Ok today on my whole 1 mile drive to work the cooland buzzer came on.

So later on in the day when I was about to go for lunch I started the car then thought I'd put some coolant in it.

I went to take of the cap (at the water pump part), then the water scooshed out, so I closed it again. First of all is this right as the car hadn't run for about 3hours and I only let it run for about 30seconds before I took off the cap. Should it be under pressure?

I put coolant in it, went to restart it and it wouldn't start at all.

I then took the plugs out etc, cleaned them up. Left them out for a few hours and put them back in.

Got the car started with little issues but the revs were about 3.5K. I drove home and noticed the car would struggle to go properly like it was holding back. Also notced the ABS? (yellow light at the bottom left of the dash) flashing on and off. I also noticed that the Apexi hand controller flickering slightly and the odometer now and again. It looked like some sort of electrical issue. (possibly batt terminals not quite tight enough)

I got home, then noticed steam coming from the front of the car. It was coming from the expansion bottle area, out what looks like an overflow at the top.

So... before this the car was working fine etc no issues etc and it sounds normal when running.

Anyone any ideas? Anything magical I could have knocked while taking the plugs off and the elbow?


Any ideas greatly appreciated?!?

Engine:

13b-REW Engine (3000 ish miles on fresh rebuild)
HKS Twin Air Filters
Air Pump Removed
Blitz Dump Valve
APL Intercooler
Aeromotive FPR
Walbro Fuel Pump
4 x 850cc Denso Injectors
Full Non Sequential Turbo Conversion
HKS Downpipe
Re-Amemiya Centre Section
Racing Beat Back Box
Apexi Power FC Commander


thanks

 

did the alternator light come on at any time?

 

Are your belts tight?

 

What does the alternator light look like?

I'm going to be doing some work on the car tomorrow.

Re-fill with coolant etc, check the belts, make sure everything that I can see is plugged in and as should be.

I'm also going to order a new postivie battery terminal as the one on the car is some bodged effort.

What would cause the coolant system to be overly pressurised?

 

You have much learning and reading to do my young pattowan --- First step, identify what an alternator looks like!!!

 

lmao.

I know what an alternator belt looks like! Believe it or not, I actually have removed and fitted an engine to my last FD.

Any help appreciated here chaps!

 

I'm thinking you have more than one problem.

First thing, if your dash lights are flickering and things like that, there might be something wrong with your alternator. Check/sand grounds etc. Put a multimeter to it to see if it's reading the correct voltage.

Tell us more about your coolant issue. From what you're saying so far, it sounds bad. Maybe its something we're missing?

 

I'll check the alternator. thanks.

Coolant issue :

Well I drove the car a mile or so and the coolant buzzer came on. Parked it up for 3 hours. Started it for about 1 min. Then switched it off as I remembered I needed to put some coolant in.

Took the cap off and water scooshed out the cap.

After all of the stuff in the first post, I got the car home (1mile). Then I noticed coolant comming out of the overflow.


Any ideas?

 

Your coolant issue sounds like what i went through last week.

I dont really know exactly what the problem was but all i did was replace the pressure cap on the AST bottle and purged as much air as i could by squeezing the radiator hose while i was filling the coolant.

So far i havent had any problem although i havent drove the car long yet since then but so far idling long and taking short trips in my town it seems fine.

 

I noticed the cap on the water filler neck is blank with no info on it. The one on the AST is Blitz cap.



I would assume (without going to look at it) that it's a 1.3bar cap. I've read somewhere in the past that you should use 0.9bar caps. Is this for the filler neck and also the AST?

So it could possibly be an issue with the AST/AST Cap?

 

The filler cap is usually just a regular cap and the AST cap has a spring cap on it.

Mine is 13lbs which i believe is stock, some people go with 16lbs cap.

I think you need to make sure you dont have air in your system, and you can always replace the spring cap to be on the safe side. I bought mine for 6 bucks.

Its cheap insurance.

 

I'll re-fill with coolant tomorrow etc and try to get as much air out of the system as possible.

I've not even had the car 24hours!

 

Could I use this cap on both the AST and Filler neck?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Impreza-Turbo-...d=p3286.c0.m14

thanks

 

Maybe this is a stupid suggestion, but could the thermostat be stuck?

I think I'd replace it regardless. Cheap, and a failed one *might* cause the problems you're seeing (I think). Generally thermostats fail open, but I had one on an eighty foe Toyota fail stuck.

When it fails stuck, the coolant in the block / engine coolant passages will overheat.

Knock me in the head if this is stupid guess.