North to Alaska

I bought a 2.5 DOHC from CCR. I asked two questions of Emily. 1. will this rebuilt engine have piston noise after 35K miles.. Emily answer " NO, our motors don't have the piston noise on start up problem... LIE # 1 sounded like a diesel on start up at 35K miles. 2. will this new motor have head gasket problems. Emily answer "NO our engines are made to a better standard. LIE # 2 blown head gasket at 120K miles. Buyers beware. She lied to me so I would buy one of their CRAPPY motors. They wouldn't even return any of my calls when I was having problems.

I have been building rear end and doing automatic transmissions for 30 years, and I know what im doing. In Alaska only idiots use junk yard parts, and up here its NAPA or waiting two weeks for your mail order parts to arrive.

Goto NAPA wheel bearing set (inner & outer bearings & race) (#FW176 $58.00) inner & outer wheel bearing seals (#22026 $8.99 & #22032 $6.19) You will need a bearing puller for the outer bearing to come off the wheel hub. New NAPA wheel hub (#BK 770-1602 $92.00) sand the shaft with #320 sand paper. easier to slide into the bearings Don't forget to put the dust shield in place before tighten the axle shaft nut. New Subaru axle nut (28044AA001 $4.50) I have found that the BIGGER the hammer, the easier the race comes out. haven't found a Subaru wheel bearing race that didn't come out after being smacked by a 5 pound hammer a FEW of times. I have replaced several of the Subaru wheel bearings & seal sets and have had no problems with NAPA wheel bearings & seals!!!

I figure my best bet is a CCR rebuild - want the peace of mind... I bought a CCR EJ25D and I asked Emily two questions 1. Will your (ccr) engine knock when it gets 35000 miles on it. Her answer was NO. our engines don't have that piston knock problem (LIE #1) She told me what I needed to hear to buy one of their junk motors. 2. Will this engine have head gasket problems. Her answer was No. We build our engines to higher standards then subie and don't have the head gasket problem. LIE #2 She told me everything I needed to hear so i bought their POS engine. This motor sounded like a diesel on cold start up at 38K. Blew a head gasket at 120K. Emily wouldn't even show any class and return any of my phone calls. STAY AWAY from CCR. they sell JUNK. !!!!!! They will tell you what you want to hear just to sell you one of their JUNK motors. Go ahead and call them and ask them the same two questions I asked them.

The subie "Water conditoner" does a lot more then just being a 'STOP LEAK" Look up "water wetter".

VW Very good post. well written. Thanks. and my car doesn't even have a overheating problem.. our friends 3.0 had somewhat the same problem. AAA 'the shop" anchorage, did a head gasket job, antifreeze change and added the subie water conditionor and a good air burping and it fixed that problem. I also use the subie conditionor in our fishing lodges water cooled kobota power plants (2)(12Kw) The kobota dealer said to: "use the subie stuff in the coolant. And said it doesn't have anything to do with their head gaskets."

In Alaska, where you could be driving at +75 on a hot day or 45 below zero 2 weeks later. You can't take a chance on a used radiator. Your buying somebody else problem. Buy the NEW one...Save the old one, and put back subie when you sell it.. Then sell the almost new radiator on this web site for $50 bucks. Replace the (2) radiator hoses. ALL Subaru can do some pretty amazing things, But they can't take a BAD (hot-hot) overheating. Buy the new radiator.

I know & trust Kurt (owner) and his team with both of our Subaru's. 98 OBW & 09 WRX Just look at his parking lot, Im not the only one that trust him and his company. Thats why their more Subies being fixed at his shop then at the Subaru dealer just down the street (old seward highway). When our new subaru WRX needed warranty work, we took it to his Subaru warranty service shop in Kenai. Next time your in AAA, ask to meet ED (old man) This guy has forgot more about subaru's then most subaru mechanic know. Once you talk to Ed you will see what im saying !!! Im very impressed with him. I would say "good luck" but with you working with the best. Luck has nothing to do when it !!!!!

Go to AAA "The Shop" old seward highway & 37th. They will sell you all the Subaru gaskets (parts) that you need. cheaper the continonal motors too. Use SUBARU part only...I get my head gaskets from them. Don't forget to replace the spark plugs while you have the motor out Plus they give good free advise. and if you screw up. Ed, their oldest Subaru wrench can fix anything on a Subaru and I mean anything !!! P.S. if your dad's name is Pete, then I have flown with him many years ago.

Greetings from Alaska 102 MPH driving down the hill on Thompson pass near Valdez,AK

YA, me too. Then I bought one of CCR's motors EJ-25D. Bad piston slap at 30K, blown head gasket at 120K CCR (Emily) lied to me. Don't have anything good to say about somebody that lies to get you to buy their product. BUYERS BEWARE !

