Every once in a while in heavy traffic the engine overheats. I can't get out to check on the highway bit I suspect a an isn't on. I can drop the temp in the usual way of blasting the heat but I can also drop it precipitously by turning on the AC! It seems to stay down even if I turn the AC off - at least for a while. The radiator is new and it has plenty of fluid.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2000 Subaru Outback with a little over 162,000 miles. About 3 years ago I had the head gaskets replaced. This past March the car started over heating while on the highway driving back to Boston from New Jersey. It has been doing this intermittently since then, and I have had two mechanics look at it.
The first mechanic, who is my beloved mechanic in Maine (where I am originally from), checked the sensors and relays. He even replaced the relays for free, and it still overheated on the way back from Maine to Boston. Needless to say I did not give him enough time to really look at my car to figure out the problem.
I then went to my back up mechanic in Boston, who kept the car for about 4 days. He said there are no leaks and the car did not actually over heat while with him. He had one of his guys drive the car home at night and back to the shop in traffic in the AM, and had it run for hours while on a lift, and on the ground. Still no overheating. However, he did say that the car was eating up coolant, which indicated to him that there might be a head gasket problem.
I was a little upset by this diagnosis because I had them replaced already, and also because I am getting married this summer so this obviously is not the right time to be buying a new car. I should mention that both mechanics looked at my car at the end of August. I have still been driving and watching the coolant.
The car is still randomly overheating but i tend to notice it happen more while in stop and go traffic and when I accelerate. The needle will go all the way up to red, stay there for a few seconds and then slowly creep down. This happened this morning, and I had checked the coolant yesterday and it was full! I checked it again at lunch time to see if it had used all the coolant during rush hour and it was still full. This chain of events seems to keep happening and I constantly check the coolant. Since August I have only had to fill it once. I have also noticed that when I open the radiator cap the coolant is not sitting level like I've been told it should. I've put a decent amount of work into the car and everything else runs perfectly.
Is it possible that this is a pumping or air bubble problem, and not a head gasket?
I have a 2008 Subaru Outback that is telling me that it is overheating, the gauge is showing me that the engine is as hot as it could possibly get. However, its not actually overheating. It happened after a 15 hour day of driving from Cali to Colorado on 2 lane highways. In the morning it took 6 tries to get started, just sounded like maybe there wasn't enough gas or something to get it going and if I fluttered the gas pedal the car threatened to quit on me. Since that moment the temperature gauge has been stuck on high, the check engine light is on, the cruise control is disabled and flashing on the dash, and the AC doesn't work. I have turned the car off several times since the incident and it starts up just fine so far but the gauge and lights are still on. ......
View 5 RepliesI have a 2002 1.8t with 90,000 miles on it. I have it serviced for new Timing belt and water pump (metal impeller, according to the shop) 3 months ago at this shop. The overheating problems never went away. The problem is that it overheating at heavy traffic or idle after a while or after heavily drive, but it cools off quickly when I rev up the engine a little bit, or after getting out of traffic again.
I have another shop diagnosed, they first told me the cooling system is leaking and may trapped air inside so they did replace thermostat, coolant housing assembly, flange seal, pipe sealing o-ring. they re-test and turn out there is no coolant flow and suggest that is it the water pump that fail and ask me to go back to the original shop for the Water Pump warranty. Additionally, they flow test radiator and its fine.
I did return the car back to the original shop and they tested and said the heater core is clogged with debris and that would cause the overheating. They asked me to replace the whole heater core that would cost $1500. But I know for the fact that I have heating in the car and it is hot!
Is there any other reason than what have been replaced or tested (thermostat, radiator, air trap, new coolant)? I think it could be the aux cooling fan since its never turn on when overheating, only when AC is turn on, is it supposed to work this way? Spent too much on this car and hopelessly the problems went away but it's not.
About a month back my wife and I were on our way home from dinner and when we exited the interstate I heard an awful rubbing sound coming from the engine compartment. I wasn't quite sure what it was or how to describe it. I was concerned it was the timing belt right away. I limped it home sputtering and misfiring and listened for a moment before shutting it down.
The next day I checked all the accessories. Nothing wrong there, so I realized it must have been the timing belt. I began striping the rest down and confronted carnage. One of the bearings had gone on an idler pulley and the gear was riding the bolt. the belt had moved out of position and began to cut into the backside of the plastic cover. By some miracle it hadn't completely snapped or jumped timing.
I replaced all pulleys, the tensioner, the water pump, and the belt. After my buddy and I got it back together it seemed fine aside from a slightly rough-ish idle for a day or two, but then the misfire got quite bad. I chugged it up to my wife's parent's place. We borrowed a car from them, and then I went into repair mode again. I reasoned that perhaps the plugs had fouled when the belt was messed up initially, so I replaced the plugs. Didn't have wires on hand. Fired it back up. No bueno. Same misfire and chugging. Still borderline driveable.
