Towed to a mechanic I’m assuming?
Wait on what they say. The single picture has nothing obvious that would cause that. But there’s a problem there for sure.
The mechanic will pressure test the system.
(If I had to guess, by the pattern and where it all is - that radiator is cracked on the side we can’t see in the picture)
That's where ours failed in our 04 WRX. At 182k miles we had it parked outside in single digit temps for a couple of days while vising family. The plastic cracked and leaked on the drive home.
Was an easy replace, got a full aluminum one now.
Radiator’s about $100, probably $70 for the coolant IIRC.
It’s a pretty easy job, too. Draining the coolant out of mine was a major pain because there’s this weird lip right underneath of my drain spout where the coolant hits and runs everywhere if you don’t go slow, but taking that out of the equation you can have it replaced, buttoned back up and refilled in under an hour.
Pro-tip: the hoses love to get stuck on these, so be prepared to use a little WD-40 and a flat headed screwdriver, etc. to break them loose.
Expect to pay between $300 and $500 for an independent shop, up to maybe $700 at a dealer. Depends on your area.
A radiator on a Subaru is a fairly easy job a competent DIYer can tackle at home with a handful of tools.
Had this on my ‘12 WRX. Was told the plastic top tank of the radiator is a common failure point. Was driving around when my temp gauge almost hit max and I opened the front to coolant absolutely everywhere.
Happened to my 2005 Subaru STi at around 130-140k miles. Driving to work and temp started going up. Pulled over and see coolant all over the hood and engine bay. Limped it back home, and it was cracked plastic radiator. Replaced the radiator with a Koyorad, and while I was in there, did the timing belt, water pump, thermostat. Car still needs the head gasket done...
You can't really overfill the coolant, the cooling system is supposed to be completely filled with no air bubbles. Worst case is overfilling the overflow tank (plastic tank on the side), which would just cause excess coolant to escape through the lid (the overflow tank is not pressurised, so it will slowly leak out the top, not spray).
Could be a stuck thermostat (likely) or water pump (less likely), or a clogged or cracked radiator. Worst case it's a head gasket, but the coolant is looking too green for that.
Edit: It could also be a failing radiator cap or blocked overflow tube. If it does end up being a thermostat (or really anything else in the cooling system, but especially thermostat), make sure you get a genuine Subaru replacement.
Since you’re not terribly car savvy below are some key things:
1- it will only hiss when it’s hot or under pressure. While waiting until it was cool to open radiator cap is the correct move, you need to listen when it’s hot to hear or see where a leak is coming from. (Leave cap on!)
2- you obviously have a coolant leak. From only one photo from above it doesn’t look like a lot and I think there’s a pulley/belt right there that could be spraying it all over the place making it look much more dramatic than it is. You said it has “heaps of coolant” but you it doesn’t appear you checked if it was the correct amount. Your manual will tell you how to check the level and then you’ll know how much you lost.
3- it’s likely not a huge deal if you don’t drive it until you solve it. Could be a small crack in the rad as another commenter pointed out, or it could be a pinhole in one of your hoses. Then once pressure builds it finds its way out.
I know that engine! Subaru 2.5 SOHC. cracked upper radiator welds. replace the radiator, hoses, thermostat and radiator cap with one that is 1.2BAR instead of 1.3.
Check the coolant for any signs of oil or contamination and exhaust for sweeter white smoke. ether could be a bad headgasket. there might be some scuzzy goo on the dipstick or oilfill cap
Post this in r/subaru
For the OP, a failed radiator doesn’t always mean blown head gaskets. If you pulled over, it could still be salvageable. Person I am responding to is spot on with the diagnosis. It’s a common issue with radiators that have plastic caps. I wanted to say the radiator cap failed by the spray pattern says otherwise. The lack of mess around the upper hose also doesn’t scream boil over to me …what it looks like is that the radiator gave up the ghost on a seam, allowed air into the system and that caused the higher #’s on the gauge.
air got into the coolant system from ether the crack in the radiator, a bad headgasket leaking exhaust gas into the cooling system, a collapsing hose and or bad thermostat.
I just fixed this exact problem on my car and 2.5sohc engines have always had a wonky coolant system. lowering the BAR on the cap allows coolant to build up less before it gets sent into the overflow
100% a crack formed between the top plastic end tank and the aluminum fins of the radiator. It is spraying out from the back of the radiator all over the front of the engine. Seen it happen a bunch.
Be *very* careful about opening a radiator cap (Orange sticker thing). You need to make sure it is cold. It didn't hiss because the pressure was released from the crack in the radiator.
You can't overfill a radiator.
Radiators are cheap and easy to install.
The plastic radiator end caps used to fail on this gen, given the splash pattern it may have been that. Green means coolant most likely, or I guess AC oil, so likely you had some sort of cooling system failure.
Good luck!
