Jump to content
LegacyGT.com

thermostat at fault?


Recommended Posts

Lately, I've been monitoring the coolant temperature on my 06 and noticed that it ran quite higher than the 05:

--while driving at 60-80 mph, with ~30F outside temp

--->05 coolant temp: 185F

--->06 coolant temp: 199-201F

--while driving in a parking garage with small incline with stop and go due to speed bumps, and same outside temp

--->05 coolant temp: don't know :spin: but I bet ~190F

--->06 coolant temp: 205-206F with both fans spinning full blast at times and temp NOT going down.

 

I am not noticing any loss of coolant, no bubbling and stuff. Would you think the thermostat is not fully opening or something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The water pump could be an item too, but if it was bad then you'd probably have bad heat in the ventilation too.

 

 

What do you mean by 'bad heat in the ventilation'?

 

Are you referring to the HVAC? If yes, then I get plenty of heat there if you choose to have heat.

 

Also, I should add that the coolant gauge needle does not move at all. I noticed this temp difference thanks to the btssm app. But of course, I also noticed the fans kicking in way more often while idling than the 05.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tried to check the radiator condition. It was pretty hard to do since the condenser is in the way. The front of the condenser was at least just fine.

BUT, I realized then that I have those (a little bit childish :lol:) hella horns in front of it. And I have to say the bracket holding them is pretty large too. So I decided to take them off and only use one horn for the time being. This way, I got rid of most of the restriction in the front of the condenser. Will report hopefully tomorrow if I see any change in temps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't worry about those temps all that much, Subaru for some odd reason likes to run their engines warm/hot by some standards (older 04/05/06s, definetly the slightly less old 07-14s and even more so the newer 2015+)

 

Now, granted I bet if you noticed a difference recently (temps, fan cycles) there is something going on and causing it, I just wouldnt worry until north of 220F.

 

If you can, grab an STI thermostat and reconfigure your Fan thersholds in the tunes of both cars. Or only do the thermostat, fresh coolant and clean the radiator, AC condenser, etc while at it.

 

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4989095&postcount=14760

 

http://www.romraider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13362

 

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2117677

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your post and digging your old 2014 post! I did not know they had all these different thermostats with all these different thresholds. Why did they do that?

In any case, for optimum performance and engine longevity, wouldn't you want one that fully open at the lowest of these temps (e.g. the XXXXXXX072 thermostat?)

 

And you would not think they'd already change the thermostat part number between the 05 and 06. I mean, I am seeing almost a 20F difference. That's a lot no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see. yesterday while going home from work, I carefully monitored the temp on the freeway. Speed varied between 30 and 75 mph, mostly flat roads. Outside temp was about 40F. Cooling temp varied between 195 and 203F. At one point, it did dip around 188F actually but quickly came back up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That might be perfectly fine.

 

I'd still vote (in the order of simplest to most invasive)

 

1. Compressed air blow out the radiator, condenser, the space between the two

2. Clean the radiator fans, maybe even replace them given their age (rockauto must have some OE for cheap)

3. Flush the cooolant, drop in that 21200AA072 replacement thermostat (or 21210AA030 kit which includes the gasket), burp the radiator

4. Tweak the radiator Fan Modes in your ROM/s

 

I'm typically running 185-195F coolant and engine oil temps with above irrespective of season and demand on the H6 boxer-tank. Used to be 210F - thanks 'within factory spec'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree on the temps going up with years. My 05 LGT runs about 180-185 F while driving and my 17 FXT runs 195-203 F.

 

This is mainly done for fuel economy and emission reasons, warmer water = less heat wasted dissipated outside, in theory making the engine be slightly bit more thermally efficient. I do wonder if the Fans running more neglect the benefits though.

 

My 05 stays at 190F on the highway with constant airflow, just looked up the part number I used and surely enough it's the 21200AA072

 

Thanks for the parts list, Perscitus. I'll add it to my list of things to test for fuel economy improvements :)

05 LGT 16G 14psi 290whp/30mpg (SOLD)

12 OBP Stock 130whp/27mpg@87 Oct

00 G20t GT28r 10psi 250whp/36mpg

22 Ascent STOCK

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use