So, I tore down the belt again to find that the intake cam on the passenger side was about 5 teeth off. Seemed further out than my friend and I would have left it, but I got it lined back up within a tooth and put it back together. Still no good. Still misfiring. So we tried it a couple more times. One of us started to doubt the cause, but I talked him to try with one more reset. This time I wanted to get everything absolutely perfectly lined up. We did. I fired it up. Silky smooth, ran like a sewing machine. Put it back together and everything seemed fine. For a day or two.
The misfiring began again. It bothered me that I hadn't managed to take care of the plug wires. I had the codes pulled and I had a steady misfire on ... I think it was 4. I replaced the wires on that side and everything was back to normal. Silky smooth operation. For a couple days.
I was on my way to work and had to brake very hard to avoid an accident. Like from 70 to 0 wheel-lockingly hard. Immediately a misfire at idle returned. Doesn't seem to be an issue when not at idle, but it's hard to say. I guessed that it was the plug wires from the other side. I replaced those today, gave it an oil change. Still misfiring. I dropped by autozone. Codes read - misfire everywhere but 3, and I'm guessing that maybe a sensor for 3 is just messed up. The coil pack looked suspect, and I thought I'd do the PCV valve while I was at it. After replacing both the misfires continue.
I've yanked the battery to encourage the computer to reset. I'm at a loss at the moment. The only think I can guess is that perhaps my new tensioner is poop and I've jumped a tooth or two somewhere? I'm looking for guesses and wild theories here. Anything to try. I'm going to reconnect the battery shortly and if it's still misfiring, which I'm assuming it will be, I'm going to have codes pulled again.
Just to head this one off at the pass - I believe I got extremely lucky and did not damage the valves with the timing belt nonsense. Compression seems good, and I doubt it would have ran as well as it did as long as it did with valve damage.
My 2001 Outback has developed a problem in the last few days. When I move the car from a dead stop, I go through a brief period of heavy vibration coming from the back of the car, exactly as if I am running over a rumble strip. It occurs as I am accelerating away from the stop just after the clutch is totally let out. Once I get to a high-enough velocity, I no longer feel it. However, if I maintain a very low velocity I can feel some vibration but not quite as pronounced as it was coming from a dead stop.
I have been able to make this happen in 1st and 2nd gear, I have not tried in 3rd, 4th and 5th. It does not happen in reverse. I tested the clutch by putting the car up against the back wall of my garage, revving the engine and putting the car into 4th and 5th gear and the car stalled, as it should. The clutch did not slip. This clutch has about 60,000 miles on it. The previous clutch was replaced at about 85,000 miles. The problem has been getting worse steadily during a just completed a 700 mile holiday round trip. Could this be the clutch? Could it be something in the transmission?
My husband I purchased a 2012 Subaru Outback May 2012, we notice a hesitation when we first drove it and couple weeks later it started stalling out, now it stalls about every other day, we have noticed that ours is after a 15 to 20 minute stop and go traffic and then when your able to drive at normal speeds without stopping, and then stop it stalls out, we have rough idle and transmission acts like it is trying to shift but I know this isnt possible with a CVT transmission.
View 5 RepliesI own a 2002 Outback. It is overheating. We have replaced hoses, thermostat, water pump, the temp sensor, had the radiator tested. Nothing has changed our problem. My husband is at a loss and the mechanic who has is now has no clue as to what else it could be. The mechanic is referring to it as a ghost problem.
View 19 RepliesI bought this Subaru used with 350 000 km's on it,and I haven't added that many kilometers to it yet at all. For some reason whenever I drive on the highway and get my speed up to about 120 the front left part of the car (somewhere underneath the hood I believe) starts to make a loud gurgling type of noise. I know that the suspension on that front left tire is missing, but I don't feel the rumbling on my steering wheel and I don't think it's coming from there.
View 8 RepliesMy wife has a 2005 Subaru Outback XT w/auto trans, about 135k miles. We live in SoCal.The car runs great...well, most of the time. During the summer, or when driving up steep mountains with the AC running, the needle will climb steadily north towards overheating. Call me timid, but I've never been curious enough to find out what happens if I let the needle get into the red.To let the needle drop, I have to turn the AC off. This isn't the best option now since we've been experiencing over a week of temperatures higher than 103.I also noticed that the temp needle will drop to normal within a couple of minutes if I turn on the heater.
I did open the bonnet when we returned from a trip and with the car running, checked to make sure both fans were running.
My 98 Subaru only overheats when going above 60 mph for more than 10-15 minutes. When it does and I pull over,the cap has blown off of the coolant tank. After letting it cool off and adding a bit of coolant - it doesn't occur again and I can drive for hours at high speeds. I drive the car every day, up and over mountain passes and up to the ski hill and never have a problem any other time. I know subarus have a tendency to blow head gaskets, but wouldn't there be other warning signs?
View 1 RepliesWhat would cause the vechile to die randomly, while driving? have check all ground wires, coolant, spark plugs, air filter, and changed fuel filter. no check engine lights come on.
