samsungd838

I bought a Liberty with overheating problem recently.

I picked up the car at night,when i drove it home, i realise that the heater is not working. But it takes me home without overheating, its about 8 kms continous driving without much stop unless on the traffic lights. 

When i get home, i let the car idled for about 10 minutes,no signs of overheating. Continues to idle with air con on, still runs like normal, so i turned the car off.

On second day is about 30 degrees, i drove it to my friends place to pick him up, it starts to overheats on the way back.

I turned heater on,now the heater is HOT, the temperature drops to normal very quickly. But it starts to climbs up again when i comes to the last traffic lights before i get home. The temperature drops down as soon as i start to rev up the engine.

When i get home,the temperature was shooting to the top as soon as i parked the car., i pop the hood up straight away and quickly checked engine. Engine is pretty hot but no bubbling in the overflow bottle. So i assume its not a head gasket problem.

The bottom hose is hot and both fan is on. I turned the car off and let it sit for about 5 minutes and started it again, it started normal without any issue, and the temperature has dropped back to the middle of the gauge. Let it idle, no problem, turned on air conditioner for about 2 minutes, temperature going up again, but it still dropped back when i rev up. Turned off the engine and let it cool down.

I drove the car on the ramp. i checked thermostat, the thermostat in the car has been cut and let the coolant flow freely in the engine.

This tells me previous owner had already tried something to trouble shooting the problems.

Installed new thermostat and took it for a drive, it takes a while for the car to heats up, but once it heats up, it will overheats very quickly. Checked engine while idling, the top hose(from engine to radiator) heat up quickly, but the lower hose wont heat up until the top hose gets very hot. 

Replaced timing belt,idlers and the water pump, the old water pump was a bit rusted and has a bit gunk inside.

But the car still have same issue, started check on heater core since the heater its not working properly.

Found out the heater core might be blocked.

As followed by insttruction video from youtube, undone both hoses connected to heater core, and flushed it by hook up garden hose to the outlet hose. It was clogged, muddy water came out of inlet hose at first flush, once the water runs through a bit better, i blowed it by air gun, flushed by garden hose again, now water can run throught it nice and freely.

Hook up the heater core hose back, fill up and radiator and let it idle. But the heater still seems not working properly. Took it for a drive, the engine is warming up gradually but still overheats after a distance. But the cooling system seems working better, i drove it home and let it idle, it cooled down, turned on the air conditioner to maximum and sit in the car for about 20 minutes, the temperature still normal.

Now the car seems like only overheats while i am driving and came to a stop at red light. Once rev it up the temperature goes down.

I drained radiator a little bit, and filled up overflow bottom with water, checked it after the engine warmed up. The water in the overflow bottle hasn't been pushed out or sucked in.

I know if the HG is blown, the water/oil would be found in wrong place or the water in overflow will smells like exhaust, it doesn't happen in my car. I have also swapped radiator cap/ thermostat from my 98 outback, because they both have SOHC EJ25 engine. The problem remains.

Could there be a leak in my cooling system so the coolant not flowing properly to cause the overheating problem? If so, how can i find it out? Should the top hose feels pumped(solid) while the engine is warmed up if there is no leaks in cooling system?

Also i found a receipt in the car, it stated a compression test had been done by local garage by no leak has been found, they also have no idea why the car is overheating. So this means the HG not blown as well ?

Thanks for the patient of reading this thread, any suggesting would be great.