I bought a CCRengine EJ-25D. I asked two question of Emily before buying their motor. 1. Would this engine start knocking (piston slap) on startup in 30000 miles ? Emily told me " Our motors don't have that piston slap noise" Sounded like a diesel on start up at 35000 miles. 2. Do your motors have head gasket problems ? Emily told me " Our motors don't have head gasket problems. 120000 miles, blown head gaskets. She told me everything I needed to hear to buy one of their motors. Heres the best of all this. She wouldn't talk to me on the phone after the head gasket blew. Great support. you betcha, wink ($P)

Greetings from Anchorage. AAA The shop, in Soldotna has OEM Subaru parts. Thats a lot closer then the 140 mile drive to Anchorage.

Ill keep an eye out for it in LaConner, Wa Good luck in finding your jeep

CCR engines. I bought a EJ-25D from CCR. I asked Emily two (2) questions 1. Will this motor start knocking at 30K miles ? Emily told me " our motors DON't have that piston knock problem. 35K miles and their motor sounded like a diesel on startup. BS lie # 1 2. Will this motor have head gasket problems ? Emily told me that their engines DON'T have head gasket problem. BS lie #2 118K blew head gasket. Tried to call Emily but she wouldn't talk to me. These people will say anything to sell one of their motors. Thanks Emily. you sold me a JUNK motor. DON'T buy from CCR. They lied to me. Emily, the pen is mighter then the sword.

Tony (service writer) And his repair team at Skagit Subaru has done work on our 98 OBW and I have nothing but praises for this shop. Tell Tony, The person from Alaska that owns the red car that is in the picture on the wall behind him said Hi....

Welcome to the Head Gasket Club & Ultimatesubaru.org. My 98 outback s/w 2.5 DOHC is on its second set. First set went at 124K miles. Second set went 123680 miles later. I have been telling people for years, with the EJ-25 DOHC engine to make sure you change the timing belt and head gaskets at 125,000 miles. The second HG failure happened 2 blocks from the Subie service shop. USE ONLY SUBARU PARTS !!!!!!!!!! Use Subaru's latest EJ-25 DOHC Head gasket. Subaru's last four digits for this gasket is 0111 (Subaru parts) All the Subaru Taxi cabs around Anchorage (Their's LOTS of Subaru cabs up here !) that have HG problems replaced them with these new gaskets and have reported no problems. Same report from Yellow cab. Kurt, owner of AAA+ Subaru shop in Anchorage & Skagit Subaru in Burlington Wa. After you get it fixed, make sure you use the Subaru Cooling System Conditioner Welcome to the club.

Greetings from LaConner Call Tony at Skagit Subaru 757-2000 service dept. He is a good person and will get you the right info for your subaru You want to us the new head gaskets with the part number ending in 0111 These HGs fix the blown head gasket problems on the EJ25DOHC. I have known Tony for many years and he knows Subaru's You can tell him his Alaskan friend with the Ford GT said hi.

I bought a CCR rebuild 5 years ago. 1998 EJ-25 DOHC. I ask Emily two very important questions. (#1) Will this motor have the piston knock noise. CCR's answer No, our rebuilds don't have that problem... 35000 miles later, it sounded like a diesel on start up. (#2) Will this motor have the dredded head gasket problem. CCR's answer, NO we don't have head gasket problems. At 105000 mile it blew a head gasket. Emily wouldn't take phone calls from me. Emily lied to me twice. BUYERS BEWARE. She told me what I wanted to hear just to sell one of their motors. I had AAA the shop (subaru) in Anchorage rebuild another EJ-25 for me and it has 68000 miles on it and it doesn't rattle on startup.

1st set of head gasket. 125K . I bought a CCR denver Replacement motor (changed by Skagit subaru Mt. Vernon, WA). Piston knock started at 35K on their motor and their head gasket went out 70K later. They told me when I bought their motor that it wouldn't have the PISTON RATTLE NOISE, 35k later it sounded like a diesel on start up. The told me their motors didn't have head gasket problems. DON'T BUY NOTHING FROM THESE LIERS !!!! They didn't want to talk to me about that. Stay away from CCR. 2nd set of head gaskets were replaced by Kurt's AAA the shop (subaru) in Anchorage. with the new 0111 head gaskets from Subaru. The shop (Kurt)told me that all the Subaru taxi cabs in Anchorage (lots of subaru taxi's in Alaska) use this newly designed Subaru head gaskets and they haven't seen any problems with them. he said that the CCR subaru motor builder didn't grind the value stems when they ground the values and they had to use the slimest shims available to reset the value clearance. Anyway, my 98 OBW now has over 300K miles on it and is running great. 1st head gasket failure 125K 2nd set CCR rebuilt motor 105K later. changed both sides.

1998 OBW 300K second set of head gaskets. replaced a bad front wheel bearing set and my same problem went away.