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Heartless you nailed it. No clamping force on that portion of the gasket leading to its eventual complete failure. Here's why. The metal covers for the fuel injectors are reversible! It appears I reinstalled them swapped left to right. (Edit: covers CAN be swapped but CANNOT install in this configuration). As a result there is a 1/16" portion of metal interference of the cover vs. the head leaving a huge gap between the intake and the head, as you can infer on the straight edge at the 2.5" mark. Hard to believe it ran like this at all. The vacuum must have been able to keep up with the leak for a while! Definitely pilot error on this. Not the fault of the gasket. Thankfully the intake flats do not appear to be warped!

Cooling fan speed and duty cycling depend on cooling demand. If your car is overheating both fans will run max speed. These fans have a number of ways they can die. Locked rotor, bearings, interference with the shroud, etc. Aftermarket fans tend to run larger footprint and fitment can be tricky but work well otherwise.

So possible scenario since both gaskets look bad. Airbox and hose leaks induce a lean condition, runs a bit hotter all around, further damages intake gaskets to the point of a full breach, flags code. All this in 5000 miles. Never overheated. Should I go with a different brand of gasket?

Did you swap the '03 harness to the newer short block? The only time I have seen a 340 code is from a salvage car with a broken timing belt, which in your running condition is obviously not the case.

Parts dealer is replacing the gaskets (parts only) w/o charge. I had local dealer do the diagnostic as my parts supplier is across the state. This is how the head looked after pulling the intake.

2008 Outback wagon, auto, 2.4L base model. 178K miles. Rebuilt heads at 173k after previous owner had the misfortune of a TB belt break. Used subie gaskets for intake on rebuild and turbo gaskets for the heads. Running great for 5000 miles then flagged a CEL P0171, running lean. Found a crack in the airbox where it clamps to the throttle body. Put in a new subie airbox. Didn't fix the code. Finally took it to subaru dealer. They smoke tested it, found a cracked hose from the DS valve cover to the airbox (my bad, missed that). Also found a leak at the DS intake manifold gasket. Price to fix it was too steep for me so I just pulled the intake off. Both intake gaskets look rough. The DS intake manifold gasket is cracked fully through on cylinder 4 and has hairline cracks in other places. The PS gasket is also failing with hairline cracks. Will try to post some pics. Worried about using new gaskets and this thing failing in another 5k miles. Maybe the gaskets were damaged before the install, like handled rough? They look like some kind of metal sandwich. Also I have been advised about installing them with the marking up by the dealer. (Edit, gaskets actually have no markings and cannot be installed 'upside down').

Well the car was running great for nearly three months until the past week, when it started the rough idle and stalling again at stoplights when warm. It dies with gusto. Gives an ominous THUNK when it stalls. My wife was driving it when it first happened right in the middle of getting her first Covid vaccine. The lady giving the shot said "that didn't sound good." Starts right back up although it likes to stall again at idle. Seems to drive fine until another stop then it stalls. Stalled in the driveway twice. Its still running a relatively new aftermarket MAP sensor. Disconnected the little three-wire connector from the MAP sensor on the intake and it runs fine with smooth idle, although the power seems a bit weak, with the CEL on. Drove it two days this week without any issues. I live about 500' above sea level. I don't recommend running without a MAP sensor for a monster hill climb to 12,000 feet. Going to bite the big one and get an OEM MAP from the dealer and see if that helps. Oh by the way I fixed the oven, had a bunch of cold solder joints on the control board connector for the temperature sensor and the lower element was burned out. Last pizza night was mostly a success until the pizza stone cracked, thankfully on the very last pizza.

Well I tried various combinations of the ignition key's ON-START time such as instant on (no wait, just turn key and fire in the hole), to several seconds wait, its still groundhog day. It did sputter one time but no start. With the ignition key in the ON position, I can hear engine compartment relay click and under passenger dash relay click, and also hearing the fuel pump whirr up for a second or so. Tried putting the jumper cable ground in different spots from body to intake without a huge loop without any difference. Still getting P0335 right away after clearing codes. So looking like I need to dive into the harness. Funny how I'm just now remembering that I had this same problem on a 98 OBW where the harness pigtail connector that mates to the crank sensor had a broken wire, with the exact symptoms, left me stranded that time, crank no fire, same P0335 code too.

