I Found One! (And got questions)
 

Well I've been searching for about a month now, and finally found the SVX I wanted. It's a black '92 and I love it; even if it is a bit sluggish compared to my XR4ti :p

My first problem is that as soon as I took it for an extended drive (like half an hour) it began to overheat. It got hot very quickly, then the fans kicked in and it hovered right below the red, untill I let it idle in the driveway. It then started to vent steam like crazy out of that big silver canister next to the overfill tank. Is there some sort of quirk that could be the issue? Or is this probably just a bad thermostat?

My other question is where can I get some new hood struts? It's really hard to hold the hood up with one hand and try to diagnose the cooling system with the other, and I'm not too keen on carrying around a stick to use as a prop.

Thanks for the help, I can't wait to clean this thing up and take her for a nice long joyride!

Big silver canister? That's the fuel filter. If it's overheating and venting steam out of the overflow, I hope it's just your thermostat:confused: How many miles on it? Is there black goo inside the overflow tank? It should be very clean inside. You could have a blown head gasket, which is what happened to my '92 pearl.

That big silver canister with the hoses coming out of it is your fuel filter. It sits in that curved space right behind the coolant reservoir.

I can't imagine what would cause this to vent steam as you describe. How many miles are on your car?

The hood struts are common failures. People have modified NAPA struts to work.

Here are the Subaru part numbers for the struts.
57251PA000 Hood Stay RIGHT
57251PA010 Hood Stay LEFT

$72.81 each from Subaruparts.com, or about $93.00 each from your dealer.
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I would start with the cheap things first, like flushing your coolant and replacing it. Make sure it's 50/50 coolant/water (don't mean to insult your intelligence but hey at one point I didn't know that).

Well I was irritated and holding the hood up, so I didn't take a really good look. It must be venting steam somewhere near the silver canister. I am assuming this was just 'cus the system was so hot. It looks like the fluid is very clean, so I think I'll replace the thermostat, then flush it if that does not work.

Congrats on the car. Take good care of it and it'll take good care of you.

And please post in the appropriate forums. :)

Congrats for your new car. :)

Sometimes it's going to take a while to find the roof problem. Don't let your car overheat too often, maybe it's not good to your tranny...

Well I got it all cleared up. It was just low on fluid, I think it must have (slow) a leak. After I let it cool down and checked it, it was nearly a gallon low. Toped 'er off and drove it for about 45 minutes with no problem. Yay now I can drive it to work!!! :cool:

Better keep an eye on it. A car often blows coolant because it's overheating, not vice-versa.

dcb

Yeah, but I'm sure it didn't loose THAT much when it was overheating. I'm sure it was low on coolant in the first place.