idosubaru

1. you used Subaru seals it appears? (not that i know if it matters) 2. are you positive you got the right seals (they didn't change between the non-VVT and VVT changes from 04 - 05?) assuming correct parts and installation my first thought is if the two are connected - bad bearings and valve stem seals. which makes me wonder: a. is it possible for loose enough bearings to cause the pistons to have more play, extend further, and contact the valves? i've seen bent valves that look so close to straight that i've just scrapped them and replaced them in fear of accidentally mixing up known good valves and bent ones. it would be easy to not notice a bent valve. but then if it's not noticeable it doesn't seem like it would be enough to harm the guides/seals any time soon. and i still can't imagine it being enough though, it seems the bearings would get worse quicker than the valves would hog out the valve guides. so it seems unlikely, but so does two issues happening like this. i've never had an issue with Subaru valve stem seals but they're tiny size in tight places does seem like it could lend itself to mis-seating them? if you remove the two lower engine mount nuts and upper pitch stopper and jack the engine up it's easy to pull a head with the engine insitu, so you don't have to yank the motor again.

I'd carry the piston slap/rod bearing discussion to another thread - he's asking specifically about head gaskets here. it sounds like a lengthy discussion would need to happen to clarify some of that because piston slap is benign, lower end bearing failure is not. the former is common, the later is possible. start another thread if necessary, he's not asking it here.

i'd look at wet traction reviews and go from there. what he just said is true - characteristics are determined by rubber compounds. a tire that lasts 70,000 miles isn't going to have good traction. it'll wear great, but not have the traction of softer tires (which wear more). extrapolate that to all characteristics...feel, performance, wet, snow, noise, wear. like me...it sounds like you'd lean towards wet weather performance. i run snow tires so my next concern is high speed wet road performance. i would guess most people (like 75+% of people i know) just install a tire and never think about it again. their reviews will vary if they opt for a cheap tire and expect worlds of performance in high speed wet, snow, etc...which i'd guess is common. Michellins are awesome, i'm a big fan of them. i see Michellin as the one company that if you buy a tire it'll be decent. other companies have great tires, and some bad ones. but, i almost never buy Michellin because they are pricey and i run snow tires so i don't have a need for stellar all-season/all-purpose tires. if you have an honest tire company/person that will talk *to you* and not through a lens of company/programs/rebates/sales goals, ask them. they're selling tires every day and know what to put on their own vehicles.

yes - $275 is a good price, i usually shoot for $250 so you're right there. $250 - $450 the average around here so you're on the low end. my wife is from Canton and Ohio has it made - tons of cheap, flat, land. that's not the case in the northeast, on the coast, or in the mountains. i've wondered why there's not more...but i guess my area is so tiny, where cities in this state are just dinky suburbs in other states, market is too small i guess. and you'd have to supply torches for anyone to get through rusty bolts. LOL

make sure it's not the intake gasket leaking into the cylinder head first. they are a known weak spot. it would seem the compression test verifies the HG. can't guarantee anything on a quarter century old engine with unknown history but if it's in otherwise good shape it should last quite a few more miles. i'd get one of the $60-$80 timing belt kits on ebay so you have all new idlers too, old idlers are devoid of grease by now. water pump a great idea too.

wow, nutty. at this point i'd get the FSM and verify every step with 100% accuracy. for vacuum leaks - just spray carb cleaner or starting fluid around the engine bay while idling or cranking it - when the fluid hits a leak the RPM's will notably change due to "more fuel" getting in with the intruding air.

sounds like a good plan, i'm sure the EJ22 swap threads and such have covered lots of radiator questions. it's done all the time, so i'd see what they're doing/recommend. much depends on what you'll be doing with the EJ22 as well. if you're racing, towing, carrying huge loads up mountains...etc then it might tax the weakest part of the cooling system. if yo'ure just doing basic daily driving and playing it won't matter.

