I thought i had been smelling coolant for a little while now, but today at work i noticed a little 5 inch wet spot on the pavement under the engine. Drove to lunch, when i stopped i waited about 10 min and took a look under my car, another little spot on the pavement. I checked where it was wet under my car behind the oil pan and it is definitely coolant.. can anyone give me info on what is probably causing the leak, and how much im looking to pay to get it fixed? The car is a 2000 2.5RS.

I'm guessing its either a seal or a gasket, or the waterpump even tho im not sure where the pump is on my car. There is no oil in the coolant or the radiator or the reservoir, i heard that could mean a blown gasket. Car runs fine like it always has, and it doesnt overheat. TIA!

 

the easy (and cheapest) problem might be the hoses and the hose connections. check those out...

 

Im pretty sure that your supposed to check for coolant in your oil not the other way around for head gasket problems. My only suggestion is to clean the hell out of your engine bay so it's easier to spot the leak.

 

Check the seams on the radiator. Let the car idle and wait till the fans turn on to see where it can leak from. The water pump, if the same location as the wrx, is connected to the lower radiator hose.

 

My best bet would be the hoses. Then the waterpump or radiator cracks. Lastly, maybe the headgaskets. Hopefully it is nothing serious and just the hoses.
When it does overheat, it may be due to the loss in coolant which could lead to worse things like blown headgaskets.

 

Weird, this has been happening to my beater too. But the coolant is coming from the radiator and when the engine's hot it sprays all over the engine bay.

 

Hmmm thats kinda scary. From my experience it might be a blown headgasket. The engine is building up to much heat and the coolant res is being over filled with air and coolant to the point that it explodes.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40373

Should help to explain some of the problems.

 

Could the engine be over heating even though the hot/cold detector on the tach is fine?
The car drives fine, it's just leaking coolant. Could it just be a leak in one of the hoses?

On second thought, it might not be the radiator, i just see the coolant on the top edge of the radiator. What concerns me is the coolant spraying all over the engine bay, i replaced the radiator cap and the problem wasn't fixed.

"As a result, you will notice the gauge in your car will shoot straight to hot (due to headgasket failure)," so i think head gasket failure is out of the picture.

Hey smokey (since this was an old thread), if you read this could you let me know what solved the problem for you? Thanks!

 

ibheadgasket and coming out overflow.

 

I bet its an external h/g leak VERY common (work at subaru dealer)

 

could it still be the head gasket even though the hot/cold gauge on the tach is fine (in the middle). btw, this is on a nissan altima.

also it only leaks when the car has been running for a while.

 

wtf why are you asking about a nissan altima in a subaru forum?

 

its my beater! i stated it in the other post. i tried looking online but to no avail

 

I have a some what similar issue with coolant and/ or heating issues, figured Id post it here since there was already a thread.

Issue:
On a drive from san jose to sacramento around 11pm, I maintained a speed of about 75-80 mph on the freeway. I decided to let the engine breath alittle and took it to about 110. After a brief speed trip, I noticed that the temp started to climb. I usually see it sit after the first bar on the gauge but when i was looking at it then it was 3/4 from hot. I lowered my speed and turned on my heater to dissipate the heat (which eventually did). Everything was back to normal after 5 mins of the heater being on. when I reached my destination I checked the engine bay, I found no leaks whatsoever.

On the way back from sac, everything was fine. No spikes in the temp, no steam or indication that the car was overheating. I thought it was odd that it went up like that.

Anyone have any input or if i should have it taken a look at??

thanks