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My 97 Legacy Outback(2.5) has 170,000 miles on it and just the other day on the way to work it the temp guage suddenly went all the way up, tried to trun on the heat but it blew cool air. I pulled over, turned it off and thought well I just blew a head gasket and the coolant is in the oil....but it wasn't. BTW the reservoir is full. I turned the key on to see the temp without starting it and watched for a minute or two and all of a sudden the temp drops down to halfway so I figure the thermostat is getting stuck.

 

So I replace the thermostat(Stant-checked it in boiling water first) and flush/fill/bleed the cooling system and everything seems ok until today...again it spikes and since I am only a mile from home I limp home. Now the reservoir is overfull and it has sprayed somewhat out on the engine. I read somewhere that I could have a bad head gasket that is pushing exhaust gases into the cooling sytem but I would figure this would happen all the time.

 

Any ideas??

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Head gasket. The HG leak caused an air pocket to stop the coolant flow, when you came to a stop the coolant rushed ahead through the air pocket allowing the cool fluid from the radiator to get to your temp sensor. This drove me nuts until I figured it out. I thought that I had some kind of junk in my system that was cloging and un-clogging the system. Head Gasket.

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Well I guess it's time to pull out the motor and change them, I can now fix the oil leak as well. What is the part number from Subaru I am looking for?

 

Anyone know how many miles these engines typically run for? Should I rebuild it as well? I had the compression tested a few months ago and it was within spec.

 

I am the second owner and it was serviced by Subaru until I bought it by the previous owner, I change the oil every 3,000 miles and stay up with other mainteneace as required.

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I just did a 97 2.5 head gasket on a Legacy with 175,000 miles. I did not go any further. I didn't even change any valve shims. The car runs great and appears, so far, to burn no oil. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

 

Your head gaskets won't look "blown", BTW. But there will be areas on the exhaust valve side that are shiny where the combustion gasses seep through.

 

HGs alone are about fifty bucks. There is a gasket set for ~$175 that includes HGs and four thousand other gaskets and ORings and such, but doesn't include valve cover gaskets, which are another fifty bucks or so.

 

People here use www.1stsubaruparts.com but I have found their shipping to the east coast too slow. Try www.worldpartsexpress.com . The prices seem to be the same. They are both discounted significantly from from dealer prices.

 

Lots of threads and web pages on this repair. Good luck.

 

Tom

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Thanks Tom for the info, did you pull the engine?

There is a guy near me in Northeast PA who changed the head gasket on an Outback, the labor was $500 and he changed the timeing belt and the water pump. Don't know what the parts cost. I saw him doing it and asked him about the labor because my wife has a 98 Outback 2.5, it's just a matter of time before I am in there.

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No, I didn't pull the engine and wouldn't unless it needed a clutch. A handy tool to have would be a 10mm ratcheting wrench for the rearmost lower valve cover bolts. They are a PIA. And put the Camsprockets back on before putting the valve covers on. That way you can hold the cams with a wrench while you tighten the sprockets.

 

Tom

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