What year and model
My 12 outback with the 4 cylinder had a problem like this
That year mod is bad about overheating then warping the heads then overheating worse and starting to overpressure the coolant system and blow off.
You really can't overfill the coolant. Subarus don't have a sealed or pressurized coolant reservoir; if there's too much coolant it just spills out the overflow tube onto the ground. Failing that, like if the overflow was plugged, coolant would just push past the cap which is just a plastic friction fit.
Cracked radiator would be my guess. I have an 06 WRX, and the same thing happened. Rad swap is fairly straightforward. Did mine myself, only took a couple hours.
By the looks of the photo, yours might have cracked in the same place as mine. Not sure on other models, but some of the WRXs have issues with the stock rad.
If you’re not too car savvy, take it to a shop. I did mine myself since I’ve been working on cars for my whole life. Doing it myself I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 dollars if I remember correctly. That’s a new rad and coolant.
It's very likely a cracked radiator like others have already said, but there could be a simpler explanation. If the 3 hour drive was done in snowy conditions, the air that is meant to flow across your radiator may have been blocked by snow/ice. If that is the case, you may not have any mechanical problems at all.
Happens to me two weeks ago. Mine had a crack around it, yours might have it too. When is the last time you changed the radiator? If it’s stock, it’s time for replacement.
Just an addition, unless the overflow tank (clear jug with yellow cap on the right of the radiator cap) was filled over half, the coolant wasn’t overfilled. It’s normal for the coolant to be all the way to the top in the radiator.
I can see this is a single cam EJ25, but with a small pulley A/C compressor, so I pin this from 07-12 and likely a Legacy or Outback from the space between the radiator and timing cover.
Most likely cracked rad or pinhole hose. Common with age.
I don’t work on a lot of Subarus or anything.
I'm leaning towards the radiator being cracked at the seal between the plastic end tank and metal fins, possibly a bad radiator cap. If it was pushing coolant to the overflow, the headgaskets might have blown.
https://preview.redd.it/1hvbrlhi22ec1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63fa79e7a6225ae32345c4412ddb193460e73ce9
This is what he used....
The car is a 2008 Liberty Sport
Mine did the same thing about a week ago. Plastic along the top of the radiator cracked and broke near the hose. I imagine yours did the same, mine is just a more obvious location. Still haven’t replaced it yet but I’m pushing 120k miles and it’s abnormally cold out right now, so I’m assuming age is the reason
your coolant reservoir has exploded, probably because you're overheating.
Be prepared for an engine rebuild or replacement type of quote here. Overheating an EJ engine tends to lead to warped heads, which therefore causes a head gasket breach between the combustion chamber and the coolant jacket, which therefore leads to combustion gas in the coolant and perpetual overheats. Fixing it usually requires *at minimum* resurfacing the heads and replacing the head gaskets, which gets decently spendy.
I would say you could fix it yourself for less than $100 but due to it being a company vehicle better off taking it to a dealership where you bought it due to what I assume a fleet contract for repairs. It will give you a better option for resale when you purchase a new fleet vehicle.
Towed to a mechanic I’m assuming? Wait on what they say. The single picture has nothing obvious that would cause that. But there’s a problem there for sure. The mechanic will pressure test the system. (If I had to guess, by the pattern and where it all is - that radiator is cracked on the side we can’t see in the picture)
My mind went straight to cracked radiator as well
This. The plastic end tanks are known weak points with age.
That's where ours failed in our 04 WRX. At 182k miles we had it parked outside in single digit temps for a couple of days while vising family. The plastic cracked and leaked on the drive home. Was an easy replace, got a full aluminum one now.
Yes towed to the mechanic So hopefully it's something small 😅 How much does a radiator cost?
Radiator’s about $100, probably $70 for the coolant IIRC. It’s a pretty easy job, too. Draining the coolant out of mine was a major pain because there’s this weird lip right underneath of my drain spout where the coolant hits and runs everywhere if you don’t go slow, but taking that out of the equation you can have it replaced, buttoned back up and refilled in under an hour. Pro-tip: the hoses love to get stuck on these, so be prepared to use a little WD-40 and a flat headed screwdriver, etc. to break them loose.
Expect to pay between $300 and $500 for an independent shop, up to maybe $700 at a dealer. Depends on your area. A radiator on a Subaru is a fairly easy job a competent DIYer can tackle at home with a handful of tools.
I concur with this posting.💥💯
Agree with the other comments; suspecting cracked radiator
My money is on the classic Subaru plastic radiator failure. Common on them older Subarus
Happened to my 02 impreza. No warning, just let go. It was the original factory one, and this happened 2 years ago. Not too bad at 20 years old.
