club.liberty.asn.au

After experiencing a blown radiator hose a few weeks ago today after hammering it for a bit I noticed my temp gauge going up, i took it real easy as soon as i noticed and pulled over. I'd noticed coolant had gone everywhere and found the overflow tank to be full, I let things cool off for an hour and added some water into the radiator as it looked a little low.

I took it steady driving home for about an hour the temp was fine, the overflow tank doesn't seem to be draining I found more coolant blown out after getting home.

Thoughts / suggestions?

Sounds like a head gasket issue.

Head gasket /cracked head / cracked block / ?

When ever that happens remove or loosen your radiator cap so you can limp home

Agh sounds expensive, shall book it in tomorrow i suppose.

TomTheBomb wrote:Agh sounds expensive, shall book it in tomorrow i suppose.

Sorry Tom, it sounds like it may be a genuine issue as your cooling system is being pressurized.

Best get it checked.

Another car which had this issue is the car currently owned by BlackSTI and his was a head gasket.

Did you bleed the air out when the new hoses were fitted?

i had the same issue mate then started getting oil in the coolant reservoir and was the headgasket. Not a cheap fix youll be up for a few thousand depends where you get it done.

senator wrote:Did you bleed the air out when the new hoses were fitted?

The car was at the NRMA service centre who went over it and fitted the new hose. I'd assume they'd know the correct process, I believe they drained the coolant and went over the car to check for any damage. It's been running smoothly for 3 weeks until then. At the moment there doesn't appear to be a heating issue but I've booked the car in at my mechanic for tomorrow.

My story in relation to the hose: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=22973

Illestlib wrote:i had the same issue mate then started getting oil in the coolant reservoir and was the headgasket. Not a cheap fix youll be up for a few thousand depends where you get it done.

From what I've read this seems to be a pretty common occurrence In these models...

Took it to my local mechanic, he said nothing major looks as though too much coolant was in, air may of been a factor. There's a bunch of gunk in the overflow tank, it's like the coolant has eaten the rubber tube or something he was a bit unsure of that. Cleared everything out and filled the tank to a proper level, ran everything for a while and took it for a run.

TomTheBomb wrote:Took it to my local mechanic, he said nothing major looks as though too much coolant was in, air may of been a factor. There's a bunch of gunk in the overflow tank, it's like the coolant has eaten the rubber tube or something he was a bit unsure of that. Cleared everything out and filled the tank to a proper level, ran everything for a while and took it for a run.

Gunk in the overflow tank is a common sign of head gasket failures in the Liberty (oil and exhaust gases get into the coolant and it shows up in the overflow/expansion tank). Not enough coolant is another symptom (as the engine eats coolant). Air in the system can actually cause head gasket failure (particularly if a bubble of air gets trapped somewhere hot for a period of time, as that spot is no longer being cooled).

I hope the apparent short-term solution proves to be a long-term one for you

Manaz wrote:

TomTheBomb wrote:Took it to my local mechanic, he said nothing major looks as though too much coolant was in, air may of been a factor. There's a bunch of gunk in the overflow tank, it's like the coolant has eaten the rubber tube or something he was a bit unsure of that. Cleared everything out and filled the tank to a proper level, ran everything for a while and took it for a run.

Gunk in the overflow tank is a common sign of head gasket failures in the Liberty (oil and exhaust gases get into the coolant and it shows up in the overflow/expansion tank). Not enough coolant is another symptom (as the engine eats coolant). Air in the system can actually cause head gasket failure (particularly if a bubble of air gets trapped somewhere hot for a period of time, as that spot is no longer being cooled).

I hope the apparent short-term solution proves to be a long-term one for you

By the sounds of this I think I need a second opinion :/, while my family has been going to these people for years with no issues I don't want to risk it especially on my new tbsti (I wouldn't say they're Subaru specialists) .Hence me asking and reporting back, anyone got recommendations on a mechanic in Sydney?, do want to stay away from the stealerships. I need to get my fog light & glass replaced anyway...

Edit - I had a quick peak as i got home and thought i saw a few bubbles maybe boiling water in the reservoir tank as well...
Edit again - Took it for a drive to get petrol, same issue with coolant minus any overheating (overheating was a once off hasnt happened since the sunday). /facepalm at the mechanic -.-

Booked it in for a proper diagnostics at a Nationwide Auto, recommended by a friend

TomTheBomb wrote:Edit - I had a quick peak as i got home and thought i saw a few bubbles maybe boiling water in the reservoir tank as well...
Edit again - Took it for a drive to get petrol, same issue with coolant minus any overheating (overheating was a once off hasnt happened since the sunday). /facepalm at the mechanic -.-

Booked it in for a proper diagnostics at a Nationwide Auto, recommended by a friend

That's not sounding too good mate, sounds to be doing exactly what mine was. I found out after I bought mine that the previous owner had it 'heat up' twice, but I never had that issue, although I had 'steam' out the exhaust in the morning and gunk / bubbling in the overflow bottle.
A Subaru dealership found no issues, but a local mechanic diagnosed it as a ruined HG.
Unfortunately it's not going to be cheap to fix, if that is your issue.
Good luck with the inspection!

TomTheBomb wrote:By the sounds of this I think I need a second opinion :/, while my family has been going to these people for years with no issues I don't want to risk it especially on my new tbsti (I wouldn't say they're Subaru specialists) .Hence me asking and reporting back, anyone got recommendations on a mechanic in Sydney?, do want to stay away from the stealerships. I need to get my fog light & glass replaced anyway...

Get yourself to a Subaru specialist - this is not something for a generalist to deal with.

Edit - I had a quick peak as i got home and thought i saw a few bubbles maybe boiling water in the reservoir tank as well...

Classic sign of head gasket issues on an EJ engine. Sorry dude.

Edit again - Took it for a drive to get petrol, same issue with coolant minus any overheating (overheating was a once off hasnt happened since the sunday). /facepalm at the mechanic -.-

Booked it in for a proper diagnostics at a Nationwide Auto, recommended by a friend

Unbook it - from what I can see of Nationwide, they're not a Subaru specialist. They may have been servicing family/friends for years, but unless your family/friends drove performance Subarus, they may not know enough specifically about Subarus (like your previous mechanic).

You're in Sydney, I'd personally go to Garage 88 these days, though there are others around as well - MSR is up near Gosford if you're on the North side (and from the record I can find of Nationwide Auto, so are they, so MSR may be of interest to you), there's NRG in Rydalmere that gets good recommendations too. I couldn't myself recommend MRT, many people will have a strong opinion against them, but then there's at least two members I'm aware of who trust them.

TomTheBomb wrote:Took it to my local mechanic, he said nothing major looks as though too much coolant was in, air may of been a factor. There's a bunch of gunk in the overflow tank, it's like the coolant has eaten the rubber tube or something he was a bit unsure of that. Cleared everything out and filled the tank to a proper level, ran everything for a while and took it for a run.

Time to find a new mechanic…… boxer engines need to be bleed, the flat configuration holds a lot of air. Sounds like your mechanic didn’t bother flushing the system either.

Flush and replace your thermostat would be the best move.