sean56a

:foot-in-mouth: The hose running from the intake manifold to the air intake duct was never reattached. I checked it so many times!! Just shows that working in the dark is not the way to fix a car. Hehehe. Now that it runs without quitting, I have more problems. Excessive side-to-side engine vibration. More like a rhythmic rocking from left to right, actually. Chugging. Especially pronounced at the tailpipe. Most worrisome: oil mixed with (coolant?!) dripping out of my right valve cover gasket along the bottom. It's a light, creamy brown. Think burnt sienna. Maybe one drop every 20 seconds falls. WTF? I was pretty confident about my work down there...

I'll do that check again, but at this point it seems to be getting redundant. I don't have a computer so I can't get codes. Maybe I should go pick one up... Thanks for your help.

Vacuum leak - I'm not sure. No check engine light yet. I'm mostly concerned about the white smoke leaking out of my exhaust system and tailpipe. The car has been sitting for a while though so it might just need to burn off. But why leaking out of the exhaust manifold when the path of least resistance should be through the tailpipe? Thank you!

Hi there, I have a 97 Legacy 2.5 that I just did a head gasket job on. This was my first big job on a car so it's likely that I made some rookie mistake somewhere, because the engine will start, run roughly for 3-6 seconds, then sputter and die. If I try to rev the engine it will cause it to die quicker, unless I floor it in which case I can keep it running above 1750 RPMs. I did this for about 45 seconds until I saw white smoke pouring out of the engine. Turns out it was coming from the exhaust system before the cat. Also white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Is it possible that I have some kind of exhaust blockage??? The fuel gauge is up past F (perhaps because it has been parked on a slight incline for 2 months?) Finally, the oil level on the dipstick seems WAY too high (at least 2 inches past the full mark) even though I put in exactly 4.7 quarts. Here's a full list of changes I made: New HGs Heads resurfaced due to .003" warpage Valve clearances (12 new shims) (everything assembled with lots of engine assembly lube - especially the camshaft bearings) New fuel filter, oil filter New exhaust manifold gaskets New Intake manifold gaskets New Timing belt New spark plugs and wires (gapless Bosch Platinum +2) New thermostat and top hose (done before the job) New driver's camshaft sprockets (chipped during removal) I can't see how it could be a valve/cam lobe clearance issue because I double checked my work with a feeler gauge and they came out perfectly. Could this be an alternator issue? Another concern of mine is that I may have tweaked something towards the back of the engine when I jacked up each side to get to the heads (did the whole job in-car). Before I started the car I spent about 20 minutes cranking the engine intermittently with the spark plug wires detached in order to build up oil pressure. I also filled the fuel filter with gas (using the car's pump, of course) before connecting it to the engine. Thanks so much for the help. Sean

Oh, well that makes me feel a lot better. What's the function of those cutouts?

Hi there, Thanks to 99obw and all the other contributors for their classic thread on head gaskets. I'm going down the same road with my 97 Outback. I bought it a year ago in Maine from a used-car dealer who purchased it in Pennsylvania, drove it up, and "had the whole engine resealed." I knew almost nothing about engines at the time so I believed him with relief, thinking it would be a while before I ran into the dreaded HG problem. Pretty soon after purchase I noticed coolant levels in the overflow tank dropping all the time but could never find a leak in the system. No overheat, no problem, right? Until a couple of weeks ago, when a head gasket finally gasped its last dying breath. It seems obvious that this dealer's mechanic is either inept or the dealer is just a sleazeball (well, that's actually definitely true. He sold me the car with a key broken off in the driver's lock ). The really interesting part is the condition of the heads. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this for me: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0IRMm5ZN2PxyRGW3KF6r8g?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7mr8fWgoyQzwE&feat=directlink The left side head has the same cutouts on the back! Should I be freaking out, or what? Sean