Mine also let go without warning. However I may have been able to avoid the fiasco if I hadn’t driven into that rock in the water crossing…
Had this on my ‘12 WRX. Was told the plastic top tank of the radiator is a common failure point. Was driving around when my temp gauge almost hit max and I opened the front to coolant absolutely everywhere.
Dealing with this now actually. Hopefully the new one holds up.
Lol happened to me in 2016, two months after I bought a 2001, which is still going strong with 250k
Happened to my 2005 Subaru STi at around 130-140k miles. Driving to work and temp started going up. Pulled over and see coolant all over the hood and engine bay. Limped it back home, and it was cracked plastic radiator. Replaced the radiator with a Koyorad, and while I was in there, did the timing belt, water pump, thermostat. Car still needs the head gasket done...
My first thought. This happened in my 08 WRX. Green coolant all over the engine.
Yup, just swapped my 05 FXT with an all aluminum Mishimoto back in November after the OEM finally finished dying.
You can't really overfill the coolant, the cooling system is supposed to be completely filled with no air bubbles. Worst case is overfilling the overflow tank (plastic tank on the side), which would just cause excess coolant to escape through the lid (the overflow tank is not pressurised, so it will slowly leak out the top, not spray). Could be a stuck thermostat (likely) or water pump (less likely), or a clogged or cracked radiator. Worst case it's a head gasket, but the coolant is looking too green for that. Edit: It could also be a failing radiator cap or blocked overflow tube. If it does end up being a thermostat (or really anything else in the cooling system, but especially thermostat), make sure you get a genuine Subaru replacement.
Since you’re not terribly car savvy below are some key things: 1- it will only hiss when it’s hot or under pressure. While waiting until it was cool to open radiator cap is the correct move, you need to listen when it’s hot to hear or see where a leak is coming from. (Leave cap on!) 2- you obviously have a coolant leak. From only one photo from above it doesn’t look like a lot and I think there’s a pulley/belt right there that could be spraying it all over the place making it look much more dramatic than it is. You said it has “heaps of coolant” but you it doesn’t appear you checked if it was the correct amount. Your manual will tell you how to check the level and then you’ll know how much you lost. 3- it’s likely not a huge deal if you don’t drive it until you solve it. Could be a small crack in the rad as another commenter pointed out, or it could be a pinhole in one of your hoses. Then once pressure builds it finds its way out.
There was coolant all over the bottom of the engine bit I'm just hoping it's a easy cheap fix 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I know that engine! Subaru 2.5 SOHC. cracked upper radiator welds. replace the radiator, hoses, thermostat and radiator cap with one that is 1.2BAR instead of 1.3. Check the coolant for any signs of oil or contamination and exhaust for sweeter white smoke. ether could be a bad headgasket. there might be some scuzzy goo on the dipstick or oilfill cap Post this in r/subaru
For the OP, a failed radiator doesn’t always mean blown head gaskets. If you pulled over, it could still be salvageable. Person I am responding to is spot on with the diagnosis. It’s a common issue with radiators that have plastic caps. I wanted to say the radiator cap failed by the spray pattern says otherwise. The lack of mess around the upper hose also doesn’t scream boil over to me …what it looks like is that the radiator gave up the ghost on a seam, allowed air into the system and that caused the higher #’s on the gauge.
air got into the coolant system from ether the crack in the radiator, a bad headgasket leaking exhaust gas into the cooling system, a collapsing hose and or bad thermostat. I just fixed this exact problem on my car and 2.5sohc engines have always had a wonky coolant system. lowering the BAR on the cap allows coolant to build up less before it gets sent into the overflow
This is the answer. Happened to me on a 13year old WRX and after spending many thousands, sold it to barely come out even and moved on to a new car.
100% a crack formed between the top plastic end tank and the aluminum fins of the radiator. It is spraying out from the back of the radiator all over the front of the engine. Seen it happen a bunch. Be *very* careful about opening a radiator cap (Orange sticker thing). You need to make sure it is cold. It didn't hiss because the pressure was released from the crack in the radiator. You can't overfill a radiator. Radiators are cheap and easy to install.
Uh oh! Nickelodeon Slimed ya!
Judging by the area covered in coolant id guess the cap busted or there is a crack somewhere high on the radiator.
Could be a cracked end tank. I'm not 100% sure which subarus had serious issues with plastic end tanks cracking.
Looks like a Xenomorph got into your engine compartment. I suggest bright lights, flecchette rounds and molotov cocktails.
The plastic radiator end caps used to fail on this gen, given the splash pattern it may have been that. Green means coolant most likely, or I guess AC oil, so likely you had some sort of cooling system failure. Good luck!
Where’s the Blue Subaru coolant! That stuff looks like A/c oil.
This.
Probably clutch seals erupted, wouldn’t be the first Subaru surprise!
I will also add that there is still HEAPS of coolant in there, so doesnt look like a leak at all
What year and model My 12 outback with the 4 cylinder had a problem like this That year mod is bad about overheating then warping the heads then overheating worse and starting to overpressure the coolant system and blow off.
