2000 SUBARU IMPREZA engine overheat

Starting and operating7-19
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CONTINUED –
When it is nec essary to red uc e vehic le sp eed d ue to
slow traffic , turn-
ing c orners, or d riving up steep hills, d ownshift t o a lower g ear b efore
the eng ine starts to lab or.
On steep d owng rad es, d ownshift the transmission to 4th, 3rd or 2nd
g ear as nec essary; this help s to maintain a safe sp eed and to extend
b rake p ad life.
In this way, the eng ine p rovid es a b raking effec t. Rememb er, if you
“ rid e ” (over use) the b rakes while d esc end ing a hill, the y may over-
heat and not work p rop erly.
Automatic transmission
WARNING
Do not shift from the “P” or “N” position into the “D”, “3”, “2”,
“1” or “R” position while depressing the accelerator pedal. This
may cause the vehicle to jump forward or backward.
CAUTION
Shift into the “P” or “R” position only after the vehicle is com-
pletely stopped. Shifting while the vehicle is moving may cause
damage to the transmission. Do not race the engine for more than five seconds in any posi-
tion except the “N” or “P” position when the brake is set or the
tires are on blocks. This may cause the automatic transmissionfluid to overheat. Avoid shifting from one of the forward driving positions into
the “R” position or vice versa until the vehicle has completely
stopped. Such shifting may cause damage to the transmission.
The automatic transmission is elec tronic ally c ontro lled with 4-forward
sp eed s and 1-reverse sp eed .

7-32
OM-H0162OM-H0161
When p arking on a hill, always turn the steering wh eel. When the vehic le
is head ed up the hill, the front wheels should b e t urned away from the
c urb . When fac ing d own hill, the front wheels shoul d b e turned into the
c urb . Braking Braking tips
WARNING
Never rest your foot on the brake pedal while driving. This can
cause dangerous overheating of the brakes and needless wearon the brake pads and linings.
When the brakes get wet
When d riving in rain, in p ud d le or after washing th e vehic le, the
b rakes may g et wet. As a result, b rake stop p ing d is tanc e will b e long -
er. To d ry the b rakes, d rive the vehic le at a safe sp eed while lig htly
d ep ressing the b rake p ed al to heat up the b rakes. Use of engine braking
Rememb er to make use of eng ine b raking in ad d ition to foot b raking .
When d esc end ing a g rad e, if only the foot b rake is used , the b rakes
may start working imp rop erly b ec ause of b rake fluid overheating ,
c aused b y overheated b rake p ad s. To help p revent th is, shift into a

8
In case of emergency Hazard warning flasher8-2
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Engine overheating 8-2
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Jump starting 8-4
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Flat tires 8-6
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Temporary spare tire 8-11
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Tire changing tools 8-13
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Towing 8-14
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Towing eyelets 8-17
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8-2
Hazard warning flasher
HS0053
Day or nig ht, if your vehic le b ec omes a traffic haz
ard , use the hazard
warning flasher. Avoid stop p ing on the road . It is b est to safely p ull off
the road if a p rob lem oc c urs. The hazard warning fl asher c an b e ac ti-
vated reg ard less of the ig nition switc h p osition.
Turn on the hazard warning b y p ushing the hazard wa rning flasher
switc h. Turn it off b y p ushing the switc h ag ain. NOTE When the hazard warning flasher is on, the turn signals do not work.
Engine overheating
WARNING
Never attempt to remove the radiator cap until the engine has been shut off and has fully cooled down. When the engine is hot,the coolant is under pressure. Removing the cap while the engineis still hot could release a spray of boiling hot coolant, which
could burn you very seriously.
If the eng ine overheats, safely p ull off the road a nd stop the vehic le in a
safe p lac e.

In case of emergency8-3
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CONTINUED –

If steam is coming from the engine compartment
Turn the eng ine off and g et everyone away from the vehic le until it
c ools d own. If no steam is coming from the engine compartment
1. Keep the eng ine running at id ling sp eed .
2. Op en the hood to ventilate the eng ine c omp artment .
Confirm that the c ooling fan is turning . If the fan is not turning , im-
med iately turn the eng ine off and c ontac t your auth orized SUBARU
d ealer for rep air.
3. After the eng ine c oolant temp erature has d rop p ed , turn off the en-
g ine.
If the temp erature g aug e stays at the overheated zo ne, turn the en-
g ine off.
4. After the eng ine has fully c ooled d own, c hec k the c oolant level in
the reserve tank.
If the c oolant level is b elow the “MIN ” mark, ad d c oolant up to the
“ MAX ” mark.
5. If there is no c oolant in the reserve tank, ad d c oolant to the reserve
tank. Then remove the rad iator c ap and fill the rad iator with c oolant.
If you remove the rad iator c ap from a hot rad iator, first wrap a thic k
c loth around the rad iator c ap , then turn the c ap c o unterc loc kwise
slowly without p ressing d own until it stop s. Releas e the p ressure from
the rad iator. After the p ressure has b een fully rel eased , remove the
c ap b y p ressing d own and turning it.