ak98forester

I'm looking for a reliable guidebook to help me repair my 98 Forester (160K mi). It's not a great comfort to know that there have been so many stories similar to mine, but I feel as though all of you attached on this string are the most qualified people out there for advice and direction, at this point. Here's my story... Back in November, just a day prior to a 800 mile trip between Anchorage and Chena Hotsprings (past Fairbanks), I had the all the fluids changed at the local QLube. After two days at Chena (around -30F at night), the battery and engine (oil)were so near-frozen the car needed a jump. About an hour or so into the return trip to Anchorage, the engine lost heat, all at once, when climbing a decent size hill on a -20 F morning. So suddenly really cold air's pouring in, and the temp gauge was rapidly nearing the red zone. We backtracked for about 5 miles, mostly downhill, and stopped at a likely place to get advice / help. Temp guage started to fall during the descent. A "semi-qualified" station attendand suspected the thermostat - and we uncovered fresh snow from the air vents below the windshield, and hoped for the best. Temp ran normal again until almost at the top of that hill, when car repeated heat loss, redzone scenario. Decided, since no one was open on a sunday morning in interior Alaska, to chance it all the way home, with temp fortunately returning to "normal" in most of the way. Subsequently had t-stat changed, but problem continued sporadically to surface most days during fifteen minute rides to work each day, acting normal until last 3/7 minutes depending on route taken. Didn't always happen, seemed to be more prevalant on really cold days. 3 different shop visits immediately suspected internal head gasket leak, at best. No "milk" in oil, but radiator overflow tank lined with black gunk. T-stat shop said there were no hydrocarbons in the coolant. Two others said there were. Repair estimates ranged from $1400 to $2600, depending on the shop. Another shop said I may have overheated the engine enough times to "score" the cylinder walls, and generously offered me $800 for the rig. Car still runs excellent, and just passed I/M test last month without a hitch. Exhaust looks white from time to time, but not blue or black. Now I'm no expert, and Ive replaced clutches by pulling engines on my old 82 and 84 roo wagons (which have since rusted into the ground), and a chevy luv p/u once with good success; but nothing as "new generation" as this. Lots more parts and pieces, aluminum engines and other aspects make this seem a more daunting job, it appears. Money's tight, but time isn't - and any advice is welcome at this point. -Will