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I've recently torn apart an E82 engine to do the head gaskets & noticed that there is a little groove on the cylinder head, I purchased another engine used to take apart and do the heads and again I noticed the ringed groove on the cylinder head, does this mean they are F***ed? has any one seen this before, I would just like to get this car up and running for once!

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well I sanded most most of it til it was smooth, but I didn't want to sand to much, would even the smallest groove effect the head gasket in the future? Thanks for the reply I found the culprit to the major oil leak from the previously posted content, it was coming out of everywhere, I'm guessing when I limped the car around when the alternator was toast there wasn't any power going to the fan & basically cooked the gasket seal it was brittle not rubbery also the valve cover seal was very rigid.

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The ones I've rebuilt, I sanded until gone.  Just be sure to be even to keep the face flat. 

An overheat event could accelerate problems.  If the engine was OEM / stock / original, it was pretty much overdue for those seals to be leaking.  And pretty much all of the other rubber seals. 

I've not tried gasket maker for the oil pan..   If whatever type you try is rated for that, and follow all the directions, I guess it should work. Getting the surfaces truly clean is probably the key.

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i never use a cork gasket on the oil pan, just asking for a leak. 

 

permatex ultra grey is fine for resealing the whole motor.

 

you'll hear from other people to use anerobic sealant. as a certified master mechanic, im not a fan of it, and it definitely does not work on dissimilar metal flanges or gaps exceeding .050". i used it once and the oil pan stayed leak free for a few months at best. anerobic is ok for the cam towers, but that's all ive successfully used it on.

 

also, its notably harder to clean off gasket surfaces later, provides very little flex which shortens its life span over the course of regular heat/cool cycles, and requires a primer for mating surfaces. P'tex ultra grey definitely does not have those shortcomings. 

Edited by maozebong
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If you have the cork gasket already, coat it with Permatex Ultra Black and let it cure before you install the pan and gasket.

You're basically turning the cork gasket into a rubber gasket, so to speak.

 

Also allows one to remove the pan if need be, without damaging the gasket. And it can be reinstalled with another smear of the goo.

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yep, normal, just resurface them. 

 

i would be sure to use flat glass like the head resurfacing thread or take it to a machine shop.  i wouldn't run them just eyeballing the sanding process.  but i get maybe it's fine, just hard to rubber stamp that online without seeing it. 

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I've recently torn apart an E82 engine to do the head gaskets & noticed that there is a little groove on the cylinder head, I purchased another engine used to take apart and do the heads and again I noticed the ringed groove on the cylinder head, does this mean they are F***ed? has any one seen this before, I would just like to get this car up and running for once!

The ringed groove is for the genuine subaru O-ring that seals the transfer path of oil into the head, and into the lifters.  It is at the lower rear edge of the cylinder head.  If you touched that groove with sandpaper, you might as well toss the entire cylinder head.  There are also 2 more oil transfer ports.  Those ports require a little bit of cylinder head gasket maker around the outside of the hole, in order to improve the oil pressure that pumps up the lifters and help your engine run real quiet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, I just got the engine in this morning, it's making an awful noise which I think the flywheel is rubbing that plate at the bottom, is it easy to get at from the under side, or do you  have to lift the engine up a bit? also how fast do the heads get hot? I ran it for not even 5min & it was pretty hot to the touch....also the temp gauge stays at zero, or the bottom...and my oil pressure gauge is funny, it reads nothing, sometimes it reads like 9 than zero.....my main concern is how fast it gets how, or is this normal?

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Inspection plate is easy to get to from underneath.  2 bolts and it's off.   I usually leave mine off.

Heads get hot immediately.  

Make sure you get a temp gauge working.   If you replace the sending unit and it still does not work, get an aftermarket temp gauge.   You don't want to overheat your motor ... EVER.

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May depend on vehicle and cause I feel like once I adjusted one eAsily but the last one I did the engine needed jacked up an inch or so to tighten the two bolts. I feel like I didn't even unbolt the exhaust or anything, just had two lower 14mm engine nuts, lift engine, tighten nuts.

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to the above post, I replaced the oil pump, I broke the little tab on the other one when lifting the engine out I guess, there was oil seeping out where the connector was...that's fixed, I actually let the thing idle longer than a few minutes & drove it to town the temp gauge works, runs around 1/4 maybe a little less. My concern was how hot the heads were after such a short drive, also my fan never kicked in, maybe the it wasn't hot enough? I know the fan works because I just had the rad in another car & it was working fine.

 

Maybe they run super hot ( the heads) I misted a bit of water on them and yeah it was not quit boiling, but hot, maybe I am just being paranoid because I have had nothing but issues with this car since I bought it last April

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