The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hey again everyone.

So, I bought a car. Whoops!



Meet Uma, my 3rd Subaru now, and the 6th Subie in the family. She's an '03 plated, MY04, Outback Premium 3L H6. All the leather and electronic goodies you can think of included

The H6 power is unreal considering the size of it, and so far I'm falling in love with her after driving a leaking, rough old L series haha. She cost me $5500, roadworthy included, 270xxxkm, 3rd owner (but they bought it from a dealer from the first owner so sort of 2nd owner).

Some more pictures;





And now after a week of ownership and relatively hard driving and testing, I've found this


It has me a little concerned, but it's not getting hot or anything even close to hot, and at worst I figure it's $200 for a replacement aftermarket radiator, and I got her relatively cheap so meh.

Any tips or ideas on what may have caused it or how to fix it without replacing?

Cheers,
Tom.

Oh and PS.

Plans are:

2" Body lift
1" Spring lift
Bash plates
Roof racks
Doof doof
16" Foz wheels + A/Ts

T.Farm.Brumby wrote:And now after a week of ownership and relatively hard driving and testing, I've found this

Hey Tom,

Congrats on the purchase, lovely car!

My 2c worth of advice, don't even consider other options, get yourself a brand new radiator and just replace it. It's easy to do and gives you peace of mind.

Either get a new OEM one, a reputable aftermarket option or best of all, a full alloy radiator!

After getting stranded on sand mid holidays with a blown radiator (very similar symptoms to yours until it blew up), I can tell you it's better to sort it out now!

Good luck!
Pedro.

Nice ride there ...

Yep the plastic end tanks don't last & have most likely split somewhere.

+ 1 for getting a full metal one ( aluminium preferably ) ASAP ...

Cheers, Bantum ...

pezimm wrote:Hey Tom,

Congrats on the purchase, lovely car!

My 2c worth of advice, don't even consider other options, get yourself a brand new radiator and just replace it. It's easy to do and gives you peace of mind.

Either get a new OEM one, a reputable aftermarket option or best of all, a full alloy radiator!

After getting stranded on sand mid holidays with a blown radiator (very similar symptoms to yours until it blew up), I can tell you it's better to sort it out now!

Good luck!
Pedro.

Cheers for the help people, I was most likely going to buy a new one anyway since I have patched radiators before and they have gone well, but only full metal ones (see, braising small holes in one of our old Brumbies).

Will a twin core fit without futzing around? I've only found single core with plastic tanks so far

Cheers,
Tom.

Figure I should update this since I'm back now.

Ended up getting a new radiator, single core, plastic end tanks, straight stock replacement, cost $175 delivered, no issues at all so far, took less than an hour start to finish to replace.



This is what she looks like now, not too much of a change but anyway. I have:

- Replaced stock headunit and heater controls with an aftermarket facia kit and Alpine double din, nice upgrade and it cleans up the dash a bit.
- Removed plastic under engine splash guard thing, plastic engine cover, kick panel under steering column, since they're just a huge PITA and mostly held on with press clips that break really easily
- Wangled my way into a set of 5 16x8" Outback rims for $350 in perfect nick then wrapped them up in Bridgestone Dueler D697 A/Ts (215/65R16C) which are cracking offroad for what I paid
- Wrapped the stock 17" alloys in Bridgestone Potenza RE003's (215/55R17) which are amazing on road for what I paid
- Got some roof racks for $70 and fitted a 2.5x2m awning up to it (have taken it off until I intend to use it, only held on with 4 bolts to its easy to steal)

It had it's 300000 service. I took it to AM Auto on the Sunshine Coast since I have little/no experience with this engine/automatics in general and figured it was better for someone else to find all the gremlins.


Milestone, I put almost exactly 30000 on her in one year of ownership.

Turns out it's all schmick as ever, timing chain is still nice and quiet. Although I need to replace the rear diff bushes, front swaybar endlinks and one of the lower control arm bushes. All of which were fine when I bought her so I figure they've babied it for so long its worn into position and since I've been thrashing her its loosened it all up and shown the age a bit more. Anyway, nothing major.

I'll stop writing this book and get back to you all when I've decided whether or not to still lift her

Cheers,
Tom.

Books are good if associated with pics mate. Glad to hear it's all going well.

Is lift still in the equation at some point?

Cheers

Bennie

El_Freddo wrote:Books are good if associated with pics mate. Glad to hear it's all going well.

Is lift still in the equation at some point?

Cheers

Bennie

Yeah mate a lift is definitely on the cards.

Since I just got a hold of a Brumby for a project though I think it will take a back seat. But I'm looking at some subtle solutions poly blocks, 1 3/4" in the rear and 1 1/4" in the front.

I'll also have to get some king Springs and kyb struts all around since it has the self levelling rear. Undecided whether to go lifted springs or standard height with higher load. It's my daily and I want to keep her handling nice and tight so I don't want TOO much height about it.

Will also need suspension adjustment in the rear I believe to keep the geometry right. So it's all a bit expensive to get together, but I haven't got much choice

Cheers,
Tom.

If you haven't already, contact nachaluva about a lift to see what he can offer you

Cheers

Bennie

T.Farm.Brumby wrote:Oh and PS.

Plans are:

2" Body lift
1" Spring lift
Bash plates
Roof racks
Doof doof
16" Foz wheels + A/Ts

Woohoo!

El_Freddo wrote:If you haven't already, contact nachaluva about a lift to see what he can offer you

Cheers

Bennie

Cheers will do.

Awesome purchase! You'll love it! I'm keen to see you lift it.

I too have just joined the outback club although it's my 4th Subaru, loyal to the brand!

Sent from my HTC_0PJA10 using Tapatalk