I bought the car for $1250 on ebay with a dodgy motor, got another engine and dropped it in, spent a long time making sure there was no airlock in the cooling system and everything was fine for the first two weeks. Then it started to overheat. small amount at first and only occasionally but then it started to become more regular - suddenly overheats, very rapid rise in temp then goes back down almost as quickly.
So I did my research on this site and apart from the fact that there is no loss of coolant, I managed to convince myself that it had blown a head gasket. So I decided to check out the price to have it done. I wanted somebody who knew subies so this afternoon I rang John French Motors here in Brisbane.
I asked how much to replace the head gaskets and Andrew (head mechanic) asked why i thought the gaskets were blown. I explained the symptoms and he said that he believed that it was a blocked heater core under the dash, apparently a common problem with these libs, most likely bought on by the fact the car sat for 2 - 3 weeks with no coolant while I (slowly) swapped engines. The blocked core causes cavitation at the water pump and inadequate water flow thru the engine (hence no loss of coolant).
So the car is booked in on Monday to have a 'H piece' bypass put in the heater hoses to circumvent the blockage. Total cost $100 and this includes piston compression test and cooling system compression test to make sure it is not a head gasket
:):)I will give an update once it has been in. Hope this might help others who have a similar problem.
Cheers
