bad news

acousticjase88 · Post by **acousticjase88** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:35 am

i drove 20mins down to prospect to go to my girlfriends house for a swim on that 41degree day the other day...and when i got there i noticed a strange bubbley sound...looked at my temp gauge...it was MAX'd out....this is when i freaked....popped the bonnet...legs were getting sprayed from coolant oozing from overflow.....

my mechanic hasn;t seen it yet...but was very suprised to hear such a thing! he claimed that subarus are made for desert temperatures!

does this sound like the head has gone?....the coolant is still normal in radiator..and the oil and coolant hasn't mixed together...but i hear thats not always a sign of the head cracking...according to paul from subareck, who, when i mentioned it to him today said it was the head......

just wondering if anyone concurs! and if anyone has any ideas WHY it happened...i mean it was hot and the air con was on...but i didnt even drive that far...? air con a no go in high temp.?...i am spuwen!...gonna be a decent amount of $$$

p.s. i totally forgot to even check that both the normal fan and secondary thermo fan were on...so dont bother enquiring :P

brumbyrunner · Post by **brumbyrunner** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:25 am

Your best guide to the engine temperature is your guage. Do you not look at it? With a temperature fragile engine like the EA82, you need to watch it like a hawk. The good news is that it wont cost much to fix. But if it's not blowing compression into the radiator, you don't have water in the oil and it's not running hot anymore, just keep driving it.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:19 am

So how is the car now?

acousticjase88 wrote:...but was very suprised to hear such a thing! he claimed that subarus are made for desert temperatures!:P

They sure are - once a decent 2 core radiator is fitted, two DC fans with 8g wiring, best coolant one afford and a water pump in good condition, driven with the AC off, yeah, they are great in the desert. Or on a Adelaide 41C day in traffic - remember too 41C is more like 46C from your car's perspective

brumbyrunner wrote: With a temperature fragile engine like the EA82, you need to watch it like a hawk.

Spot on!

Might be lucky - have seen EAs come back from dead, not a lot, but you you never know. Also consider investing in a temp gauge rather than the OME which is more of an 'indicator'.

Goodluck

Sven

maxxair · Post by **maxxair** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:34 am

weve overheated a brumby during offroading in sand. same bubbling noise in the rad. let her cool, and she was good as. the best engine that one. a freak.

i wouldnt stress too much, so long as it isnt seized or done a headgasket.
in my white wagon EA82, it had dud headgasket from when i bourght it, only when i overheated it would there be oil in the rad. i used this stuff >metalic seal up< illd just pour the bottle into the rad and run it up to temp. its magic.

if you do have a cracked head ectect try this stuff first. for 12 bucks it beats an engine replacement, unless u really need it.

whatever mate. hope shes all good. dont stress.

acousticjase88 · Post by **acousticjase88** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:26 am

Your best guide to the engine temperature is your guage. Do you not look at it?

the thing is...the previous owner put in 4 new gauges to monitor the engines doings..and had them running up the side of the wall closest to your left leg...inconvenient for your leg and monitoring...(looking down)....so i asked my mechanic if, while he gave it a check up, he could move them...in the process he removed nearly 30feet of unnecessary wire! so it was a shonky job anyways..they had wired it up so lights wouldnt come on, on the gauges, which made them pointless burdens at night...and cos there were so many gauges he kept them together and placed them under the cd player area when he moved them...but they are still in an annoying position....the original temperature gauge on the dash was replaced by the new gauge...instead of them having the gauge as an additional reading...so my mechanic said next service he'd get a temperature sending unit to have them both giving readings....wish it was before the overheating....i do check gauges, but cos of its inconvenience...i cannot alot of the time cos 4th gear position is like right infront of the damn gauge! haha..and surprisingly dangerous the try take a look while driving...but no excuse at traffic lights ey...and the other gauges dont mean much to me: VAC, VOLTS, OIL...are they vital????oil prolly is beneficial..but the others?

my mechanic is taking a look at it wednesday next week, so i'll let y'all know what the go was...

just out of curiosity...is there a particular engine conversion which works really well in the L series?....cos i enjoy this car so much i dont plan on getting rid of it, if the engine dies, it will be replaced.

cheers for feed back...im not stressing...its just frustrating having to wait a few days to find out what happened to it! im timid to drive it til then!...

shuffbag · Post by **shuffbag** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:32 am

i know where there's a engine... ej

but you may find youre ea is alright they are pretty unstopable.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:52 am

Japanese engines tend to soften the ring tension when they are severely overheated. After a few months they start to use more oil than normal and get harder to keep tuned.

The gauges you mentioned are all useful for various purposes. Apart from Oil Pressure and Water Temp (rather obvious choices really) I like a vacuum and Oil Temp gauge as well. Vacuum gauges are a good diagnostic tool for an engines health and Oil Temp gauges are a second line of defense for an engine temp problem. If you oil temp is hotter than usual you will find the engine has been using oil and what is left has a harder job of keeping the internals cool.

