Coolant Issues. Car overheating.

[Rebel]

Been dealing with this for about 2 months, and now turning it into a priority. Previously driving over the mountain, the coolant in the overflow tank burst out and I threw a P0117 code. Added coolant, got any air out of the system and it's mostly been running fine. The CEL went away, although I have had to refill the coolant overflow tank once a week or so, usually under high load or at altitude but outside of that no overheating as far as I'm aware.

Was low about 1.5 quarts of oil, and was running a little high on coolant so fixed both of those. Drove a week and last night engine temps spiked to 248 although it fluctuated between about 200-248 , CEL and the p0117 came back. Tried doing a pressure test today but tips on finding leaks?

What's my next step?

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[Flyn]

Air still trapped in the system?

Is there a coolant fitting at the top of the motor you could remove to fill from the top?

 

[Rebel]

Made an edit that I found another adapter that I think is working. Car doesn't hold pressure but can't pinpoint any leaks anywhere.

 

[Flyn]

Have you filled it, turned on the A/C, run it until it's hot and look/listen for leaks?

Check the oil to make sure it's not white and foamy? That would show a head gasket leak.

 

[Rebel]

Oil looks fine. I may pull the intercooler off to check if anything leaking into that. I bled the radiator this morning. Couldn't hear a leak over the sound of the engine, also didn't see anything visable. Same When I redid the pressure test. It lost pressure almost immediately once I started to go above 10 psi.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Where are you pressuring at? The degas bottle? Or at the radiator cap? You don't need to have engine running. Any cooling system should hold 10 plus psi and not bleed off. And if it's losing psi you're leaking at that point too unless it's super high leak and your systems not full.

 

[DEEZUZ]

And what are we even working on

 

[Aircal]

Water pump failure?

 

[Rebel]

Where are you pressuring at? The degas bottle? Or at the radiator cap? You don't need to have engine running. Any cooling system should hold 10 plus psi and not bleed off. And if it's losing psi you're leaking at that point too unless it's super high leak and your systems not full.

2014 WRX. Doing it off the radiator Cap. I was testing it at 15psi because that's the pressure on the cap.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Is your cap blowing off premature

 

[Rebel]

Actually the coolant has been coming out of the overflow tank. Haven't worked on my car in a while so mixing up terms.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Right, which means your cap is blowing off. It's either blowing off prematurely or it's beyond 15 psi which means head gasket issue. T in a gauge

 

[Ti28]

Put a gauge on the rad, start and run the engine and watch the psi.

 

[Stink Star]

Sounds like a head gasket blowing combustion pressure into the coolant system. Same thing happened when I had my corvette and I got a little too overzealous with the nitrous

 

[Rebel]

What do I need to do to check the head gaskets? I'm about to pull the intercooler off to see if there's oil in there.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Umm. Measure the psi in the cooling system at OP temp and driving.

 

[Tight Lines]

Thermostat locked closed?

 

[Rebel]

I'm going to get a leak test done and test the cylinders. Any other tests before I replace the head gaskets?

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

Right, which means your cap is blowing off. It's either blowing off prematurely or it's beyond 15 psi which means head gasket issue. T in a gauge

Sounds like solid advise from the doc.. wish I had enough experience to concur.