1990 subaru legacy

Is there foam in the oil? Is the coolant up to the correct amount of does
it mysteriously disappear over time?

As JohninKY stated, look for those issues and hope its one of the first
three but if the rad hasn't been replaced...ever... then its time. Air
bubble is an easy fix, then the stat, the fan maybe more difficult to
diganose...run it in the driveway and if the temp goes up and the fan
doesn't kick in, you found your problem.

--

John
 >> Stay informed about: 1990 subaru legacy 

On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:22:42 -0600, dd wrote:

> i recently bought a 1990 subaru legacy (six months ago) it has 175000
> miles on it. since i bought i have had to replace the timing belt
> and the fuel pump.
> thats fine. (which i did, not a mechanic)
>
> but now my car seems to be overheating. i will be driving down the
> road going 60 and all of a sudden it just starts overheating. it
> doesn’t quite get to the redline but it gets real close. when i am a
> stop light it creeps up. but as soon as i take of at 35 it goes back
> down to about half way. but the when i get on the open road it creeps
> back up again.
>
> any suggestions? i bought a thermostat for it. but i was reading
> elsewhere on here that someone else had the same problem. any
> suggestions?
>
> thank you


I have an '89 Subaru hatch and a '97 Legacy wagon. The hatch seems to be
running warm because the fan is the old style with an oil-filled 'clutch'
on it. I'll be trying to replace that in about 15 minutes (with a Toyota
part...the only Suby clutch I can find is $165-200!!! I also have an
electric fan I'll put in if the clutch doesn't fit...)

My '97 has a problem very similar to yours. No real reason as to why it
overheats. Flushed the cooling system, replaced the thermostat, checked
the fans (they work like they're supposed to...), in short, everything. I
began suspecting a blown head gasket, but there isn't steam coming from
the tailpipe at any time, not coolant leaking anywhere, no oil in the
coolant or coolant in the oil (shows up as a coffee-with-cream color on
the dipstick).

Brought the car to the inspection station, and explained this to the guys
there. We opened the radiator cap, and he took the exhaust 'sniffer' they
put up the tailpipe to test emissions and put it in the radiator. We ran
the car up to 2500 RPM and watched the hydrocarbons rise on the display.

The problem here is, the leak in the headgasket is on the exhaust side and
not the intake side of things. The exhaust blows out through the leak,
keeping coolant from getting into the oil or out the tailpipe. The hot
exhaust getting into the cooling system causes the temp to rise.

Now, my car has the 2.2 Liter engine, and everyone tells me, "Those NEVER
blow headgaskets!!!"

Tell me all you want...it isn't doing *me* any good!

At any rate, they have a chemical kit that can check for the presence of
exhaust gasses in the coolant, or find someone with an emissions tester
and try what we did.

Good luck!
 >> Stay informed about: 1990 subaru legacy 

My 95 legacy with the 2.2 liter had the problem of trying to overheat
at certain speeds, and running fine at others. I figured out that it
had to do with engine speed more than vehicle speed. You mention 60
mph. I also could not do 60 unless I was in fourth. I'd try to go 70
when I could in order to get the revs high enough to be out of the RPM
range where it ran hot. I changed my oil and the problem went away. It
surfaced again a few thousand miles later, and I changed the oil and
it went away again. I'm not saying that old oil is the problem. But I
am saying that for me it fixed the problem to change the oil. Perhaps
I have the headgasket problem discussed in the last post and fresh oil
is just enough to get me to the point where my coolant system can keep
up. I don't know. I'd try changing the oil and see if that helps.

Good luck,
Bill
 >> Stay informed about: 1990 subaru legacy 

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:53:56 -0800, weelliott wrote:

> My 95 legacy with the 2.2 liter had the problem of trying to overheat
> at certain speeds, and running fine at others. I figured out that it
> had to do with engine speed more than vehicle speed. You mention 60
> mph. I also could not do 60 unless I was in fourth. I'd try to go 70
> when I could in order to get the revs high enough to be out of the RPM
> range where it ran hot. I changed my oil and the problem went away. It
> surfaced again a few thousand miles later, and I changed the oil and
> it went away again. I'm not saying that old oil is the problem. But I
> am saying that for me it fixed the problem to change the oil. Perhaps
> I have the headgasket problem discussed in the last post and fresh oil
> is just enough to get me to the point where my coolant system can keep
> up. I don't know. I'd try changing the oil and see if that helps.
>
> Good luck,
> Bill

I think I did an oil change, but I'm not sure.

Cheap fix, though, and worth a shot!

Thanks.
 >> Stay informed about: 1990 subaru legacy 

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:53:56 -0800, weelliott wrote:

> My 95 legacy with the 2.2 liter had the problem of trying to overheat
> at certain speeds, and running fine at others. I figured out that it
> had to do with engine speed more than vehicle speed. You mention 60
> mph. I also could not do 60 unless I was in fourth. I'd try to go 70
> when I could in order to get the revs high enough to be out of the RPM
> range where it ran hot. I changed my oil and the problem went away. It
> surfaced again a few thousand miles later, and I changed the oil and
> it went away again. I'm not saying that old oil is the problem. But I
> am saying that for me it fixed the problem to change the oil. Perhaps
> I have the headgasket problem discussed in the last post and fresh oil
> is just enough to get me to the point where my coolant system can keep
> up. I don't know. I'd try changing the oil and see if that helps.
>
> Good luck,
> Bill

Oh, BTW, I generally change my oil in all my cars ~3,000 miles for regular
oil, and 4,500 miles for synthetic. Have all my life. My cars usually go
over 250,000 miles without oil incidents...
 >> Stay informed about: 1990 subaru legacy