fishbone Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 For the past 2 months or so my coolant level has been going down. I have to compensate to bring it from MIN to about in between min and max, about once every 1500 miles or so. I got my first used oil analysis done by Dyson and guess what ... traces of coolant in oil. Not a big amount, but it is there. I have 55K miles on the car, gaskets should be covered by the 60K warranty. I will talk to the dealer and let you guys know. Just thought I'd post an FYI/heads-up. Anyone else have this issue? Is it a common deal on 2005+ Legacies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outahere Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Have you been using the Coolant Conditioner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 I have been using absolutely nothing, no additives, just plain SUA coolant. I can't speak for the previous owner though but given the fact that I've had the car 1.5 years/20K miles and it just recently started eating coolant ... pretty sure not something he did. I just got back from the dealer half hour ago, I just dropped the car off. Tech put in his notes possible headgasket issue. I asked Terry at Dyson, given the amount of coolant, could it rather be that I used a contaminated funnel for my oil change? He said no, even though I'm going through a larger than that amount of coolant, the reason there isn't more in the oil is because the engine is actually burning it. I have a separate set of tools for my oil changes so there isn't a chance I contaminated the oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 Freakin' dealer. He basically gave me the gah-gah standard dealer crap. "We were unable to find any evidence of a coolant leak, so we will have to monitor coolant levels and if they go down again, come back in. Standard procedure before we do any teardown" They are also making me supposebly "monitor" the oil and make sure I change it every 3000 miles, whatever "monitor" means. I better dig for my Wal-Mart Mobil 1 receipt ... So I am basically getting my car back today after them just probably doing a visual inspection of the hoses and lines. At least we both agreed to what the coolant level is so if it goes down again, first thing first I'm gonna go back. My concern is that they will just throw labor hours at the problem blindly, hoping it will go away. Of course, all this out of my pocket. The saga continues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 Had the spark plugs replaced, the dealer stated although they needed to be replaced as they were worn, they were clean. He said he definitely thinks that for the length of time that I had stated the mysterious coolant leak has been going on [3 months, 3 top-offs] he definitely thinks at least one of them would have been fouled up. He also believes that I would have seen something on the dipstick in ways of the coolant overflilling the oil. I'll post pics when I get the spark plugs, I asked the tech to keep them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meier motor sports Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 how about going through the turbo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 Good question, I don't know. I am having my banjo bolts replaced soon and we'll see how they look, not even sure if it will be remotely related but we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pillboy Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 I'm no mechanic, but I don't think burning small amounts of coolant is going to foul a spark plug. It is still ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meier motor sports Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 it will show over time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 pillboy, that's also my gut feeling. 3 months of burning a relatively small quantity wouldn't be enough to visibly foul a spark plug. Needless to say that when I'll get my hands on them I will analyze them under a freakin' microscope for discrepancies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 Update on this. Two weeks ago I stopped by the dealer and they just checked the coolant level, topped it off [overfilled it] and marked the cold level. At that point the coolant level was sitting just above their mark. Now, 200 miles later it's about a quarter inch below. I'm going to keep driving it for about another week or so until the coolant is evidently below their marking and take it back. I think I'm going to call them now and ask them what the next step would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbc84 Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 I would just siphon some out and bring it back to the dealer and make them investigate more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 I'll play nice, drive it for another week and see. That should put on at least another 200 miles on it. I called my tech advisor at the dealership and asked what the next step would be. He said he'd pull the gasket off and inspect it. I have not asked if he has done a cold and warm pressure test. Does that detect any leaks no matter how small? For the coolant level to have gone down half an inch in 200 miles or so, that ain't no small leak, methinks. How big of a deal is it to pull the headgasket off and replace it? If they tear it down and claim they ain't seeing anything, if the part isn't too expensive, I'll just ask them to put a new one in on me just to be on the safe side, while they have the engine torn down anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meier motor sports Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 you dont just inspect the head gasket. thats silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 Sounded silly to me too, his exact words were "we will look at the headgasket and try to figure out where the leak is". Okay ... and if you don't find an obvious hint ... then what? I'll make sure to ask them that. Bottom line is, my last UOA revealed glycol in the oil and my coolant ain't stayin' steady. So there ... do whatever you think is best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Do you have any noticable oil consumption? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 Almost none. In 5k miles the engine burned about .7 of a quart. The level was just over LOW from FULL. So however much it takes to fill it from LOW to FULL, substract from that about 20-30%. So I'd say I'm one of the folks with barely any oil consumption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Dropped her off this mornin', they'll have a look-see. They told me last time they did a hot and cold pressure check and supposebly it came back fine. What else could it be besides a headgasket? Like I said, coolant level stays steady if I don't drive, absolutely no drips on my driveway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 That's a bit of a mystery. I had also disappearing coolant on the old engine - no external leaks at all, checked many times. Had cracked ringland though, and theory is that could also caused coolant consumption (in addition to fuel dilution and oil consumption). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 I want to scream. Dealer just called me and is claiming that when cold, the coolant level is right at the dot where they marked it. Which is bullshit since I sucked an inch worth of it out myself so they wouldn't turn me down saying "it didn't go down enough". I'm leaving for the dealer as we speak so I can see it myself. I am pissed off beyond belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Very normal. I didn't suck any fluids when I was fighting them, but had similar experiences. Like oil below L being described as "full". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Alright, I guess I feel a little better, I just got back. The Subaru master tech seems kind of a likeable, trusty guy We both looked and indeed the coolant level was where I saw it when I dropped it off this morning. The car actually sat out on the lot on an even surface and when he checked it outside the level was right at his marking. When he brought it in it dropped because of the ambient temperature difference, it was considerably colder in the shop. The tech basically asked me to tell him what I had going on, since previously I had been working with one of the monkeys behind the service desks. I told him about having to compensate moderately twice over the span of 4 months and told him about the UOA and traces of glycol. He told me that so far he hasn't had problems with blown headgaskets and that he routinely has to top off coolant when customers come in for oil changes, due to water in the coolant evaporating, temperature differences and such. Is this really a "routine" thing? The ticket has definitely been noted and he did tell me that if something does turn out to be the problem after my warranty, it will be taken care of. So maybe that is my problem, just normal, routine coolant level varying due to temperature variation and water evaporating? And my recent UOA turned me paranoid. But I still can't explain where that trace amount of coolant showed up from. I guess I'm not 100% sure I didn't use a common funnel and the amount that showed up in the analysis was only 0.84 so nothing big. My gameplan is to basically just watch the coolant and do another used oil analysis after this oil change. So ... anyone else here have to top off their coolant with about 6-8 ounces every once in a while? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanboy Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 First got the car, thought the top mark was where the level was cold. Oops. Coolant down to the lower marking when cold over time, and then it stayed there. Check out how high the level is when hot, and you will see why you lose coolant if you fill it up above the lower mark when cold. Least that's been my experience. -B http://www.standardshift.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Yeah, the tech overfilled it good too I'll keep an eye on both hot and cold levels. Maybe it was a fluke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted December 21, 2008 Author Share Posted December 21, 2008 Just thought I would update this thread with a "verdict". The coolant is basically ... evaporating. It's not in my driveway and it's not in my engine. Best we can figure out is the distilled water evaporates during the winter months because of the big temperature difference. Like I said, the mysterious disappearing coolant only happens during the cold months. There is at least one other member here with this little "problem". The two recent used oil analyses both came back with absolute zero glycol reading. My advice to you is watch your coolant overflow level and keep it at least somewhere between the High and Low. Oh, and don't keep dumping straight OEM coolant, add distilled water to the mix too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.