rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 Okay. So at this point have no where else to turn. I have been trying to diagnose a water sloshing sound from under the dash. It's a 2001 Legacy GT Limited. I know a lot of people would say its a bad head gasket. Before I go any further I have to disclose that I just did the head gaskets in hopes that this would fix the problem. I sent the heads to the shop and got them machined. I have also back flushed my heater core. The sloshing sound only happens after the car has been sitting overnight. I don't smell coolant in the cabin and all my hoses are TIGHT!! The radiator hoses are pretty hard after driving. I replaced the thermostat with one from the dealer, and also changed the water pump and all the hoses including the heater core hoses. It also has a new radiator. The radiator fans kick on and off. I just don't know any more. When I flushed the heater core there weren't any blockages.The heat works fine. I've bled the cooling system multiple times and that tends to fix it for a few days. But then it comes back again. The only part I haven't changed is the heater core and the coolant temp sensor. WTF IS GOING ON WITH MY CAR!!! Also my car doesn't overheat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 One possible cause of the sloshing sound is the air conditioning system. Water collects on the A/C evaporator core and is supposed to drain through a hose to the ground. Is the A/C operating normally, does it freeze up? Do you see water draining from the car when the A/C is operating in hot, humid conditions? Any strange smells from the HVAC system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 yeah I see the water condensation coming out of the hose. I've even blown compressed air up there. And the wouldn't explain the hoses over compressing. they get pretty solid. One thing I was thinking is there could be a crack in the block. They would have told me if there was one in the cylinder heads. I'm pretty sure they ran a compression test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesA Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 When you said the hoses were firm, that sounded normal to me since the system is pressurized when hot. You could test the cooling system, that might give you some more info to go on. There is a chemical test to detect products of combustion in the cooling system. There is also a cooling system pressure test that could tell you if there is an internal leak somewhere. You are not losing coolant? Normally, you would expect excess coolant coming out of the reservoir if there were combustion gases getting into the cooling system. No smoke from the exhaust? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 maybe i could try blowing more compressed air in the condensate hose. I usually see it dripping after i park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 and before i changed the head gasket it was bubbling up into the reservoir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumbleRumble Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 what kind of head gaskets did you use? are you getting coolant or water coming out the exhaust? Was the block flat too and not just the heads? You can also rent a coolant pressure tester for advance auto. its a pretty pricey deposit (over 250$) but you get it back when you return it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 i didnt get the block machined. but I checked it with a gap tool and it was fine. I used felpro gaskets. Which is what I had installed for close to 50,000 miles before this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 I think it is the heater core. I got out of my car for an hour and when i got back in it felt humid like a sauna. I live in Colorado and today its only 25% humidity and it felt like close to 60% in the cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumbleRumble Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 it is wet underneath the dash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setnev Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Just speaking from experience, but I had sloshing before and after I did a head gasket job. The motor was confirmed bad head gasket At first, I thought it was air bubbles in the system and thought it would go away. I was also checking the coolant religiously every day and was adding about an 1/10th of a gallon on the daily, believing that air was just bleeding out. I tried doing a full bleed of the system, but the gurgling was still there. About 2 days after that, I get a call from my girlfriend who told me she heard hissing sound coming from the engine bay after shutting off the car. I went over and I checked out the car. The top radiator hose was leaking coolant onto the exhaust, but it never overheated. She always kept her eye on the temp gauge. I checked the radiator and it took about a 1/4 gallon of water. When I started it after it had been sitting for about an hour, I got white smoke out of the tail pipe and the overflow tank smelled like exhaust gasses. I took the car home and tore apart the motor again. Mind you, my heads were dead straight and I used an inferior composite gasket, instead of the MLS. I believed it was the gasket that failed, due to being cheap quality, but when I checked for flatness again, heads were dead straight and the block was warped on the passenger side. I didn't check the block the first time. I ended up completely rebuilding a low mileage 50,000 mile motor I had in my garage from the ground up for a project offroad car I was building that had the new MLS gaskets, straight heads and block. I needed a daily driver, so I threw the engine in the car, bled the system, and I have not heard a single gurgle under the dash from the heater core. 5,000 miles later, still going strong with a freshly rebuilt motor from the ground up. Lesson is 1.) Always use MLS gaskets and 2.) always check the deck for flatness, not just the heads. The reason for the gurgling was the compression stroke was pushing coolant into the cooling system. Since the warpage was on cylinder 3 (front passenger cylinder), it was pushing coolant back through the crossover pipe and into the heater core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 No there isn't water under the dash. However there has been a foggy windshield on the lowest middle point of my windshield right above where the heater core sits. And I'm pretty sure the hg I used are multi layer steel head gaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumbleRumble Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 MLS is better seal but lowers compression. but besides that you'd have to get to the heater core and leak down test it if you really wana know if it is leaking or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 Yeah I was thinking about bypassing the heater core with a hose coupling and seeing if that fixes the over compressing of the cooling system. But my next step is probably to look into a compression test. If it is an engine issue, it would be a great time to rebuild into an sti under the hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumbleRumble Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 I'm talking about pressure testing the cooling system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 Yeah I'll probably do that. The heater core is the only thing cooling system related part I havent replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieleyd Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 Yeah I'll probably do that. The heater core is the only thing cooling system related part I havent replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw51545 Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 I had a gurgling noise on my 05 lgt after turning the car off and it ended up being one of the heater acuators under the dash that just needed to be relubed with some white litium grease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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