dcbpe

"Fog" the cylinders? How does one do that? Right now the coolant system is drained. I was preparing to run some of that steel seal stuff through the system and see if I could get the car working, but stopped after two water flushes based on advice received here at the forums.

Selling it is a novel idea...from another thread you know right now I'm considering storing the car for the winter and worrying about this in the spring...but selling it could help pay some bills. Who would buy a good condition ('cept for the HG) Outback, and for how much? The trans is new, the timing components are new, the brakes are new, the body has no rust or dents (couple of rock chips though), the interior is damn near perfect. It's been well taken care of.

Thanks guys, I thought it might be more involved than that.

I'm looking for advice on what needs to be done to store my Outback until Spring. I have a head gasket problem that I have neither the time, space, nor money to fix. So, I'm wondering what I need to do in order to protect the car from deteriorating while it sits outside all winter. Just cover it, put it up on blocks, drain the fluids, etc.? BTW, it has brand new oil/filter, and a full tank of gas.

I'm leaning toward doing the heads myself at this point. The only other major item of work necessary is replacing the exhaust system. The cats are shot. I will be trying, during the week, to educate myself on the procedures for doing the head gaskets, and once I'm fully informed on the difficulty level deciding from there whether or not to proceed. The car requires inspection in April and won't pass with the current cats, so I'll probably take the down-time to do the exhaust system too. The only thing I do know is that I don't have the cash to pay someone. Even the parts are stretching my cash reserves. Unfortunately my time and the garage space necessary to tear apart my engine are also limited. But I love my Outback. I'd be devastated to part with it.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Good thing I still have the receipt for the stuff. Now to decide whether to junk the car or do the gaskets. Tough decision.

Well, desperately hoping and relying on statistics are definitively debunked as realistic ways of diagnosing car problems. Spark plug #4 came out wet, though once dry it looks just like the other 3. However, the bubbles coming out of the radiator are exhaust, and I'm pretty sure that's un-good. So, I think that clinches the head gasket, as if all you guys didn't already know that. Now, my question is...how bad is the leak? Can one of those over the counter "steel seal" products you run through the cooling system work for minor head gasket problems? Anyone have experience with them? I happen to have a bottle that I had purchased for the Nissan a few weeks back but never used because my mother-in-law offered to pay for the repair (it's officially her car, but she recently stopped driving it due to Parkinsons). I do have the Subaru thermo/coolant/additive ready to go, but I'm not gonna waste them if the car is done. My last ditch plan is to see how the steel seal works, and if I still get bubbles/exhaust coming out the radiator then I will weigh junking the car or doing the gaskets myself. Opinions?

Jay....thanks for taking the time to post the info; unfortunately the car is 10 years old with 135000k...way past the extended warranty on the heads. I already have the letter as well. It is good to know that the Prestone is ok to put in the car too. I've had a hellish week and was unable to do a damn thing to the car. Before I do anything else I'm gonna inspect the spark plugs per ronbp. I don't think this is a head gasket for various reasons, but maybe it's just wishful thinking. For starters, I just replaced the head gaskets on my Nissan this Monday...I wishfully think it's statistically impossible to blow the head gaskets on 2 cars within one week . Beyond that, having neither smoke nor coolant odor coming out the tail pipe is encouraging. I'm going to let the car idle today and check the coolant level/inspect the plugs after it cools down before I do anything else. However, if the plugs look ok I'm gonna get a Subaru thermo, coolant, and additive before giving up on the heads. I'm desperately hoping the additive will do the trick; I cannot afford the head gasket job and have no time to do it myself. With my Nissan functioning 100% now, a head gasket problem on my Outback would mean getting rid of it. I'm not emotionally willing to face that possibility yet. I'm a little bit attached to my Outback.

I've learned that Subaru has an additive for it's coolant. When I changed the w-pump & t-stat 8000 miles back, I did not use the additive in the coolant, nor did I use it when I flushed the system last week. Until I took it upon myself to change the timing belt and other items back in July the only mechanics to ever work on the car were dealers. I would assume that they knew of the HG problem that SoA was "fixing" with the additive, and that they were adding it all along. So, could this be my problem? EDIT: I found this>> http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/CoolantInsidEWMay05.pdf The coolant I put in my car is Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant, which on the back of the jug claims to be "phosphate free"...the exact opposite of what the the End Wrench article says should be used. I shall be purchasing my coolant and additive from the Subaru dealership, changing out what's in their now, and I'll let you all know how that goes. Keep yer fingers crossed, I have zero time to change a head gasket and zero money to pay someone to do it....