it is said the turbo cam is different, though i doubt you'd notice much difference if you needed to swap for a daily driver. distributor is dependent more on years probably, would be best to keep matched to the vehicle as there are a few changes from 86, 87, 88. pigtails can be swapped on some if that's the only difference.

how many miles? testing for exhaust gases in the coolant would be the definitive test. overheating and being low on coolant are not headgasket symptoms. fill the coolant - make sure it's bled of all air or it will overheat. fill it with nose of the car up in the air higher than the rear. some have a bleeder screw on top of radiator passengers side. air will cause it to overheat...then boil...then push out all into the reservoir and engine bay. once filled with no air bubbles - is it loosing coolant or still overheatin headgaskets are rarely an issue with EJ22's and are usually caused by overheating from something else - though with frequent overheats it very well may be the headgasket by now.

plugs, wires

fine to reuse, just make sure no fluids get on the belt as they degrade the rubber compound quickly. extreme case but i've seen saturated belts break in like a month and only a couple thousand miles.

+1 yes, they do....even 09's and 10's Ej25's have leaking head gaskets.

refill and keep a close eye on it and check for bubbles in coolant and coolant loss. make sure you didn't simply loose coolant somewhere along the line and it was low. these engines are notorious for not bleeding air well either, so if for any reason the system was recently opened or leaked, it could easily overheat with only a minor amount of coolant missing.

good to know indeed, i've got both lying and thrown around. Thanks G.

i haven't seen it happen yet - but i would also inspect the oil cooler - if that can fail internally that's another place for oil and coolant to mix. it's the gizmo that the oil filter screws onto and it also simply screws into the engine. it has oil and coolant passing through it. otherwise it's a headgasket replacement, it's on the laborious side, but is nothing to give up on either.

parting a car is a waste of time in my opinion. inordinate amounts of time dealing with pictures, questions, phone calls, texts, shipping, wrong part, people that don't know what they need...many times from people that don't follow through. if you think about selling it, shoot me a message. that's a great vehicle and if done properly you should easily expect another 100,000 miles out of it. replace the block, resurface the heads, install Subaru headgaskets, and adjust the valves install a complete timing belt kit replace the cam seals, crank seal, reseal the oil pump, and tighten the backing plate screws, and replace the valve cover and spark plug tube gaskets i would expect another reliable 100,000 miles out of that repair. so if the car is in otherwise good condition - yes it's worth it. if your heads are still good (i don't know any history or even know what happened so i can't comment on that yet) then you only need an engine block. if the heads are suspect then just buy an entire engine - that's probably the most economical to avoid a headgasket job as well. these engines make 200,000 miles easily so i'd look for an engine with around 100,000 - 120,000 miles at the most and do everything i mentioned above for a reliable 100,000 miles more.

00-04's leak externally - so as you're buying you simply want to do the following: 1. assess if there are any current leaks 2. assess if they've ever been replaced before. 00-02 were under an extended Subaru headgasket recall (additive only) and warranty (100,000 miles) campaign. 3. change the coolant and add Subaru's required coolant conditioner immediately 4. make sure the engine is in good operating condition, tune up, no shaking, electrical system clean and sharp *** If #2 is an affirmative then it would be nice to investigate what gaskets were used, if the heads were resurfaced, and if Subaru's conditioner was added. there is absolutely no mileage relationship with Ej25 headgasket failure. They were failing at 30,000 miles under warranty when they'd rarely show up in public forums like this. Subaru offered a 100,000 mile extended headgasket warranty on 2000 - 2002 EJ25's - that can be interpreted multiple ways, but for them to take such an approach suggests early failures were prompting the need for customer confidence in that engine. when mileages are given, like 120k, they are really just making a statement about the average mileage of most 00-04 cars that are on the road today, which is just what people see the most of. 10 years old, average yearly mileage of 12,000 and WALLA - you have 120,000 miles! amazing! the mileages are irrelevant and hold no value in ascertaining your purchase in regards to headgaskets. or mileages represent a given persons experiences or the means through which the information is "seen" - the average mileage of those that hit the boards, their friends had, get worked on by DIY's, show up on craigslist, etc. lower and higher mileage cars aren't as likely to land on the radar screen due to lower mileage cars being more likely to get repaired off the radar screen because they have higher value, as well as higher mileage cars being more likely to end up as craigslist specials or sent to the scrap yard. failed EJ25 headgaskets have come to me that were repaired at 30k and were leaking like sieves at 300k but never replaced. if one can't sift through conflicting anecdotal experiences - just go look it up yourself. headgasket failure logs affirm that there's no mileage to assign to EJ25 headgasket failure: http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/guestlog.html https://www.google.com/#q=subaru+headgasket+log+subaruoutback.org you can also scour craigslist and find gobs of blown Ej25's with all sorts of mileage on them. there are forces at work that would even make an average of those mileages inaccurate, but nonetheless they show gobs of low mileage failures and put to death the idea that a statistically relevant mileage can be assigned to EJ25 headgasket failure.

