Mysterious coolant leak 1996 WRX

[Hypebeast]

Hey fellas I\'ve signed up to this forum for some help.

I have a 1996 Subaru WRX STI RA Version III that has a coolant leak. There is a noticeble puddle under the car after a drive.

The problem is I cannot find the source of the leak. When looking under the car there is coolant dripping from rear of the engine. It looks like its coming out of the steering rack near the jack plate (which I know isn\'t the case). I\'ve been under the car with it on axle stands and had a look but there too many things in the way to see anything.

I\'ve had a look around the throttle body and the heater hoses that go into the firewall and there are no leaks there. Couldn\'t trace the hoses back into the engine.

I recently replaced the thermostat and coolant so the coolant because I noticed that the bottom hose stayed cold. The coolant that is leaking looks new and not mixed with oil, It\'s still the same colour as I put in. Which is why I don\'t think its the head gasket.

From the research I\'ve done about this I\'ve been taken to Subaru Outback forums and most of them say that it is a external head gasket leak. I hope this isn\'t the case.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of leak?

If it helps the car has done 175000km and is still on the original motor.

Thank you very much,

[Zeus]

Water pump could have shit its self. Turn the car on and give it some revs, the pressure will push coolant out of where ever the leak is

[Hypebeast]

I\'m pretty certain that the leak is at the rear of the engine. I\'ll give it another look and report back.

[tebbyj]

Best bet is to run the car for a little then try and trace leak as it will put system under pressure. Check hoses under manifold (a bit more tricky) that connect to heater core as well.

[ODB]

Check the overflow for leaks - if it\'s the plastic one they are two parts.

Mine was running back down a hose and it looked like it was coming from middle of engine

[Hypebeast]

Car\'s been parked up for a few days now and I haven\'t noticed any more coolant leaking. When I get the chance I\'ll take a look at the overflow and under the manifold although I didn\'t see anything last time.

Cheers for the ideas guys.

[CUDDAS]

Turbo coolant lines?

[loganrasti]

 CUDDAS said:

Turbo coolant lines?

+1 if its leaking at the rear then could possibly be the turbo water feed hose leaking

[jost]

Yeah most likely turbo coolant hose will have a small split, will only leak under high pressure when driving, and won\'t be obvious when idling, Won\'t be external gasket leaks, That only applies to the later EJ251 SOHC motors.

[Hypebeast]

Big thank you to subirex for having a look at this tonight. Managed to track down two leaks. One was from the turbo coolant hardline from rubbing against the engine and the other was the hose that goes into the header tank.

[ADIKT]

 Hypebeast said:

Big thank you to subirex for having a look at this tonight. Managed to track down two leaks. One was from the turbo coolant hardline from rubbing against the engine and the other was the hose that goes into the header tank.

sweet!