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01-14-2006, 09:23 AM | #1 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 25731
Join Date: Oct 2002
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MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:02 wrx(sold)/2005 Sti/ 93 Leg Wag |
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?
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01-14-2006, 12:13 PM | #2 |
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Member#: 30669
Join Date: Dec 2002
Chapter/Region:
Tri-State
Location: USA, North NJ, 07456
Vehicle:1998 Legacy 2.5GT Silver Sleeper BK, 5MT |
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. |
01-14-2006, 02:31 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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MWSOC
Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:02 wrx(sold)/2005 Sti/ 93 Leg Wag |
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?
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01-14-2006, 03:08 PM | #4 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Parker, Colorado
Vehicle:1996 Legacy L wagon |
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. |
01-14-2006, 07:20 PM | #5 |
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Location: Suburbia PA
Vehicle:2006 2012 Weee-strom 14 Hyundai Borenata |
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.
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01-14-2006, 11:36 PM | #6 |
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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Vehicle:02 wrx(sold)/2005 Sti/ 93 Leg Wag |
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. |
01-14-2006, 11:54 PM | #7 |
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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? |
01-15-2006, 01:21 AM | #8 |
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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Location: Ft Wayne, IN
Vehicle:02 wrx(sold)/2005 Sti/ 93 Leg Wag |
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. |
01-15-2006, 08:37 AM | #9 |
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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.
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01-15-2006, 09:35 AM | #10 |
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Vehicle:02 wrx(sold)/2005 Sti/ 93 Leg Wag |
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.
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01-16-2006, 12:48 PM | #11 |
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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.
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