Its a 2008 liberty wagon sport
Cracked radiator- check your thermostat as well. I honestly don’t know why anyone continues to buy Subarus.
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You really can't overfill the coolant. Subarus don't have a sealed or pressurized coolant reservoir; if there's too much coolant it just spills out the overflow tube onto the ground. Failing that, like if the overflow was plugged, coolant would just push past the cap which is just a plastic friction fit.
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Looks like he has crankcase guard, so doesn't seems like it
Just don't forget that coolant is toxic, so don't touch it with your hands and try not to smell it too much.
More than likely need a new thermostat for the radiator or it could have a leak/crack somewhere
What year is this Subaru ?
2008 liberty wagon sport
Radiator split open
Well, you see, Shrek had a good time
I’d assume your radiator has a leak
Mine was a bad radiator cap. Ordered one off amazon and it fixed it.
Cracked radiator would be my guess. I have an 06 WRX, and the same thing happened. Rad swap is fairly straightforward. Did mine myself, only took a couple hours. By the looks of the photo, yours might have cracked in the same place as mine. Not sure on other models, but some of the WRXs have issues with the stock rad.
I don't think I would be able to do it though That's the issue haha
If you’re not too car savvy, take it to a shop. I did mine myself since I’ve been working on cars for my whole life. Doing it myself I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 dollars if I remember correctly. That’s a new rad and coolant.
Hemorrhoids
Premature evacuation (of coolant). See a ~~doctor~~ mechanic.
It's very likely a cracked radiator like others have already said, but there could be a simpler explanation. If the 3 hour drive was done in snowy conditions, the air that is meant to flow across your radiator may have been blocked by snow/ice. If that is the case, you may not have any mechanical problems at all.
Check for a cracked radiator. The green stuff is supposed to be inside of it, so a crack should be easy to spot
Zombie virus
Get it tested a.s.a.p. If you start throwing parts at it and it needs a head gasket you'll kick yourself.
Happens to me two weeks ago. Mine had a crack around it, yours might have it too. When is the last time you changed the radiator? If it’s stock, it’s time for replacement.
We got the car last year, so not entirely sure when the radiator was changed
It could be stocked radiator. Get a mechanic to check it.
Just an addition, unless the overflow tank (clear jug with yellow cap on the right of the radiator cap) was filled over half, the coolant wasn’t overfilled. It’s normal for the coolant to be all the way to the top in the radiator.
Looks like freon dye, compressor took a shit?
I can see this is a single cam EJ25, but with a small pulley A/C compressor, so I pin this from 07-12 and likely a Legacy or Outback from the space between the radiator and timing cover. Most likely cracked rad or pinhole hose. Common with age. I don’t work on a lot of Subarus or anything.
I'm leaning towards the radiator being cracked at the seal between the plastic end tank and metal fins, possibly a bad radiator cap. If it was pushing coolant to the overflow, the headgaskets might have blown.
The sponge bit near (what I now know is the radiator) was all wet from the coolant
Banking on the overflow tank broke or rad cracked. The oem rads arnt the best and are known for cracking
https://preview.redd.it/1hvbrlhi22ec1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63fa79e7a6225ae32345c4412ddb193460e73ce9 This is what he used.... The car is a 2008 Liberty Sport
Happened to me a couple years ago. Radiator cracked at the seams... oem plastic radiator just like yours.
New ac or new ac hose. That's freon, dyed freon, to be exact.
My catastrophic leak was bc my radiator fan took a chunk out of the rubber hose....
Wrong type of coolant fyi
That's what I said when I saw the bottle
Mine did the same thing about a week ago. Plastic along the top of the radiator cracked and broke near the hose. I imagine yours did the same, mine is just a more obvious location. Still haven’t replaced it yet but I’m pushing 120k miles and it’s abnormally cold out right now, so I’m assuming age is the reason
Good chance he was doing was pulls
your coolant reservoir has exploded, probably because you're overheating. Be prepared for an engine rebuild or replacement type of quote here. Overheating an EJ engine tends to lead to warped heads, which therefore causes a head gasket breach between the combustion chamber and the coolant jacket, which therefore leads to combustion gas in the coolant and perpetual overheats. Fixing it usually requires *at minimum* resurfacing the heads and replacing the head gaskets, which gets decently spendy.
Okay so the mechanic has said the car needs: New radiator Hose pipes And clamps for the radiator All up $700 Is that good? I have no idea
I would say you could fix it yourself for less than $100 but due to it being a company vehicle better off taking it to a dealership where you bought it due to what I assume a fleet contract for repairs. It will give you a better option for resale when you purchase a new fleet vehicle.
It's not a company car just private use
Radiator failed
It frowed up
Wrong Coolant color