Josh97546

Sounds good to me. What is amazing is how long she has been driving it this way. It just keeps going. Every morning though, I look out the window with my coffee in hand, and see her topping off water ad oil. She has also been frequently changing the oil. I think she already paid for the head gasket job twice over if she had just come to see me sooner! So I am expecting the worst. Warped heads and the like. It's good to hear "dry install" because I used no sealant on the Loyale heads, and it made me nervous. Well, I will tear it apart and post with all the dirty details!

What drew my interest in the head bolts, is that in every HG set I looked at, they said "new head bolts recommended" usually, that means "for sure" but if they aren't "stretch" bolts, should be o.k. I will look for the subaru head gaskets. Also, I commonly use a spray sealant to help me stick the gaskets for assembly. I was planning on doing the same here. But, I also commonly work with cast heads, that are in a "V" configuration. LOL

Hi, this is my first post in this forum. I noticed this place when fixing our '90 Loyale, and realized how much good information was here. (couldn't have done it without ya!) So I have decided to tackle our neighbors 99 forester (EJ2.5L vin #6) as well. She appears to have all the symptoms of a blown head gasket. Water in oil, oil in water, overheating, the usual. I guess my question is this: I have done many a head gasket in my day, but this is only my 2nd Roo. Are there any strange particulars that I need to know going into this? Seems pretty cut and dry. I plan on replacing the H bolts, and getting the heads checked. But I have heard about only using a "subaru" head gasket, is this true? Also, we haven't a lot of money to burn on this, and I wondered if I could get away with just doing the side that it bad? (saves about $100)