View 2 RepliesSo after hitting a deer in my car a few weeks ago I fixed it and drove it around town a little bit and it ran fine. But 15 mins onto the highway the next day it overheated. It was out of oil, which I had checked a couple days before when I fixed it. so after it had cooled down I filled it up with Coolant and oil and started driving it home. the roads where bad and I wanted to go easy on the engine so I took it at about 25-30 MPH. as I was driving it would slowly overheat, but I could get it to start cooling down but dropping it into neutral and just letting it idle while I coasted. I had to get off the frontage road and take the highway the last couple miles before town so I turned the engine off and let the fan run for about 20 mins, and started off again, the weird thing was when I got on the highway I was doing about 55Mph and the engine didn't try to overheat at all, but as soon as I got back in town and started doing 25 again it started overheating again. another thing that is happening is that the car will blow air through the heating system but won't heat it. I realize that was long but I'm really at a loss. I replaced the head gaskets less than a year ago so it's not from worn gaskets.
View 4 RepliesI have a 2001 Subaru Outback Limited with 135K miles on it. In the last year, I had two complete head jobs (the second because the new water pump failed while on the highway). In addition, I have had multiple water pumps, lots of thermostats and a new radiator installed. The last thermostat is an OEM. The car had been running fine for about a month and now overheats after about 30-40 minutes of combined, but mostly highway driving. At first, the gauge would rise to about 3/4 and then drop after about ten seconds, but now it goes to almost red and drops to 3/4. If I blast the heat, it will drop pretty fast. My mechanic told me that while diagnosing an earlier overheat issue (just before the good period), he noticed that the gauge would rise, but the computer temp would remain stable. He tried a new sensor, but said it made no difference, so he returned it. What is left to replace?
View 12 Repliesmy friends mechanic is telling him his 2000 outback (2.5 4 cyl) has a blown head gasket. there is NO water leaking/seeping out from anywhere outside the motor AND there is NO water in the crankcase motor oil. the thermostat has been replaced. the cooling fans work. I'm inclined to say it's a plugged radiator. he is considering replacing the head gasket (to the tune of $1500+) on advice of his mechanic. is it possible to have a blown head gasket and not be leaking coolant?
View 10 RepliesI had overheating problem on the highway. Towed car to Automotive Clinic - They said I needed new radiator and hoses, so I installed. Couple weeks later, overheats again, this time said I need new head gasket, so I go ahead. Soon as I get back, my car overheats AGAIN. Now back in the shop, and they told me the head gasket blew again...they have taken all apart, and now say they can't find out whats wrong. The coolant is leaking, but they don't know why...it failed hydrocarbon testing. What can it be?
View 2 RepliesMy Subaru just had the thermostat replaced, and it seemed to work until the wife took it she said it over heats when not driving the fans are working, it's over flowing out the reserve tank the fluid looked good when changed the thermostat so I don't think it's the head gasket my next guess would be either the water pump... After I last changed the thermostat and test drove it I felt the upper radiator hose it was hot but the bottom one was cool/warm.
View 8 RepliesI have a 2002 Subaru Outback that has started overheating only when I try to go up into the mountains. It starts within a few miles of starting up a steep grade and cools down the instant you start down the mountain. I have had no problems with regular driving conditions. The only pertinent info might be that it did have a coolant leak last summer and overheated then.
View 8 RepliesHave a 2000 subaru outback 2.5l, automatic, with about 245k, I replaced the thermostat,water pump, the radiator and the car is still overheating. both fans are working. no leaking coolant. Maybe this is related- over heats mostly when driving on the highway. But if a shift the gear to neutral and coast for a minute the shift back to drive the temperature gauge goes down. Whats wrong, running out money fixing the car, but love it driving it in the snow.
View 2 RepliesI brought my Outback to one mechanic due to overheating and a strange skipping feeling when accelerating. First mechanic said head gaskets needed to be replaced, I wasn't surprised since I have about 142k miles on it and it has been leaking oil, quoted between $1800 and $2000. I took it to another shop, recommended by a friend, and they agreed the gaskets needed to be replaced and there was also a misfire due to the spark plugs. This shop quoted me at $2200-2600 for the head gaskets, spark plugs, all wires and timing belt, all other engine gaskets, thermostat, engine oil and coolant. I still owe a good bit on this car (parents bought on the fly from a less than stellar used lot and now it is my problem), and my thinking is I do not want to bring on more debt by attempting to trade this one in and go for a new car. My question is, do I go with the second mechanic that wants to basically rebuild to top of my engine, or would I be ok limiting the repairs to the head gaskets and spark plugs?
View 11 RepliesWell I drove the wife to work in her Prius this morning. I noticed in heavy stop go traffic, the engine was idling more than normal. Normally the EV light is on when I am stationary ( idle) in traffic, but for some reason today almost more than 70% of the stop go traffic the RPM was felt via the brake pedal and EV light was off, but the battery had at least 3 bars or more I think.
The load on the vehicle was the usual, AC on at 65 in ECO mode and radio. I guess this question might be more a hybrid newbie question than anything else. So, just curious what "drives" the vehicle to be in EV mode when stationary in traffic or in my case earlier this morning what prevented it?