sick lx liberty

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:34 pm

hello, nice to be here , iam charlie and the partner is Melody .. we presently live in Bendigo and are pushing for Tasmania sometime soon..
i not a week ago bought the misses a liberty lx wagon 1994 . it is a very well looked after car with a good service history , i myself have a L series wagon which personally i believe are the best subbies on the road..))
anyway back to the lx liberty. was driving back after some shopping and noticed the engine check light appear, thought hmmm we will have to wait an see... well that night i noticed the parking lights where on , light switch was off but parkers remain on.. now is that just a coincidence having check engine light appear and then parkers stay on? well having to go out i jumped in and drove down town when it began stalling and blowing plenty of smoke, i nursed it back home pulled the bonnet and found coolant sprayed all over engine.. i then got inside and checked the infamous ausubaru.com and then did a comp check , by the way thanks gentleman your very helpful and money saving, anyway the problem appeared as 22 which is the knock sensor, would the knock sensor be responsible for the gremlins in the lx or is it a compounded problem..

Post by **Alex** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:40 pm

parkers will be the switch ontop of your steering column.

check engine light may have soemthing to do with the coolant if the coolant managed to wet the knock sensor or sumthing.

but otherwise coolant and check engine light are a pretty far apart.

knock sensor is a common issue of these older motors and may be ready for replacement.

alex

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:49 pm

thankyou alex , that reply was quicker than a phone call.))
ok i go check the steering column for parkers .. could you tell me , if the knock sensor was bad would it cause timing issue which in turn would cause the radiator spill, i dont have any idea where the coolant came from, checked hoses, must do that again,, i`ll be back..thanks mate

Post by **Alex** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:56 pm

the knock sensor will retard the timing if its faulty as a precaution. Meaning you will have a noticable power decrease.

if there is water coming from your timing belt area (the plastic covers) there is every chance the water pump has crapped itself.

Otherwise look for pin prick holes in your hoses whilst the motor is warmed up and under pressure. Its usually pretty easy to find a water leak.

Also there is a water hose which runs right next to the knock sensor (under and to the right of the throttle body area) this could be spewing water onto the sensor making it throw a code. This has happened to my sisters earlier liberty before.

alex

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:02 pm

Thanks Alex , now parkers are off, lol gawd isnt ignorance a pain eh... ok i tried starting it but the battery has gone flat , iam gonna check everything as you mention , feel heaps better re the whole situation , thanks a heap mate..i`ll get under the bonnet soon enough and will def let you know where it ends...cheers

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:53 pm

not sure if picks will work Alex but yes the problem was water hose leaking onto knock sensor... i very much appreciate your help, so where do i donate?

Post by **Alex** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:06 pm

no probs mate. You got a little bit of work ahead

alex

Post by **TOONGA** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:17 pm

that is the crank case breather pipe it recirculates engine vapour into the inlet manifold. if this pipe is off then the manifold is leaking and your fuel economy would be crap.

TOONGA

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:09 pm

Yeah Alex but its a walk in the park , even i could fix that eh...thankyou very much mate ... And TOONGA i was saying to the partner the other day , Gee the fuel consumption is crap!.. so now i know why and things are good all round, thankyou thankyou

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:54 pm

Iam back!... hmm , today i replaced the water hose above the knock thing and found another leak on radiator hose so replaced it.. all good so i thought, filled the radiator while car was running then put cap on, leaks all gone but! waited another 10 min or so while car idling, checked temp gauge fine so removed radiator and a 6 inch wave of water pushed out radiator but the water was not hot! i then tried filling radiator but it wouldnt take any water so thought bugger this and put radiator cap on and took it for a 5 minute drive and 3min into it i could see the temp gauge rising to boiling point , so pulled up at home removed thermostat threw it in pan on stove and it works. i also checked oil for water but it seems clear. think i bought a lemin eh, Could you please give me some idea on what the heck is going on .. p.s i tried connecting the housing where the thermostat lives but it leaked severely , i removed it and couldnt see any gasket, does the thermostat act as a gasket or should there be no gasket.. Thankyou for your time in advance ..

Post by **TOONGA** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:20 pm

the EJ airlock is what happened, air gets trapped behind the thermostat and wont let it open.

the thermostat should have a rubber gasket that goes round the edge of the thermostat they are made of rubber and are about 5 dollars from memory.

thermostat with gasket in place

thermostat with gasket removed tickle valve at bottom of thermostat

to remove all air from the coolant system park the car engine facing up hill (a good angle) and (watch for boiling water) remove the radiator cap let the engine come to temperature revving the engine occasionally this should get all the air out of the system. once you have the air out replace the water and go for a drive.

