blaitarch Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I have a 2007 Legacy GT, and I popped the hood today to put in windshield washer fluid. I checked the coolant tank and it looked like the attached images. Google tells me it can be very few things: 1. A certain type of coolant tends to gunk up like that. My coolant was changed (should have been changed) ~1000 miles ago for the 30K service. When I've checked my coolant expansion chamber previously it usually has liquid in it. Obviously, the cold weather could mean the coolant fluid isn't hot enough to expand into the chamber. I can drive it so the coolant does expand and I can see what that looks like... tomorrow 2. Head gasket failure... not looking forward to this Is there something to worry about and, if there is, what would I do to further diagnose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Check your oil. How does the oil look? IIRC, if there is any whitish oil on the dipstick, sure sign of a head gasket leak. It's the oil/water mix. Hope that's not it. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I checked that at the same time yesterday. Nothing abnormal on the dipstick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Maybe it's the "secret sauce" coolant additive. I add this to the radiator first and then refill the coolant. If the sauce was added to top off the coolant, and the car was then run I'm thinking some got pushed out of the radiator into the expansion tank. Don't panic just yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I drove the car around 10 miles/20 minutes and checked the coolant level. The green coolant is present again but it is still below what I believe to be the 'minimum' marker. I can't see the sludge but that likely means it is just below the green coolant. BTW, the sludge was present after the car hadn't been driven for several hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vet Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Your tank looks pretty clean with just a small amount of gunk which is probably just impurities like rust/scaling. I'd do a system flush if its worrying you. For peace of mind you can use Subaru coolant and the additive they recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbssubaru Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 hard to tell from the out of focus pictures , looks like a giant booger in the second one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 hard to tell from the out of focus pictures , looks like a giant booger in the second one Unfortunately neither my phone camera nor a normal camera are able to effectively capture the wonderful substance. I'm gonna try to extract some when the car cools off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenNorthLGT Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Looks like a pile of half melted stop leak pellets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nm Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 I drove the car around 10 miles/20 minutes and checked the coolant level. The green coolant is present again but it is still below what I believe to be the 'minimum' marker. I can't see the sludge but that likely means it is just below the green coolant. BTW, the sludge was present after the car hadn't been driven for several hours As i said on AI. You have a warranty. Use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Looks like a pile of half melted stop leak pellets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenNorthLGT Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Another idea. Did you check the coolant with a tester to see it's freezing point? I dont know exactally how coolant acts as it's in that transitional point just before freezing since I always check mine before winter, but I would suspect a gelling of sorts may occur... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 If none of you have ever replaced the coolant on your LGT yourselves, you'll want to see the subaru cooling system conditioner before posting about those pictures.... It's several ounces of thick brown goop that looks, to me, alot like what those pictures are showing. When you pour it in to your cooling system, it looks like liquid rust with the consistency of maple syrup. If your fluid was changed 1000 miles ago, I'm guessing that they poured the conditioner directly into the overflow tank on it's own. Probably not a big deal. IMHO, the proper way to do it is to get a sealable 1-gallon container that you mix your coolant in with distilled water, and add the goop to that. Shake it up. And then pour the mixture into the system. If you are concerned, I wouldn't do a "power flush" personally. I'd drain the system, add 100% distilled water and run that for 15-20 minutes, drain, and then re-fill properly. Just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 it's just the conditioner that's collected in the bottom of the tank. totally normal My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearOnePerformance Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 +1 joe hahaha i concur ive NEVER seen this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nm Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 it's just the conditioner that's collected in the bottom of the tank. totally normal But it isn't normal to just have goop and no coolant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 If he tops off his coolant and in a week it's empty again, then it's an issue. If it's the first time he's noticing it's low, not an issue My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 Thanks for your clarifications - it will be going in next week, when the dealer also gets to fix the radio and HVAC controls that died just this evening. Fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 your radio will probably work just fine in the morning and never do that again My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenNorthLGT Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 when the dealer also gets to fix the radio and HVAC controls that died just this evening. Fun This has happened to tons of people, some have hit the dash in various spots (myself included) and it comes back. others just wait a day or so and it comes back. I dont know for sure if has actually had them go out permanently? Probably, but randomlyonce, is pretty common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 This has happened to tons of people, some have hit the dash in various spots (myself included) and it comes back. others just wait a day or so and it comes back. I dont know for sure if has actually had them go out permanently? Probably, but randomlyonce, is pretty common. It happened to me once or twice. Shutting down the car and re-starting does the fix for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Has happened to me about 4 times over 36k miles....completely unrepeatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 Actually, the radio and heat/ac controls have been out since Monday. No miraculous resurrection yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaitarch Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 Jolly good, stereo came back on today... But then a little later it flickered some but didn't die again. I left it outside this evening to see if the cold will recreate the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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