2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

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sandmtnjeep
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2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by sandmtnjeep »

Have owned around a year and have only driven it very sparingly but no issues. About a month ago completed a 150 mile trip and again no issues. Today I started on about a 100 mile trip and after around 25-30 miles stopped to go through a drive thru at a fast food place. While in line all of a sudden the heat hand started to climb very fast and got to the last mark before the red, never entering the red. After I got the food and headed out things started to cool and I completed another 50 miles at interstate speed with the temp hand at halfway. I then got on some city streets and maintained around 40-45 mph, all of a sudden the temp rose and was entering the red area when I arrived at a relatives house. I stayed around three hours there and when I left of course everything had cooled off completely. I then made the 50+ mile trip home with the temp at midway point on the gauge never moving. Should this be concerning or just a freak event? Oh and by the way the fans were working and coolant was at the proper level. Please advise. Thanks a lot.
mike-tracy
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Re: 2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by mike-tracy »

Rent a head gasket tester from an autoparts store. They are easy to use and can (hopefully) cross blown Head Gaskets off the list.

Here's an example:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/ev ... 94/4700290
1992 Legacy SS, 5mt and heavily modified
2000 Impreza RSTi Coupe
2003 Baja, H6 and Dual Range 5mt swap
sandmtnjeep
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Re: 2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by sandmtnjeep »

Sounds good, I'll give that a go this weekend. Thanks for the info!
harleyjohn45
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Re: 2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by harleyjohn45 »

sandmtnjeep wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:08 pm Sounds good, I'll give that a go this weekend. Thanks for the info!
The gauge could be going south, Did the car seem to be extra hot?
ZUBAJA
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Re: 2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by ZUBAJA »

The fact that it got hot when sitting in a drive through line and when driving around town (stop and go) and didn't get hot during highway driving indicates that it could POSSIBLY be a cooling fan issue. Had that happen to one of our Foresters. Dennis
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kamesama980
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Re: 2006 Baja Turbo Automatic heating issue 199,000 miles

Post by kamesama980 »

Test BOTH cooling fans. Turn the AC on to force them on.
Could be a partially blocked radiator. on the highway you get more airflow than the fans can provide which offsets the impaired radiator.
Could be a deteriorated water pump impeller. It's rare but it can be damaged or corrode away. at low RPM, it doesn't move enough coolant to cool the engine. spin the engine (and WP) up and it does OK.
Of course it could be the HG but turbos got MLS headgaskets from the factory so not nearly as likely to be a problem as an NA.
Again unlikely, could be a cracked head/block.


Be careful using the dash gauge, it's more of an idiot light. It'll read the same spot in the middle from ~160 to hotter than I've had either car. My older Toyotas held the center from 150f to 230f. Gauge dampening is normal and accepted in cars, for decades, ford ran the oil pressure gauge to a switch so if you had >3psi it read dead center whether it was actually 4 or 100psi. That way customers don't come in wanting a new engine under warranty because the gauge is moving at all.
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
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