WReXless now chirpy cheap Jeep, Nein11 & Ghia

[Broccoli]

Thank you. I’m enjoying driving it more than I should really.
The burble, the turbo noise, the AWD, the ‘its so rusty I can park it anywhere’ and the dogs go crazy for a ride in it whenever I put my coat on and grab the keys!

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[Hooli]

Now I've got dog envy, I'd love a proper Bulldog.

[Broccoli]

Thank you. Winston (Winnie or Church) is 3 and an absolute star. We had him at 1 1/2 after the owner wanted to focus on other things.
Poppy is 9 months and a little dervish!
They are a great breed, as long as you carefully select the breeder and know you have to wipe their face folds every / every other night. 2 minute job, but important. Other than that, very low maintenance and great companions.

[fried onions]

The dogs are indeed ace.

[Broccoli]

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Faaaaark.
In fairness, I just came off the freeway, dropped it into second for a corner, stood on the loud pedal and then did the same in third.

Seems like the coolant objected to my driving style and decided to bail due to exuberant driving.

Now to see whether it came from - the known leaky heads (I think the river of coolant that ran down the road was too epically tidal for that), or just the loss of a hose that probably should have been replaced 5 years ago.
Will find out when I get her home and it’s warm enough to crawl around under it. I hope she’s not too far gone, as I’m really enjoying driving it and the dogs adore their rides and Starbucks ‘puppy cups’ (vanilla cream in a taster cup).

The smoke (steam) coming out of the gaps in the side of the bonnet were blooming brilliant though! But the tidal wave of foamy coolant running down the street was a bit embarrassing...

[Hooli]

The quad cam Legacy I had for a little while used to do that, I ended up convinced it had a cracked head as it'd happen 12 miles from cold every single time.

[Broccoli]

It looks like the lower engine coolant pipe has come adrift.

Easy fix, but as you say Hooli, it’s probably a sign that the heads are leaking gas at pressure.

Probably time for someone else to do the heads and probably as it’s engine out, a clutch at the same time.

Think I’m going to take it to the local garage and get them to pressure test the engine. Maybe I just got ‘unlucky...’ says me trying to convince myself (but not very convincingly).

Currently sitting at 2992 miles of ownership. Total of 132k miles on the car. Once I get this fixed, it should all quiet down on the breaking front right...

[Hooli]

I got the heads off the Legacy in the car, but it wasn't fun laying in the road doing the bottom head bolts & lower cams in late november. I did head gaskets on mine that way & it made no difference. I think mine was on about 120-130k when I had it.

Good luck with it.

[Broccoli]

You sir, are some sort of legend, not just an internet god!
No way I’m man enough for those types of malarkey especially when I know the clutch must be on its last legs.

Just got back from the garage and it looks like the engine is holding pressure just fine. There are some slow oil weeps, but I’ll wait for the clutch I think before that. A clutch is $800 just for the part... with head machining, valve cleaning, timing belt, clutch replacement etc, they want $4700. And that ain’t happening! Maybe shop around some.

Still, looks to be good for now, and a little extra oil top up every 1000 miles is waaaay cheaper.

[Hooli]

It was surprisingly easy apart from laying in melting slush to do it.