Phizinza · Post by **Phizinza** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:09 pm

EA82's are susceptible to overheating. I believe its a design flaw in the head when they converted the EA81 castings to SOHC EA82 design.
My dads EA82 gets hot on hot days, even with the fan going. If you work it hard it will overheat. Don't know how to fix it, and changing the radiator for a better one doesn't help much. More fans helps a little but still doesn't solve the issue.

To make sure its not a head gasket problem or cracked head check these following.

Water/coolant in the oil: If you oil looks milking then your in trouble.
combustion gas in the water/coolant: Open the radiator cap and start the engine, if you see excessive bubbles coming to and out the cap your in trouble.
water/coolant burning out the exhaust: Look for white smoke out your exhaust.
Low on power or weird tapping noises: Could be a busted headgasket, leaking between cylinders or leaking to atmosphere. Maybe screwed tappets from the oil getting too hot.

Anyhow, check those, report back.

Post by **Alex** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:29 pm

i overheated my old ea82 many mnay mnay times....with no ill effects.

they really are quite a tough motor, i couldnt kill mine, the first thing tha died on it was the water pump seal after 350,000km!

just my 2c

alex

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:48 pm

i couldnt kill my ea82t either. that thing overheated heaps of times. air con def heats things up. check for a blocked rad and other stuff first before you go crackin heads apart

Busdriver · Post by **Busdriver** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:07 pm

Dont worry if its still running and has no signs of trouble as mentioned. They really are hard to kill.
I got my temp gauge (EA82 91 Lseries) to go past the end of its scale of reading last summer and it was bubbling and spitting all over the place, put a new radiator in and its coping ok so far this summer, but if you are worried and short of a quid then try Chemiweld as a short term fix as previously said, you might be suprised if you follow the directions, but remember its only short term.

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 9:58 am

i'll also add that the ea82t I had, overheated on numerous occasions, with no seemingly ill effects. And that was all fixed with new water pump and radiator.
so +1 ea82 hard to kill.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:28 am

Phizinza wrote:Don't know how to fix it, and changing the radiator for a better one doesn't help much. More fans helps a little but still doesn't solve the issue.

I beg to differ on that one Phiz - My L has a 3 core radiator with two thermos and never have a problem with overheating. Infact, in winter I need a bag over half the radiator to get my heater to work well...

I'd get the radiator rodded - you'd be amazed how much crap can gather in there and reduce cooling channels. One way to check this out is to run the car up to temp and touch the radiator core to feel for cold or cool patches - this will indicate blocked or partically blocked cores.

I decided to go the larger radiator for an extra $150 over the standard radiator, its all copper brass as well so no plastic end tanks. These end tanks become a problem as the more they're overheated as they become brittle and can't hold the pressure of overheating. I've killed two radiators in this manner and the last one took out my newly rebuilt EA as well.

Cheers

Bennie

acousticjase88 · Post by **acousticjase88** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:41 pm

thanks heaps people for feedback and tips! i'll give em all a go see what happens...i just remembered the previous owner had a new radiator put in....i think he did work on the car himself with a mechanic mate tho...maybe they did it....perhaps shonky job...?...i'll get back with the diagnosis on it :P...you'll have to bare with me, as im not in the 'know' of much mechanic stuff...

dylan · Post by **dylan** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:57 pm

ive got a duel core radiator paul (subareck) fitted a year or so ago, hasnt missed a beat so far. *touch wood*. split a cooling pipe under the spare wheel but thats it (due to rubbing from teh bar running across the engine bay, something to look out for i guess!
it coped with a pretty hektik trip over west this summer and was fine.
thats my 2c anyway...

acousticjase88 · Post by **acousticjase88** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:58 pm

i was stoked to get my car back on sunday!...no serious issues with it....my mechanic has come to the conclusion that it is the air-con unit which is playing up...he seems to think that the air con was being used for FAR too long without gas and in doing so it has stuffed up some valves in it..but he said if i dont use the air con for awhile til he can fit me in again for the job i'll be fine!...he hooked up the original temp gauge too so its easier to monitor...i was heaps happy, but spuwen....what a time for the air con to stuff up! 40degree days! suck...oh wellsss....

new bull bar to go on sooon too....yeeew

Phizinza · Post by **Phizinza** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:20 pm

You should be able to get a 2nd hand air con pump for under $200 easy, so don't get screwed over when someone wants to charge you $$$$ for parts/service/new pump. Just thought you may want to know that. I know they are normally very expensive to fix.

acousticjase88 · Post by **acousticjase88** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:54 pm

cheers for the heads up! my mechanic aint a dog :P he doesnt really charge labour..more just whatever parts cost is the end cost..and he only does necessary stuff...so its working and safe!...he doesn't dedicate all his time to my car...he works on mine inbetween other jobs to keep the cost down on labour...good guy.