If you are game enough remove the tickle valve and drill a 2mm hole this will help bleed any air from behind the thermostat

TOONGA

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:39 pm

Thanks TOONGA, yes i see the rubber your talking bout, i will put the thermo back in tomorrow then put as much water i can in radiator , put car on slope and do as u say. how does having car on an angle actually make a diff if air is radiator side of thermo... i have the thermostat housing hanging at present so its all well and truly full of air

thanks mate

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:49 pm

Super ruby wrote:how does having car on an angle actually make a diff if air is radiator side of thermo... i have the thermostat housing hanging at present so its all well and truly full of air thanks mate

G'day Super Ruby,

The air is on the engine side of the thermostat - once the engine is warm the pocket of air sitting there does not allow the thermostat to open up as it doesn't conduct the same amount of heat to the thermostat if any.

Once you sufficiently bleed the system to drive without over heating, you might find that you'll be topping up the coolant overflow bottle a couple of times over the next week as the rest of the air is removed from the system.

Last year I had a dead temp sensor, Knock sensor and I replaced the throttle position sensor as well due to it throwing a code. Before I did this there was no "punch" when driving and the engine was super hard to start - took about 20 kicks where it tried to start before it could idle, once idling you didn't tough anything until at operating temperature, after this there was no issue with starting.

Best of luck

Cheers

Bennie

PS - is this a new subi to your family or an existing family member? If new, I'm curious to know where you got it from if you don't mind sharing

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:24 pm

np bennie, i actually seen it on the side of the road at kangaroo flat oposite harvey norman , therebouts. the misses got the number and chased it up to find a couple of german backpackers had taken it around the east coast. they had 3300 on it and apparently they had to leave aus in 2 days time so i talked down to 2500, yet iam starting to think iam the one who got worked over ..lol..
anyways tomorrow iam going to throw the thermo back in and give it a go , i`ll keep you posted...p.s i jumped on to actually reply to my earlier post when staring at thermo here in front of me and realising the back of thermo is engine side..)) thanks guys

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:30 pm

BLOODY SENSORS EVERYWHERE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS EH!...

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:18 pm

Super ruby wrote:BLOODY SENSORS EVERYWHERE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS EH!...

Nothing wrong with sensors - we only complain about them when they don't work properly, which in my experience isn't that often unless you ignore them.

Sensors and computers are what give us the best bang for buck with regular fuel and regular driving. Get a performance vehicle and you can push them even further again if you want to.

The other bit is that the ECU (later models can't from what I've heard) can give you a code to check that particular sensor or sensors.

Cheers

Bennie

Post by **Alex** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:58 pm

i had a very similar problem when i changed the exact same hose on my sisters car mate.

the key is to remove the top radiator hose and fill the motor with water thru that hose while its cold and heating up, pouring it down the tiop hose strait into the motor.

they are a pain to bleed the air out of, but doing it with the nose of the car in the air works well.

make sure your heater is ON when youre doing it also as theyre prone to getting an airlock in the heater core.

alex

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:22 pm

Alex wrote: make sure your heater is ON when youre doing it also as theyre prone to getting an airlock in the heater core.

This only works on the old MY's - the EJ series don't have a tap on the heater core, nor does the L series for that matter.

The only good thing about running the heater is that you'll know there's coolant in there once its getting warm...

Cheers

Bennie

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:35 pm

Yeah thanks for the heads up on using the top radiator hose Alex, i will do tomorrow and get back to you.. ta champ.. ta all... and yes benny i understand your point but there are times when sensors such as the knock sensor is really not necessary, i mean sensors can restrict you from starting a car if the petrol cap isnt on tight enough. they have there purpose but like everything they are taken to the endth degree. i just want a car thats reliable , performance doesnt grab me that much thats why i love my standard go anywhere almost L series.. sensors are like political correctness they have a purpose but can easily get out of hand..

Anyway been in an out this forum for years and think highly of the effort you blokes put in to help those like myself.. i`ll keep you posted.. and again thankyou!

Super ruby · Post by **Super ruby** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:00 pm

Not having any luck. put the thermo back in filled it via the left side top hose of radiator tho it would onlt take a little so then filled it from radiator cap,,dunno.. turned heater on but heater doesnt blow hot air even after 30 min runnung.. couldnt really find a slope,might have to invest in some car ramps...anyways thanks fella`s , i will keep you posted .. I have a teamspeak 3 account which is a communication software , would lurve say ello , Alex, Bennie, TOONGA, and others of ausubaru , here are the details ip and port are (had to remove them on second thoughts pm me)the password is mates . so just add ur nickname and drop in say ello... i hate to admit it but yes iam a bit of a gamer come late evening:???: and as a note i can be of help to u blokes if you have pc issues so dont be shy to ask, and if its beyond me i have others who would help you...cheers

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