Help needed..! wrx pissing out steam... no obvious reason-location!

B

Barney burns

Sunday Drivers
Hi all... i need some help please trying to diagnose why my 2001 irish wrx decided to piss out 3/4 of its coolant this morning after a normal drive to work- 20 miles.

I parked in the car park and the car was fine.. two work buddies called in to me to tell me that after i had entered the building the car was engulfed in steam from the bonnet scoop and the front grill.

The car is driving perfect.. no fault lights.. no abnormal temp reading-gauge is at normal range.. and working from cold etc..the car was driving as normal. no loss of power or any weird engine noises.

The car was last checked for coolant and oil 3 days ago and all was well.
It is booked in for service + waterpump etc in 2.5 weeks time.

I'm stummped as to what is causing this and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
sounds like a burst or split rad hose check the top and bottom rad hose's i'd say thats your problem
 
The rad hoses are where id look first!!!
failing that check hoses too and from the header tank etc
 
Yea i'll have a look later on after work.. its raining so hard here that its hard to see any leak tbh..
If a hose had split would it not lose all the coolant?
 
Cheers for that lads, i'll see hopefully later on where its coming from... weird that it started 5 min after i had parked up though!
 
The top inlet header tank on the left side spilt with age and as it's the hot side of your rad... check here to see if you can find any cracks.
 
Why would it happen 5 mins after he stopped the car??
If it was a red hose would it not piss under pressure ?
 
Turned out to be one of the smaller hoses from the header to the turbo! crisis averted .
Cheers for all the replies and help!
 
[quote author=Barney burns link=topic=35474.msg407064#msg407064 date=1346142605]
Turned out to be one of the smaller hoses from the header to the turbo! crisis averted .
Cheers for all the replies and help!
[/quote]

That happen to me before , just pulled up outside my mates house and it burst as soon as I stopped :dontknow:

If I as you I would replace the one that goes from the bottom of the turbo to the block aswell to be safe
 
so...... On the way home yesterday- normal drive 80 kmh low revs all the way.. the temp needle shoots up to the max.
I pulled in and checked for another burst hose etc but found nothing. .. no steam no moisture etc.
after she cooled i Filled her up with water and got her home.
AFter further investigation i have decided its a leak in the radiator but it shows no sign of damage.
I think its cracked on the bottom on 1 of the mounts but i ran out of daylight before i could track it down..
anyone had this before? and can the rad be welded if its just a split?
 
So it looks like my radiator is beyond repair, i need some advice as to where to get one .
Any one know an approx price or if they are inter-changeable?
My bug is a standard 2001 irish wrx, is the rad the same in any of the GC8"S for example?
 
All newage rads are the same up to 05 I think. After that, they came with a cap on top of the rad. Not sure if the cap fits under Tue bonnet of a bug but someone might know. Try radiator services, possibly ebay for a new 1. But I'd take the chance and go for a mishimoto aluminium from couture auto while you're already spending. Budget dependant of course

A classic rad I believe (but can't confirm) will also fit if you have the top and bottom rad hoses with it but I'd stick with the newage 1 if I were you, better design to suit the car.
 
Thats a very competitive price Dave, i'm still waiting to hear if the rad is fucked or not . if it is i will be in touch with ye this evening.
 
You cant repair the rads, its just not economical, the plastic tanks are dirt, ive had to replace a rad in nearly every scooby ive owned,
l got an Aluminium rad of Ebay last time for the Blob eye, and it was only i think 120e and it was top quality to be fair
 
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