doromb

Yep, success with this job has given me a big confidence boost. Now I'm looking at replacing my dead transfer clutch/Duty C solenoid and dying viscous coupling, so I get to learn about a whole new part of the car!

A long-due update: I decided to wait until it warmed up to do this repair, so I parked the car and biked everywhere until spring. That certainly gave me motivation to get my car back in operating condition! I pulled together parts for a very reasonable sum (thanks ShawnW) and did the whole job in a (long) day: new water pump, reseal oil pump, new timing-belt, new cam and crank seals, new plugs, new valve cover gaskets. I couldn't have done it without all the support and advice on this board--thank you all so much. 2 months after the repair, my Subaru is running great: no sign of new oil leaks, no coolant problems. I guess the moral of the story is "just because a shop claims your head gasket is leaking doesn't make it so".

Ignore this post... needed 1 more to get PM privileges.

Oh yeah, I'm also planning on flushing the radiator (with a garden hose) and adding new coolant with a bottle of Subaru conditioner. Do I need OEM coolant with that or can I stick to the green stuff?

I'm going to do the repair! I drove the car about 10 miles today to get it up to operating temperature. The only new symptom was a whistle/hiss under hard accelerations at ~4000 rpm. Any thoughts on what that might be? As soon as I pulled back into my driveway, I popped the hood and looked for bubbles in my coolant reservoir. No bubbles! I'm going to disregard the chemical test and hope for another 50,000+ miles. Here's what I plan to replace: Timing belt & idler pulleys (Not the tensioner, it was replaced 40k ago) Front Camshaft seal (left & right, correct?) Crankshaft seal Waterpump? Oil pump? (or just reseal?) Thermostat Lower radiator hose Any suggestions for other things to fix while I'm in there? A friend suggested torquing down the bolts on the head gasket cover to fix the HG leak. Would that be worth trying? Thanks for all the help so far!

When I opened the radiator and had minor overflow, the car had been sitting for 3 days. I've looked for bubbles in the overflow after driving 5 miles and seen none. Does the car need to be above normal operating temperature for that to happen?

Thanks for the encouragement Rooster. I want to believe this car is fixable, and performance on my last drive was fine--no overheating at all. Before I took the car in, I opened the radiator cap with the engine cold and about an ounce of coolant overflowed. That seems to point toward pressure getting into the radiator somehow. The shop says they used a chemical test where they collect vapor from the open radiator with the car running and test that for the presence of engine gases. Do you know anything about that kind of test? Does it give false positives often? What would be the next step to rule out an HG problem? I know it's unlikely with this engine, but I want to be sure it's OK before I sink the time and money into fixing the front seals.

This is getting beyond my skill level. I guess it's time to let this one go. If anyone wants to put an an engine in and get another 100k, I'm posting the car to the classifieds.

OK, I'll be calling around for more opinions. The shop said this was an internal HG leak. I guess the problem goes like this: my camshaft seal suddenly failed somehow and started leaking oil. Meanwhile, a (pre-existing?) leak in my head gasket is pressurizing the coolant system and forcing coolant out somewhere (Maybe a loose hose?). How much harm would an internal HG leak cause? Will the Subaru coolant conditioner fix an internal leak? The EJ22 in there now has always run great-- even on the most recent drive I had no performance problems.

So, I cleaned up the bottom of the engine, and it looked like the leak was coming from around the timing belt case. I need to get this figured out sooner rather than later, so I took the car in to a local independent. The shop found crankcase gases in the coolant, indicating an internal head gasket leak. I authorized a 2hr diagnostic, and they accessed the front of the engine. The front cam seal appears to be the main cause of the leak. The shop recommends replacing the head gasket, timing belt, water pump, and front seals (crank & cam). Costs: 17hr Labor: $1455 Timing belt, tensioner, timing pulleys, water pump: $620 Clean & machine heads, replace headsets & bolts: $690 Crankshaft & camshaft seals: $25 Total: ~ $2800, with a 12mo/12,000mi warranty Is this a reasonable cost for these repairs? Alternatively, would new seals + Subaru coolant conditioner get me another 15,000 miles or so? I love this car, but I've also got a known dead duty C solenoid (transfer clutch solenoid) and maybe a dying viscous coupler. Is it time to move on?

Hey, I'll take a separator plate over a head gasket.

Hi folks! My 95 Legacy Outback (EJ22 engine @ 182k miles) has started leaking oil badly. I smelled hot oil on a 200mi road trip, and when I got home I found oil all over the bottom of the engine, with a few drops of bright green coolant. The dipstick is dry after that trip (it was at level when I left), but I had no performance or overheating issues. The oil seems to be concentrated on the passenger side of the engine toward the rear. My coolant reservoir appears clean, no visible gunk, but when I removed the radiator cap (cold engine) coolant immediately overflowed. What are my next steps for diagnosing and fixing this problem?