Is it my luck with leaking coolant?

[gl1674]

Is it just my luck or it is a typical problem with dissapearing coolant?

Every time I look at a used Subaru to buy I see empty expansion bottle with black oily deposits on the walls, less than full radiator and bits of dark sticky stuff on the bottom of the radiator cap...

Car #1:
My own SVX drinks a quart or two of coolant per 1000 miles - I had tried adding UV dye and it showed up in the oil. New head gaskets did not help, so I attributed it to the aluminium porosity and made it a biweekly ritual... Over the course of 4 years it gradually got a bit worse, I ended up depressurising the cooling system, but still going...

Car #2 Another 1992 SVX I kicked tires in a dealer lot recently also had an empty expansion tank with black deposits on it and
way less than full radiator.

Car #3 - Today checked out a 2001 Outback LLBean with 3.0 6-cylinder engine and 17k on the odometer. The price is right, condition is excellent, but once again empty expansion tank, black deposits and radiator bit less then full (but not much).

I remember my old impreza did not do it, the coolant was clean and did not go anywhere, but it seems like any Subaru I'm looking at now has this problem...

Is it some oil gets into cooling system during assembly process? Or is it really aluminum porosity?

[svxistentialist]

I take it you are just unlucky gl

[does that stand for "guzzles liquid"?? ]

I have been checking mine for two and a half years now, never added a drop. Never saw many posts about losing coolant either.

My best guess is that one or more of the cars you looked at overheated, and having aluminium engines, warped the heads. In that case a new gasket would not cure it, though it might slow up the process. The head would need to be skimmed to flatness.

Any other ideas?

Joe