blowen head gasket??

[zr4-boy]

hey everyone bit new too this forum, only use it for help for mates broken/faluty subarus. good site.

i have a mate he has a v3 sti, just seeking for help or ideas to what you guys think it could be before going off to a mechanic an get it diagnosed.

ive used the search function but need more straight forward answer. now the problem is water is coming out of the overflow bottle after hes been for a drive,not much tho. but happens each time its driven, it also doesn't over heat.will this be early stages of a blowen head gasket? theres no change in power or anything whats so ever just the water bubbles out of the over flow. have 2 questions aswell

1. hes running no thermostat, will that cause the fans to not go on?

2.how much roughly would he be looking at? if it is blowen headgaskets

cheers any help be appriciated

[Guest]

Head gaskets $1500 min $2500 usually the max by the time everything else that needs sorting while apart is done

No thermo will not effect fans operation

Bubbles in overflow =

[vr4ex]

Id chuck a new thermostat in, fill it with water (through top radiator hose), bring it up to operating temp(fans working) and check that the bottom radiator hose is hot. If the fans come on and the bottom hose is still cold this could be a circulation problem(most likely blocked heater core) where the thermostat isnt getting hot water to the engine side of it to heat it so it opens allowing coolant to pass through the radiator. If this is hapening the water in the block starts to get hotter than usual and coz the thermostat isnt opening, the water expands more than usual and starts to pressurise the cooling system and will push water out to the overflow bottle.

[WRXONP]

I bet it runs no thermostat because with one It over heats ? ?

[Guest]

 WRXONP said:

I bet it runs no thermostat because with one It over heats ? ?

thermostat get removed for a reason - backyard overheat fix !

[zr4-boy]

 vr4ex said:

Id chuck a new thermostat in, fill it with water (through top radiator hose), bring it up to operating temp(fans working) and check that the bottom radiator hose is hot. If the fans come on and the bottom hose is still cold this could be a circulation problem(most likely blocked heater core) where the thermostat isnt getting hot water to the engine side of it to heat it so it opens allowing coolant to pass through the radiator. If this is hapening the water in the block starts to get hotter than usual and coz the thermostat isnt opening, the water expands more than usual and starts to pressurise the cooling system and will push water out to the overflow bottle.

hey man thanks for the reply. it pretty well could be what you have mentioneed. it had never over heated and i dont even know why they took the thermostat out. from memory he told me that the last job that was done after this started happening was that the oil pump got changed.also it had milky oil before this was changed but now no milky oil and doesnt over heat when driving also with no thermostat i noticed that it still takes awhile to reach operating temperature .

[WRXONP]

Course it will take ages to get to temp with no thermostat . . Waters constantly circulating the system . . . . . Milky oil means water in the oil = blowen head gasket . . . Got milk in the radiator too ? Only a scientist will remove thermostat and keep driving the car . . While its cold your running rich . . Using allot of gas . .

[zr4-boy]

 WRXONP said:

Course it will take ages to get to temp with no thermostat . . Waters constantly circulating the system . . . . . Milky oil means water in the oil = blowen head gasket . . . Got milk in the radiator too ? Only a scientist will remove thermostat and keep driving the car . . While its cold your running rich . . Using allot of gas . .

its not milky anymore, i even triple checked, after the oil pump was changed the oil and water looks normal at operating temperature !!! will try what is mentioned above. i know this sounds weird better double check as to what was actually done

[WRXONP]

If I was you I would fit a thermostat and bleed the system . . . . . If you think heater core is an issue then take hoses off and put garden hose on one and see what comes out the other and also note the flow . . .

[zr4-boy]

ok heres an update . i refitted the thermostat and ran car up to operating temperature with the radiator cap off, to bleed the cooling system.water was really throffy while it was running/bleeding.checked both top and bottom radiator hoses and they were both warm.took the car for a 5-15min drive with a bit of boost, not to hard. car didn't over heat. water didn't come out of the over flow but i checked with the over flow lid off an was bubbling a little, maybe i filled the over flow with too much water? fans still wernt coming on as well.

note: it was the oil cooler that was replaced not oil pump...

[Guest]

oil cooler? how do u mean? i have a v2 sti and had a bit of trouble wif the cooling system, after replacing almost everything to do with it (water pump, thermostat, blew out a radiator now hav a full alloy one ;D top and bottom hoses, 2 other little hoses) i found out it was my overflow tube that runs along the top of the rad that was blocked, but anyway, while i had it all apart the 2 little hoses that i replaced went to a tube that ran into the top peice of where the oil filter screws on to. This is the only form of oil cooler I can see (please correct me if im wrong) and the only other one i know about is that autos hav a trans oil cooler running through the radiator itself.

As for your bubbling problem, the overflow bottle shouldnt bubble with the lid off, sounds like head gasket to me, take it to a shop to get TK test (think thats what its called) done on it, it will show if there is any exhaust gases getting into the cooling system

[WRXONP]

Yeah mate that thing on top the oil filter is a liquid cooled oil cooler . . When these die they normally mix oil and water . . . Check that the hoses aren't blocked to the over flow . Got a good condition radiator cap ?

[Guest]

 WRXONP said:

Yeah mate that thing on top the oil filter is a liquid cooled oil cooler . . When these die they normally mix oil and water . . . Check that the hoses aren't blocked to the over flow . Got a good condition radiator cap ?

ahhh i see now, fort that may have been the case, mines sorted now, got a new rad cap, and my overflow bottle is now a big V can that s*** is custom, was jus spose to be a temperary fix but its been like that since xmas