powdahbonz Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 Havent used this forum and used to be a Forester XT owner so been a while since Ive had a NA Subaru. Within 5 minutes of exiting interstate drive between 70-75mph yesterday, noticed white smoke, what seemed to be a fluid leak in my rearview, suddenly engine rev with no acceleration. Quickly pulled over and turned off...coolant was dumping. Upon further inspection, right side bottom hose, assuming coolant transmission line had separated. Fitting gone...checked tranny fluid..gone. Flatbed home. $64000 question...what is the appropriate replacement radiator for the AT? As the AT has the transmission cooler built in, would it be better to buy the Koyo radiator and add the transmission cooler or stick with OEM for replacement? Also, given what I feel like was a quick response as soon as I felt the power loss and the tranny dipstick was not bone dry, should I feel optimistic that tranny is fine? Any recommendations on replacement parts for thermostat, radiator cap and radiator would be super helpful. Also, who is best for sourcing parts? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 The radiators in these cars seem to be on borrowed time after about 100K miles and 10 years of heat cycles. You can get a replacement Denso radiator off of Amazon.com for a pretty reasonable cost. Same thing with thermostat and radiator cap. Just make sure the thermostat is an OEM Subaru. Many have said the aftermarket ones are not reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moral hazard Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 I'm going to make a prediction based on owning the same car. Your headgasket blew, increasing pressure in the coolant system (combustion gasses entering coolant jacket). This increase of pressure caused the already weak rad to blow as it was the weakest link. So a replacement rad will not be the only cost you may soon face. After you change the rad, you will see overheating anyway. And bubbles in the coolant that never bleed out. I'd expect a head gasket job required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJack Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 The failures I've seen/heard of seem to be from the AT side of the radiator. The pressure from the transmission whittles away at the internals of the radiator and causes the crimps to get loose. Then the AT fluid get's pushed into the cooling system. I could certainly see your scenario happening too! Good watch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quick4dr Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 go with a nice aluminum rad from koyo or mishimoto and an external trans cooler plumbed with a derale thermostat. my set up keep my trans happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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