Another 96 OBW overheating question

Hi,

Forgive me, since I didn't pay a lot of attention to the thread when you first asked about your overheating questions: are you still on the original radiator? If so, it's possibly become partially clogged over time--some say about 100k miles is a reasonable service life for Subie radiators due to the smallish passages in the core.

It's very likely from your description here that you have enough cooling capacity as long as the engine's not under load. That often matches others' experiences with clogged radiators, including mine. Also, some Subies come w/ single row cores in their radiators, some w/ double row. If yours has a single row, you may benefit from a double row as a replacement. I've used

Other oddball things to check are the thermostat (go OEM here--some aftermarket units don't flow as much coolant), your fan(s) and your hoses. A weak (soft) lower hose can partially collapse at higher speeds and restrict flow, which, of course, is impossible to see in action. Also, when replacing coolant, a 50-50 mix of coolant with DISTILLED water will help prevent future clogging, as well as providing the best overall combo of anti-freeze and anti-boil protection for most areas (you can go up to 70% coolant w/ most brands, but the added benefits are small unless you live in a really frigid area.)

Best of luck!

Rick

Thanks, Rick