That's interesting. I am spending a fair amount of wait time between ON and START, mostly to set up the OBD reader communications and also since 20 seconds is the wait time for the Idle Relearn procedure. This is my 16 year old daughter's car, that I broke borrowing parts to fix my car. I'm gonna have some splaining to do if I can't fix these unstable moods. She thinks my car's bad juju infected hers.

Suspecting a grounding problem due to large voltage swings seen by the OBD reader while cranking. Cleaned up the engine compartment frame rail grounds which really weren't too bad since I had just replaced two that were rotted. Attached some heavy jumper cables from the body to the intake. Reset codes. Tried to start, just cranking. Got the same P0335 code again. On the 2nd attempt it STARTED right away and sounded normal. Cut out after about a minute. Further attempts to start, nothing, but it sounds back to normal like the spark is firing during cranking which is a change. Took the jumpers off wondering if the giant ground loops were picking up interference, no change.

Back together after finding nothing wrong behind the timing cover. Attempt to start, sounded ok, just cranking without firing, then after a few cycles the engine sounds changed, like the wheezing sound it gets when you pull the plug wires like doing a compression test. Checked the ECU and it had a P0335 code, which is crank sensor, which I saw before. So I swapped the crank sensor from a running 2007 outback wagon manual. No change. Still cranks without firing. Moving the 2008 crank sensor to the 2007 doesn't break the '07, it runs fine. So the sensor appears ok. During cranking the OBD reader momentarily reads 8.5V, then stabilizes at 10. Reset codes and repeat, get a new P0335 code again with flashing CEL while cranking. Recall I got the P0335 code before diving into the tbelt cover. So a previously running car now won't start after running with a known bad coil. Some possibilities. 1. The bad coil did some damage...to what. Wires/plugs/ECU/crank sensor circuit. 2. Belt slipped a tooth on startup...can check with compression test. 3. Battery is failing? On the charger again.

Oh definitely. Nothing fixed the preignition until a new coil was dropped in. The only thing I didn't do to confirm was spray water on the coil, my electrical engineering self just couldn't justify wetting a transformer... The idle was crap until I disconnected the MAP connector then it was perfect, all else unchanged.

Not really but I'm hopeful to move to the porch by spring. And now wife is touchy because the oven went lukewarm and pizza night was almost a bust. Teenage daughter moaned her sweet potato fries were too crunchy. Time for the oven catapult.

Finally got down there. Nothing appears obviously wrong after pulling off the belt covers. Crank pully no wobble, crank sprocket is ok, woodruff key on snout is ok. Removed all the timing belt pulleys, all ok. All timing components were new OEM at last replacement 6 months ago, including the tensioner. The tensioner bracket is good, threads aren't stripped. All bolts were tight. Gonna take me a while to get it back together, work is so backed up. Probably going to seafoam the intake for good measure after it starts running semi normal, and do the idle relearn procedure and hopefully it "learns" how to run again lol. I'll check for magnetic bits on the crank sensor, thanks Texan.

Running awesome now for the past week. Put a new NGK coil in and a cheap MAP sensor because three ben franklins is too big of a hit for an OEM MAP imho. OEM from a parts yard would do, subies are rare in my neck of the woods though. I'm the biggest skeptic but honestly it hasn't running this well in...ever. No more pre ignition or wandering idle. New wires and plug swap didn't help this problem. So bottom line is: 0. disassemble throttle body and clean throttle plate, so nasty 1. clean intake with seafoam spray 2. can of seafoam in gas 3. idle relearn procedure 3.5 new coil 4. new MAP Kudos to all who got me through this.

If the crank pulley was wonky that could make a clunk, but the crank sensor is timed off the crank sprocket and I can't figure on that backing off the snout. Still worth a look, will pull off the timing cover and check it out.

So charged the battery for a few hours with the battery disconnected, and it started right up with a normal fast idle. When I put it in reverse (an auto) it started idling slow, searching, near stalling. Put it in park, and it stalled, making an odd sound, some kind of mechanical clunk. Getting weirder. No codes or dash lights. Battery is 12.6 with car off. Maybe I need to perform the idle relearn procedure. Maybe the crank sensor is intermittently failing.

