank pressure cap.

TIP: Like brake fluid, make sure you premix enough coolant/water (50/50) in a large container, so that the coolant runs continuously into the turbo coolant hose i.e. no stops whilst filling = no unnecessary air introduced ;).

will have to find a funnel and the turbo collant hose but i shall give it a try will doing it the usal way ie : cap off start car wait for it to warm up refill header tank replace cap not work ? many thanks and has any one seen a wrx at 168k ( uk spec so all miles :O )

My mate has one with 134k miles on. He has looked after it very well and it doesnt even use a drop of oil. Normally you dont see them last this long because people tune them with nothing more than a boost controller, or forget to check the oil :cuckoo: . If its kept standard and looked after it should last a long time although oil pumps are not uncommon to fail :D

without reading the other posts. the top hose should always be hotter than the bottom hose otherwise the rad isnt doing its job. if bottom hose is stone cold then there is a problem. if its warm then ok. whats the problems if its not overheating?

Well had a go at bleeding it and then I tried revving the car with my hand on the top pipe and it was presureing with revving so head gaskets gone

if the gasket was gone then i would expect it to have overheated, or chucked out water from the bottle by the battery. it is a pressurized system - its pressurized upto 0.8/1.1 bar depending on year.

are yout fans cycling on and of as they made be staying on

It's defantly head gasket spent the day stripping it down and just about to remove the engine to do the heads