Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Monday March 18, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
NASIOC
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC Technical > Normally Aspirated Powertrain

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-14-2006, 09:23 AM   #1
TyranosaurusWRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:
02 wrx(sold)/2005
Sti/ 93 Leg Wag

Default 98 L wagon going cold

The car seems to take a long while to get warm, and once you are on the road cruising at a decent speed, the temp gauge drops. I put cardboard in front of the radiator, and that seems to help..but I want to get to the root of the problem.
Two things I have dug up about the Impreza around this model year is that the temp sensor can go bad or the head gasket can go. I am not losing any coolant. I just replaced the thermostat, yet the temps still drop. Is the sensor my likely culprit here?
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
TyranosaurusWRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Old 01-14-2006, 12:13 PM   #2
Charlie-III
NASIOC Supporter
 
Member#: 30669
Join Date: Dec 2002
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: USA, North NJ, 07456
Vehicle:
1998 Legacy 2.5GT
Silver Sleeper BK, 5MT

Default

The sensor does NOT control the coolant temp (wellll....except for the fans.)

Try this, unplug both fans, then you only have ram air cooling. See if it gets the heater temps up.
-If it helps, change the temp sensor
-If it dosen't help, keep looking

The thremostat is what really does the majority of the work keeping the coolant temp correct, and it is purely a mechanical thing, no sensors.

You may have a bad thermostat, it "may" be in backwards or it could be something else.
Charlie-III is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2006, 02:31 PM   #3
TyranosaurusWRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:
02 wrx(sold)/2005
Sti/ 93 Leg Wag

Default

How should the thermostat look? If you are looking up at the water pump, the flat side is out, ie the "cone" side is in toward the block. Is this correct?
TyranosaurusWRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2006, 03:08 PM   #4
Plays_With_toys
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 82556
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Parker, Colorado
Vehicle:
1996 Legacy L wagon

Default

What temperature thermostat did you put in? Maybe you put a colder thermostat in. I know I went with a 15* cooler thermostat than stock in my toyota. I plan to do the same with my subie.

It could also be a bad thermostat, did the symptoms start right after you installed it? I recently read a thread about someone's spring catching so the thermostat was stuck open, which would make the car harder to warm up.
Plays_With_toys is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2006, 07:20 PM   #5
ScubaruImpreza05
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 74041
Join Date: Nov 2004
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: Suburbia PA
Vehicle:
2006 2012 Weee-strom
14 Hyundai Borenata

Default

I owned a 91 Legacy and had a bad Headgasket in it. If your car doesn't gain temperature really fast, or lose it really fast, atleast from my experience, it wouldn't be that.
ScubaruImpreza05 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2006, 11:36 PM   #6
TyranosaurusWRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:
02 wrx(sold)/2005
Sti/ 93 Leg Wag

Default

I got the car from a guy here in town not too long ago. He told me that I would need to change the thermostat because on cool days out on the highway the (temp) needle would drop. He bought a standard oem replacement and gave it to me with the car. He thought maybe the thermostat stuck open, which made sense to me.
I just replaced it a week or so ago and the car still goes cold. Today, I pulled the temp sensor and replaced it with another one I had from a legacy (same part). Still, same effect. It only takes about 35 deg. ambient temps and 45 mph and you can watch the needle drop, and it drops very quickly.
TyranosaurusWRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2006, 11:54 PM   #7
solbey11
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 89234
Join Date: Jun 2005
Default

It really sounds like a thermostat problem. It's possible that the new one you replaced is bad. Not likely, but possible. Your coolant temp sensor is what controls your fans. You don't have to unplug them. Once the coolant heats up enough, it will cycle the fans on and off. If you're not even building enough heat to get the car at operating temperature, your fans aren't going to kick on.

Is your car blowing any heat whenever you have the heater on? Or is it staying cold as well?
solbey11 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2006, 01:21 AM   #8
TyranosaurusWRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:
02 wrx(sold)/2005
Sti/ 93 Leg Wag

Default

The car does take awhile to heat up, and it can be lukewarm at best if I don't put cardboard in front of the radiator. You might be right about the thermostat. I will have to test it I guess.

Thanks for all the input.
TyranosaurusWRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2006, 08:37 AM   #9
Hayes
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11808
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Cape Coral,FL
Default

Most thermostats are designed to fail open. The cone side of the stat should face away from the pump and the giggle valve positioned oward the front of the car. Others on this NG have had problems with after market stats so use an OEM if possible.
Hayes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2006, 09:35 AM   #10
TyranosaurusWRX
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:
02 wrx(sold)/2005
Sti/ 93 Leg Wag

Default

Looks like the replacement was a bad one. I found my original stock t-stat from my wrx which Iknew was good. I swapped it out, went for a cruise on the interstate and everything stayed normal...without the cardboard in front of the radiator of course. I was a little worried at first because the engine was warmed up and there was no heat, but I think there was a bubble in the system. The car eventually started producing warm air. When I got back the reservoir tank was almost completely drained. So far it's running OK.
TyranosaurusWRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2006, 12:48 PM   #11
solbey11
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 89234
Join Date: Jun 2005
Default

Glad you got it fixed. It also sounded like an air bubble in your cooling system as well. Just keep an eye on the reservoir and top it off when needed.
solbey11 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Will Rear wrx wagon seats fit 98 Legacy wagon ? IllNastyImpreza Legacy Forum 13 07-31-2007 02:41 AM
Will Rear wrx wagon seats fit 98 Legacy wagon ? IllNastyImpreza Interior & Exterior Modification 0 07-30-2007 12:16 AM
WTT: 98 2.5 RS for a 98+ Impreza wagon LegacyPGT Private Vehicle 'For Sale' Classifieds 0 01-14-2006 02:26 AM
wrx wagon rear seats in 98 legacy wagon hungiema Legacy Forum 3 03-15-2005 01:48 PM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:58 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.