[Damien Hill]

Thanks for the reply Eric,
I too think this may be a head gasket issue. If I may ask your opinion.. is it easy enough to pull the engine and leave the gearbox behind? As it looks as though by removing the radiator and fans that if you loosen the gearbox from the engine it will just come forward and out. Anyway before I go this far, like you say I will do a compression test first and few other small bits.

Will keep you guys posted.

Cheers!

[Damien Hill]

OK guys so here is an update after a new thermostat. I filled the cooling system slowly with the little little bleed screw on the other side of the radiator out. Filled up the the overflow to the right level, started the car and let it run through a few fan cycles before I took it for a spin.. everything was fine, the lower hose was warm which ment the new thermostat was working fine, overflow was keeping a good level. So I then jumped in the car and went around the block a good few times and up some steep hills. Engine was still spluttering with its misfire.. but anyway the temperature gauge stayed normal the whole time I was out, and all was well until I got home. I parked up the car, popped the hood, and found the little hose for the overflow which pushes onto the radiator cap neck had popped off and the coolant has sprayed out. Now either there was a tonne of pressure in there, or it was loose… It seems loose when I put it back on. But the overflow bottle was full, the lower hose was cold, top of radiator was cold, upper hose hot and I released the cap (CAREFULLY) and slowly with a thick rag and there was so much pressure that came out. I am not sure what is going on, but my only guess is that heaps of air got sucked in when that hose came off and it boiled the water, or the radiator has a blockage. And at the very worst there is an internal engine problem. If anyone has any cool ideas of where else I could look that would be great.

Things I have done:
-Replaced all the hoses (Were all leaking originally)
-Thermostat (Replaced with Genuine Subaru Thermostat)
-Flushed the engine and Radiator

Any chance that a bad cap could cause this as well?

[Damien Hill]

OK guys so here is an update after a new thermostat. I filled the cooling system slowly with the little little bleed screw on the other side of the radiator out. Filled up the the overflow to the right level, started the car and let it run through a few fan cycles before I took it for a spin.. everything was fine, the lower hose was warm which ment the new thermostat was working fine, overflow was keeping a good level. So I then jumped in the car and went around the block a good few times and up some steep hills. Engine was still spluttering with its misfire.. but anyway the temperature gauge stayed normal the whole time I was out, and all was well until I got home. I parked up the car, popped the hood, and found the little hose for the overflow which pushes onto the radiator cap neck had popped off and the coolant has sprayed out. Now either there was a tonne of pressure in there, or it was loose… It seems loose when I put it back on. But the overflow bottle was full, the lower hose was cold, top of radiator was cold, upper hose hot and I released the cap (CAREFULLY) and slowly with a thick rag and there was so much pressure that came out. I am not sure what is going on, but my only guess is that heaps of air got sucked in when that hose came off and it boiled the water, or the radiator has a blockage. And at the very worst there is an internal engine problem. If anyone has any cool ideas of where else I could look that would be great.

Things I have done:
-Replaced all the hoses (Were all leaking originally)
-Thermostat (Replaced with Genuine Subaru Thermostat)
-Flushed the engine and Radiator

Any chance that a bad cap could cause this as well?

[Damien Hill]

OK, I have put the new thermostat in and of course the battery had gone flat when I went to start ha ha. Will charge it up and let you know what happens for the overheat.

However I would like to fix this misfire before I take it for a test drive. Any chance it’s worth checking the coil pack, injectors etc? Also if I measure the ohms in the leads what sort of reading should I be looking for?

Cheers!

[Damien Hill]

OK, I have put the new thermostat in and of course the battery had gone flat when I went to start ha ha. Will charge it up and let you know what happens for the overheat.

However I would like to fix this misfire before I take it for a test drive. Any chance it’s worth checking the coil pack, injectors etc? Also if I measure the ohms in the leads what sort of reading should I be looking for?

Cheers!

[Damien Hill]

It doesn’t have individual coil packs, it just has one that all the wires go to like this: http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mQODs-3r1fhS1PxYKu8z01Q.jpg

[Damien Hill]

It doesn’t have individual coil packs, it just has one that all the wires go to like this: http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mQODs-3r1fhS1PxYKu8z01Q.jpg

[Damien Hill]

Hey college man,
Thanks for the info. As for the misfiring, there is no engine lights at all. These cars don’t have a distributor (with moving parts for that matter). But my next move in this game is to replace the wires.

[Damien Hill]

Hey college man,
Thanks for the info. As for the misfiring, there is no engine lights at all. These cars don’t have a distributor (with moving parts for that matter). But my next move in this game is to replace the wires.

[Damien Hill]

Hi Guys, sorry for the late response here. Thanks for all your feedback. Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to work on the car due to other commitments, however I did have a quick play with it when I was washing it the other day and it seems when it won’t shift into gear without a bit of force, I found pumping the clutch a few times would allow it to move in perfectly. I will definitely try a bleed as that sounds more like a fluid issue at this stage. Will let you know how I get on.

Cheers

[Damien Hill]

Hi Guys, sorry for the late response here. Thanks for all your feedback. Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to work on the car due to other commitments, however I did have a quick play with it when I was washing it the other day and it seems when it won’t shift into gear without a bit of force, I found pumping the clutch a few times would allow it to move in perfectly. I will definitely try a bleed as that sounds more like a fluid issue at this stage. Will let you know how I get on.

Cheers

[Damien Hill]

+1 for checking the cooling fans. They should run when the car is up to temperature (Half way on the temp gauge) check they run when you turn the A/C on as well. Firstly go for a drive (say about 10min) and pop the bonnet. Feel the upper radiator hose first then feel the lower radiator hose. They should both be hot. If the lower radiator hose is cool then you have a thermostat issue. I have seen aftermarket thermostats be rather useless as well, so if there is a problem with it buy one from Toyota as they are still pretty cheap. When you say your not getting a lot of heat through the heater it certainly sounds like its leaning towards air in the cooling system or a thermostat. But before jumping straight to that check the basics first. If your not sure about the thermostat, the best test is to just remove it from the car and drive around for a while and that will tell you.

[Damien Hill]

+1 for checking the cooling fans. They should run when the car is up to temperature (Half way on the temp gauge) check they run when you turn the A/C on as well. Firstly go for a drive (say about 10min) and pop the bonnet. Feel the upper radiator hose first then feel the lower radiator hose. They should both be hot. If the lower radiator hose is cool then you have a thermostat issue. I have seen aftermarket thermostats be rather useless as well, so if there is a problem with it buy one from Toyota as they are still pretty cheap. When you say your not getting a lot of heat through the heater it certainly sounds like its leaning towards air in the cooling system or a thermostat. But before jumping straight to that check the basics first. If your not sure about the thermostat, the best test is to just remove it from the car and drive around for a while and that will tell you.

[Damien Hill]

It is possible that you still have air trapped in the lines. I would first try bleeding the brakes, and getting new fluid through the lines. If that doesn’t work it could well be your brake master cylinder failing. – I have seen this problem before caused by the internal return springs.

[Damien Hill]

It is possible that you still have air trapped in the lines. I would first try bleeding the brakes, and getting new fluid through the lines. If that doesn’t work it could well be your brake master cylinder failing. – I have seen this problem before caused by the internal return springs.

[Author]

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