914 subaru water pump over heating Options

[jeepguy06]

hey guys

so I have a ej205 in the 914 and when sitting at lights in traffic it starts to overheat. I watch the temps clime to 208.4 at times if not hotter. I find that revving the car to 3k and keep it for about 30 seconds to get the coolant moving the temps will then drop down to 203. once i start moving and driving the temps drop all the way down to 197.6 I just feel that the water pump is not able to move the water from engine to radiator all the way in the front. has anyone else had issues like this and how did you repair them? add another water pump that's electric?

[Chris H.]

You definitely do need a loop of some kind for startup, otherwise there is no coolant circulating at all until you hit the thermostat temp. Doesn't need to be much, just enough to move the coolant through the engine in a loop.

The stock water pump should keep up fine. I agree with the group that you probably have an air pocket(s) somewhere, or the cooling system setup needs some tweaks. A sealed system that is pressurized will bleed itself after a few warm up/cool down cycles. I've been running an EG33 with stock water pump for almost 10 years and the only issues I had were at the very beginning (air pockets due to a bad air bleeder connection on the radiator that prevented air from getting out at the top). Once you get the system bled properly it should stay cool.