BRZ overheating
 

hello all, i'm hoping someone can help. I had my brz parked for a year (license suspension) when i finally got it back i pulled my car out and there was a huge dried puddle of coolant i'm assuming. I went to a shop to have my oil changed, told them what was happening and see if they could diagnose the problem. They said I have a small coolant leak, they tested all my fans etc everything is fine. they said keep the coolant topped off and it should be fine. no auto shop can or is willing to get it on a car jack because i've lowered it. so i kept the coolant levels topped off and it's still overheating. so i thought it might be the thermostat. I took out the thermostat (which is a total bitch to get to) tested it and it's fine. resembled everything, cleaned my skid plate so i could see if there was additional leaking. filled it with subaru's special expensive blue coolant etc... just got back from driving it about 10 miles, overheating again. checked the skidplate and there is the blue coolant leaking on the driver side looks like it's right under the thermostat housing. super frustrating, hoping i can get some advise. hope it's not the head gasket :mad0259: thanks for any responses

have you checked the rubber hoses that lead to the radiator and engine for cracks?

i have, i did a flush, filled the radiator with water waited an hour too see if there was any leaks before i put the skidplate back on

$10 says it's a weeping waterpump

Man auto shops won't put your car on a lift cause it's lowered? That's obnoxious.

I would also guess the water pump is faulty. How many miles are on your BRZ? I feel like that could be a warranty issue.

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How is the coolant overheating being diagnosed?

Could be air trapped in the system. May just need a better/more complete bleed...

-alex

My first supra would overheat and everything checked out perfect.
No leaks and system pressure tested fine.
Until we decided to replace the water pump just because it was the last thing that it could be.

The pump impeller was almost completely eroded away and nothing left but a nub.

It was from using the wrong coolant. It dissolved the impeller.

I think the new pumps have plastic or ceramic impellers, but I am not sure.
Either that or your system has an air bubble from the slow leak and you need to purge it.

Just having a slow leak (by itself) will not cause the car to overheat

Yeah it is obnoxious, Subaru won't even do it. around 30k hopefully it's just a water pump

maybe, but what would cause the leaking?

this could be it, I bought it used not from a subaru dealer. previous owner could have put wrong coolant in, it sat for a year and eventually dissolved something in the water pump????

thanks everyone for your replies, appreciate it... no one around here seems to know anything, including subaru

because nobody experienced like this or yet.
if everything checked fine, then water pump could be issue like someone said

FYI in the future I'd strongly urge not letting a car sit for an entire year unused. That's hell on the car. I understand your license was suspended but ask a friend to drive it around every once in a while (if that ever happens again).

I'd also recommend lifting the car a little bit; otherwise it sounds like no shop will ever work on your car in the future.

Wow... you didn't even wait for a reply.

Again: I ask why you think it's overheating. I am not speculating on leak source, I am asking why you think it's overheating and how it is diagnosed. If you can't describe how you reached the overheating conclusion, you aren't telling us the whole story and no one can help you, not even Subaru.

Leaks in the coolant system are from any of these sources:

- heater core
- radiator
- hoses
- leaking head gasket
- water pump
- radiator cap

Overheating is from any of the following:
- actual overheating
- air trapped in system
- bad radiator cap
- leaks
- faulty coolant temp sensors

If you are having an overheating issue but you can run the engine with no visible leaks, then you simply need to bleed the system better.

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-alex