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Old 02-15-2017, 06:13 PM   #1
Vine21
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Default Valve cover coolant leak???

2002 Impreza outback sport.
Losing a little coolant, smell it leaking, looked under today and the only wet spot was on the driver side head between valve cover and head.

Any ideas what it could be? I don't think its possible to be from the valve cover lol. Also sometimes in 5th the temp gauge will climb to the 2/3s mark, downshift and wot always brings it down to normal. Thanks
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Old 02-15-2017, 07:04 PM   #2
Elbert Bass
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Unless you have a milkshake on your dipstick that is improbable. Check your heater pipes at the back of the engine (drivers side) and follow the black pipe across the head to the front of the block where it drops to the water pump/thermostat. I bet you got a pin hole in the pipe or a leaking hose and it is dripping down at the VC. That would also create an air bubble and give the temp symptom.
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Old 02-15-2017, 07:11 PM   #3
yarrgh
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There is a hard line that runs from the water pump to the heater core right there. Look around that.
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Old 02-16-2017, 06:14 AM   #4
Vine21
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My oil is good, changed it last weekend and there was a small amount of froth in the catch can but it's had all different types of fluids in it recently. That's the pipe that I suspect too but it looked dry everywhere I could see. I'm off at noon tomorrow so I'll be able to take a better look and try some things(start with new clamps).
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Old 02-16-2017, 07:17 AM   #5
Elbert Bass
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vine21 View Post
My oil is good, changed it last weekend and there was a small amount of froth in the catch can but it's had all different types of fluids in it recently. That's the pipe that I suspect too but it looked dry everywhere I could see. I'm off at noon tomorrow so I'll be able to take a better look and try some things(start with new clamps).
If you can borrow or rent a coolant system pressure tester it would help. Pump it up to 18 PSI (if it reads in kPa you can always just pump it up to or slightly over the rating on the cap (if it's a Subaru OEM cap)
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Old 02-16-2017, 10:15 AM   #6
abomination
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2003 Ourback
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How's you're coolant level? If it's chronically low it makes me suspicious of a head gasket. Wife's 04 had a slight head gasket issue. Symptoms I saw were.

1. Running down the interstate it would be fine until it pushed enough coolant to run warm. We would stop and top off the coolant and be back in business for another 200 miles.
2. It was chronically low on coolant. I would dump a little in once a week and all was well. But it always pushed out coolant.
3. I kept finding a slight leak at the top radiator hose to block connection. I replaced clamps and hoses to no avail.
4. It had a slight scum in the catch bottle. Nothing bad, but brown ring in it at the coolant level.

I second doing a pressure test on the coolant system. I finally found our issue by leaving the pressure on it overnight.
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Old 02-17-2017, 06:44 AM   #7
Vine21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abomination View Post
How's you're coolant level? If it's chronically low it makes me suspicious of a head gasket. Wife's 04 had a slight head gasket issue. Symptoms I saw were.

1. Running down the interstate it would be fine until it pushed enough coolant to run warm. We would stop and top off the coolant and be back in business for another 200 miles.
2. It was chronically low on coolant. I would dump a little in once a week and all was well. But it always pushed out coolant.
3. I kept finding a slight leak at the top radiator hose to block connection. I replaced clamps and hoses to no avail.
4. It had a slight scum in the catch bottle. Nothing bad, but brown ring in it at the coolant level.

I second doing a pressure test on the coolant system. I finally found our issue by leaving the pressure on it overnight.
My last motor had hg failure and this ones not showing the symptoms of hg going, no bubbles in overflow, no mass dumping of coolant and no milkshake in oil or exhaust gas in overflow tank. It's a small leak. had the motor in for close to 5 months and the coolant just got to the low mark when I made this post. The motor I have now is an ej252 from an 01 outback, headgaskets went when the old owner had it and he had a shop rebuilt the whole motor 2 years ago and he did a lot of research on what parts to put in. It has sti hg's (forget the year) so I really can't see it being hg's. Gonna take a look today I'll posts pics if I can figure out how lol
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:57 AM   #8
Vine21
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Default Fixed!!

Sorry for the delay but I had no news so no post lol. Changed my coolant temp sensor, Tstat and coolant (treated it to Subaru parts ). But when I was changing the cts I noticed the top of the motor under intake was green, looked around and found a small hose that connects under the throttle body. The clamp was half way down the hose and wet with coolant. Reset the clamp here it should be and all is well. Temp gauge hasn't moved since, no coolant smell and no more leak!! Thanks for the input guys. Glad it wasn't hg's lol
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Old 03-13-2017, 09:33 AM   #9
Charlie-III
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Silver Sleeper BK, 5MT

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Likely the throttlebody heater, some people delete that (run a length of pipe between hoses instead of having coolant heating the TB), I left mine connected.

Thanks for closing this out.
Glad it's fixed, especially for free.
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