thed182

This is my first post, so please bear with me: To make a long story less long- I bought a '98 OBW 2.5L with 85,000 miles on it from a Subaru dealer in late October '05. Declined a warranty on it. Around Thanksgiving the Check Engine Light comes on. I brought it to my local mechanic who worked on my Volvo for years. He says it reads a cylinder #2 misfire and performs a tune-up and puts in new plugs. Car runs fine until X-mas. Driving home from out of town the Check Engine Light comes on again-- I check the car and notice that the coolant reservoir is full of oil. HEAD GASKET! So at 87,000 miles I bring the car into the dealership I purchased it from-- they replace the head gasket, and I have them do the timing belt, water pump, and clutch while they're at it. They agree to pay for half of the cost, which I was happy to hear. So I figured I had a brand new car after all of that, right? He we are in May and the Check Engine Light is on again (cylinder #2 & #3 misfire)! I thought it had been idling rough, but a few checks on the message board convinced me that it was a typical "Subaru stutter". Anyways, I bring it back to the dealer and after trying to diagnose the problem for a day, they tell me they need to pull the engine to see why the #2 exhaust valve was too tight. They quoted me a price of $1250 for R&R of the engine and a best- case scenario of another $200 to adjust the valves or mucho dinero if any machining had to be done. I declined having it done- I thought I'd wait for the CEL to come on again. It came back on in less than a week (cylinder #2 misfire). Any advice? Did the service department miss anything when they replaced the head gasket? Might the cylinder misfires and the HG problem be related? I have also noticed that the coolant level is low and it starts up right away the first time I run it, but it takes 5+ seconds to start after that. I am leaning towards ditching this OBW and trading it in, possibly for an '05 XT. Anything I should try before I either pay for the repair or get rid of it?