Nope. No sweet smell or smell of coolant in exhaust. Just smells like exhaust. Years ago I blew a head gasket on a Chevy Blazer...I knew to smell for that, and I'm honestly baffled that it's not there.

The fans do come on, but I didn't try turning on the AC. In fact, the fans came on last night, after I popped the hood and restarted the car after the overheating trip. As for a blockage in the radiator, I suppose that's possible but I didn't feel any warm spots...again, I was feeling the radiator moments after the car had been overheated (the fans were on). Unfortunately I must admit I did not use a Subaru thermo. Duralast. The Outback is my primary car and I really can't afford to be w/o it for long, knowing that my back up vehicle has a bad w-pump (it overheats if it's not moving, how ironic!). I bought a new thermo on my way home from work on a Friday and changed it Saturday...I had no time to order the proper Subaru part. And while I normally would do that, I can't see how it would be the thermo...the water is circulating and reaching (but not exceeding) operating temp when parked.

So, I filled the car up again...with the front end raised (not hard to do, driveway is on 30% slope), I waited for air bubbles to escape. It ran for at least 20 minutes with the rad cap off; steam was coming out, air bubbles had subsided, temp gauge was still normal. I put the cap on and waited another 10 minutes to see if the gauge went up, it didn't. I took the car out for a spin...a 1 mile round trip around my house...started overheating before I got home. Lower and upper rad hoses both hot (so it's circulating), lot's more bubbles escaping through reservoir. I parked it, popped the hood and (very) carefully removed the rad cap to release the pressure (with the front end up). Started it up again and the temp was normal as it sat there idling. Not 1.5 minutes earlier it was pinned at hot. Totally don't think it should be this hard to get air bubbles out of a coolant system. If so, as an engineer, I blame the engineer that designed this thing. Am I wrong? I hate to bring it to a mechanic, but I may be forced to.

Ok, so I've got the car running. Filled the radiator from the upper hose, left the cap off to let the bubble out. It took almost a gallon (put about a pint back into overflow) but I have no idea how much may have boiled off this morning. It ran for about 15 minutes at operating temp, didn't go above it's normal just below mid-way. There is no wetness at the back of the motor BTW. I turned the car off to put the kids to bed, but then I'm gonna go back outside and see if the system sucked anything out of the overflow. No one had an opinion on my transaxle theory...is that just not possible?

@svx I removed the thermo and ran the flush liquid through, running the car up to normal temp (gauge at just below midpoint) and then for another 10 minutes with heat on high. Then I drained it and ran it with water the same way. While the drain screw and lower radiator hose were still off, I ran another half gallon through the radiator. Then I installed the thermo and filled the radiator...took 2 gallons...and then ran it for 20 minutes per the flush bottle directions "to mix the coolant". I also put coolant in the overflow tank just slightly above the "low" line. It seems to me it would have overheated during those 20 if I had shorted the coolant, yest? Plus, I think the capacity is 9.4 quarts, and 8 filled it...I figured that maybe there was some water still inside. Could that be an air bubble big enough to cause overheating on a 2 mile drive? @John No, no work done "recently". I did the timing belt about 8k back, and also did the thermostat and water pump at the same time. Of course the cooling system was mostly drained at that time, but it wasn't flushed.

Well, I hope that's not it. I've never seen a leak under the car, even last night while it was flushing (I was under the car looking for leaks), never smell coolant in the exhaust, and had no coolant in the oil when I changed it. I've never had to periodically fill the radiator before. Now, there was a bit of black in the coolant when I flushed it out, it didn't appear oily and didn't float, it sank. Actually, the coolant fluid looked a lot cleaner than I'd expected despite the bit of gunk that came out with the thermo. Total volume of "black stuff" was maybe 2 shot glasses in coolant that hasn't been changed since IDK. I'm fearful that I may have blown the gasket now though, I had to drive it home 2 miles this morning, and it was smoking like a m-fer when I parked it. I'm gonna go home and fill 'er up and see what happens. Could it be the transaxle? The transaxle fluid hasn't been changed in IDK either, so maybe it's superheating the radiator? This theory is based on the fact that the car ran just fine through 2 flush cycles (w/o thermo), and then ran fine once complete just idling in the garage. Driving it around the block took maybe 3 minutes. It seems like the car moving has something to do with it. The car has 135300 on it, I'm the original owner January 2001.