'01 Legacy Headgasket at 79K miles!?!

[Guest RRGeezer]

Crap! <img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/eek.gif" />

Noticed knocking/tapping noise on freeway this morning, checked gauges - temp gauge pegged but no steam. Pulled over and had it towed to shop. They did exhaust gas in coolant check, and it was positive. Radiator also has leak at bottom. They believe headgasket blown at best (not sure whether it caused radiator leak or vice-versa), but are concerned about warpage of heads, cylinder scoring, etc. $750 for teardown, $2000 total if only gaskets and radiator are issues.

 

Questions:

I feel this is an outrageous failure for the mileage - any "hidden warrantee" on this kind of thing?

Does diagnosis support shop's suggestions and are the prices reasonable (for CA)?

Should I do it myself?

Can the headgaskets be replaced w/o removing the engine?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks.

[Guest theotherskip]

since you didn't notice the overheat until you heard tapping, that's bad. the hotter it gets, the more likely the head is to warp.

 

i'm in the process of doing head gaskets and clutch on a 97 legacy. i've pulled the engine, since i'm also doing the clutch. it is possible to do the head gaskets in car...99obw did it, but also said that if he was to do it ever again, he'd pull the motor.

 

there are no "hidden warranties" from subaru. according to them, this is not a problem at all, despite 6 revisions of the head gasket for the 97. the phase 2 engine is a little different, but to have to do a major teardown on a 4 year old car with 79k IS wrong....

 

that quote seems high...check other places. i tried 1 dealer, and they wanted $750/side, but a second quoted me $800 for the both, with minimal parts (reusing the timing belt, etc)...

[Guest Cougar4]

My '88 wagon had the same kind of problem at around 63k miles.

 

I would talk to CCR engines about getting one of there replacement engines. You will have a good warranty then and hopefully no more troubles for a long time.

 

Glen