![]() The heater was insignificantly warmer but the blue light remained on. Noticing that the motor drops to about 1500 RPMs while in “D” for dumb driving, I shifted it into 2nd gear while going about 35 mph to find out if I could increase the coolant temperature enough for the blue idiot light to turn off. (thermostat NOT stuck closed) Once it's full, put the cap on and top up the overflow tank (to the low level with engine cold, high level when engine is warm).ĥ) The coolant temp sensor and the heater-core are in different areas of the engine and are not really related.Ħ) the radiator fans usually should come on when you have the heater controls set to anything involving windshield-defrost (which conditions the air, activating the fans)Ĭlick to expand.2-Gotta love the “modern” design choice of an idiot light instead of an actual temperature gauge. It's good that you can see that there is flow though. ![]() So, pumping a lot of cold air through it would also cool of the antifreeze/coolant.Ĥ) The radiator should be full all the way to the top. the heater-core also works as a small-ish radiator. You feel the heater gradually get warmer. And, in colder climates, may never get there. The blue light coming on, is less concerning than the system losing coolant.ġ) if it were indeed stuck open, it would take a long time for the engine to get to operating temp. So, as soon as the level drops, the heater-core is the first component that won't have any coolant in it. The heater-core is somewhat higher than the rest of the cooling system. If it wasn't (and the hoses feel "soft", like donkpow is asking about), then you most certainly have a coolant leak. #2: You checked the level after you had been driving it? The coolant system should be under pressure at this point. If my Jeep is warmer than her heated seat Subie, something is terribly wrong□.Ī couple of things that stood out to me from what you're explaining. My wife asked me to take her to work in my ‘98 Jeep Wrangler. Granted, this is usually for overheating issues with a failing water pump but thermostats are kinda simple and aren’t prone to failure.Īny insight would be greatly appreciated. Thermostats don’t commonly fail and I always suspect something else is the issue if the easy answer is a thermostat. So, with my limited knowledge of Subies, the thermostat could be stuck open as well as some other cause that is unknown to me. The radiator fans are not randomly coming on and would be quite startling to hear in the winter. It is not a faulty engine temp sensor since the heater blows warm air when the blue light is off.Ħ. I visually observed flowing coolant when the motor was run with the radiator cap off.ĥ. If there are air bubbles or an air lock, the motor would run hotter and potentially overheat from a lack of circulating coolant. If it were low coolant levels, the heater would blow warm air at higher rpms and cold air while at idle.Ĥ. If it were a clogged heater core, the blue low-temp light would not remain on.ģ. It is generally unusual for a thermostat to fail while open, especially during the cold winter when they aren’t open much.Ģ. I know these motors run cooler but something else is the issue, since it operated in the normal temp range regardless of the weather until a few days ago.ġ. However, the blue low-temp light stayed on the entire time. I took another route home and only drove 35 mph in 2nd-3rd gears to keep the rpms higher. After about 10 minutes of driving 50 mph, the blue light came back on and the cabin heat was blowing significantly cooler but not as cold as the -7F outside air temp. We then drove across town to our favorite Thai restaurant. I popped the radiator cap and pumped the RPMs a few times between 1500-4000 to clear any possible bubbles in the system. After my wife came home this evening, she let the car idle so the blue light would go out. I added coolant to the radiator and overflow tank but it hasn’t fixed the issue. Last week, the blue low-temp coolant light came on while driving and the cabin heat started blowing colder. Our 2010 NA Forester would crank out the heat after a relatively short warm-up, even on our cold Alaskan winter mornings, with the blue low-temp coolant light turning off. It’s not much fun to drive at -50F but it is safe, at least mostly safe. If it’s warm enough for the car to start, it’s safe to drive. *This is not another “Is it safe to drive with the blue light on?” thread.
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