For sure, especially now since her car won't start...probably bad crank sensor randomness- now that I'm in the doghouse I can try conversations about cats, usually a safe topic with her

Good to know. Going to also get a new coil; during a test drive after the coil swap to the donor car the suspect coil created cyl 1-4 misfires in a previously well running car ('08 outback) before I even drove one block. It's looking like two separate problems. Coil is rusty, car came from the salty winterlands.

Me neither. The MAP is easy to pull out, just a little prying with a screwdriver, the o-ring makes it tight. A little dab of dielectric grease on the o-ring to pop in a new one.

Was swapping identical parts between '07 and '08 Outbacks and have a no start condition where the car I borrowed parts from was running fine prior. Car is 2008 Outback wagon auto trans, 175 k miles, previously running fine until today. Recent purchase about 6 months ago with broken timing belt. Got car working several months ago and has been running great. Am having issues with my '07 so I was using the '08 to borrow parts. I swapped a known good MAP and coil pack over from the '08 to the '07. I also actually ran the '08 with the '07's suspect coil pack and got cylinder 1-4 misfires immediately on test drive, confirming the issue with the '07 which is also having misfires. Also get a strange EGR code, P1492 in the '08. So bottom line is now after putting the '08 into its original state with its original known good MAP and coil, and resetting all the codes, I try to start it and it won't fire. Just cranks. Sounds fine otherwise, like battery is strong (2019 battery). Doesn't make any noises like compression or timing is off. I get a P0335 code immediately, even before cranking the CEL was flashing, which is new, which is a crankshaft position sensor code. I didn't touch any part of the harness near the crank position sensor, didn't mess with the timing cover, just removed the snorkel so I could get to the coil pack. All vacuum lines are reconnected as far as I can tell. So a previously running car now won't fire, probably because the ECU doesn't know where the crank is. The freeze frame on my code reader says the control voltage is 10 volts, during cranking, which may be low? Could also be total randomness in that I have a bad crank position sensor all of a sudden. Or could I have created a situation from the misfires, with the EGR and CPS code showing up all of a sudden? The engine seemed to stumble a bit on the test drive, once around the neighborhood at low speeds. I replaced both ground straps (were rotten) when I did the heads several months back. Battery voltage at no load is 12.4V, probably not the issue but I'm charging the battery anyway and have also pulled the negative battery cable to reset the ECU. I can swap the crank position sensor from the '07 if I need to.

No fire from any orifices thankfully. Wires were correctly installed. Coil swap from a 2008 (my daughter's car) didn't change anything except some glaring looks from her teenage face haha. Car still searching for idle speed all over 600-800 rpm and rough. The MAF is different so couldn't swap that. So I pulled the MAP connector from the throttle body and started it and it flagged a CEL immediately, BUT, NO MORE WANDERING IDLE! Pulled the MAP sensor from the '08, swapped it, reset codes, and voila, its purring like a kitten. I live essentially in a flat plain without major altitude changes so I may be able to run like this until I can get a replacement. Maybe some vaporized crud in the intake found its way into the sensor. Sprayed some electrical contact cleaner into the MAP sensor cavity, but maybe best to replace with OEM?

Did another can of Seafoam spray into the intake, this time by the book, so I left the airbox on the entire time and used the hose with the 180 degree turn that came the can, that loops over the lip into the throttle body so the airbox can stay put. Spray took about 10 minutes while running the engine at 1400 rpm. Let it sit for 20 minutes. No codes. Didn't run any better afterwards, after letting all the smoke out. On the test drive, saw four pending cylinder misfires, and a new pending code P0172 "system too rich" that didn't make it to an official code flagged, instead two misfire codes were flagged cyl 3 and 4. Oh and I got the same pre ignition noise that seemed to improve by the drive end. Had changed the knock sensor for a spare, that didn't seem to make a difference. This is getting downright interesting. Got the intake cleaner combo kit from Subaru but I kind of doubt it is going to make much difference now. Coolant temp cycles up to 212-214 until the fans turn on while sitting in neutral, and down to normal operating temps on the road. Going to have to dig into the P0172 code to see why this is running rich. Never had this code before. Could it be from a leak in the air snorkel from the seafoam tube?