those kits are awesome. run it!

excellent, thanks Dave!

what exactly is the headgasket doing? probably leaking oil externally? *very* well documented head gasket repair info/thread subaruoutback.org pretty much have to pull the engine on that engine. on the 4 cylinders you can remove the two lower engine mount nuts (14mm) and upper pitch stopper and jack the engine up a few inches for easy head removal/replacement. that I know of - no one has tried that on the H6 engine. keep track of the timing chain cover bolts - there are like 13,456 bolts and they're not all the same. identify them on removal to simplify reinstalling. they have a specific torque sequence too. heads are unlikely to have any issues. you can resurface them yourself, look up the thread on this forum on how to do it. very easy and beats trips to a shop.

Outbacks changed the Duty C signal around 2003 - it shouldn't matter if you're just installing a switch for the FWD fuse holder, and often times Imprezas receive changes later than legacy's...but proceed carefully depending how/what you're doing. There's no point in doing it. All the rotational elements and weight are still in place so it doesn't improve gas mileage. I've done it before...though usually for more practical reasons - like a failing driveshaft ujoint. Probably costs more money in slightly worse tire wear due to having only one driven wheel. It does cause the Duty C to be powered constantly, putting more "miles" on it, but it probably would be fine. The better switch to install is a Duty C switch which "locks" the 4WD when you want it....but then there's the 2003 signal change issue to check first.

i did have one this year that wouldn't respond to the speedo fix, replaced the cluster and it's been fine since.

they seem fine to me, for the price i was willing to give it a try. the Subaru price annoys me for being such a simple part. i noticed no difference in driving performance, but our roads do suck really bad out here, unmaintained, falling apart, former roads turned to nearly gravel, a portion of the road may fall down the mountain side (i'm not kidding - twice..maybe 3 times, it's happened on the road i live on in 6 years within a few miles of my house), so i'd be less likely to know than someone else. the metal isn't perfectly smooth...not sure how to describe it. it's like there's a metal scar or shaving still attached from when the bushing was pressed in - it's shiny metal but it looks as if they're used parts cleaned up - like the surface is rough, not glass smooth. honestly i don't know what a Subaru part would look like though but i imagine they may polish them more - probably just rough casting flash from production and not machined to perfection. which i don't care about for this part - it's a metal bracket and a bushing, not much to it. from a subaru hobbyist stand point it looks fine and from an engineering perspective i have zero concerns. i guess the bushing may be cheap, but time will tell and i just replace again. given my roads and i'm apparently the first to use them - i should be the first to know if they suck!!!!! LOL again - it's all minor and they look good and new - i'm just being as discerning as possible because i know everyone is different in their approach to parts, etc. when they first came out i hadn't seen anyone comment on them and knew nothing about them and they only offered one side - so i bought a few in that side thinking i may never see them again. i had a friend who's a mercedes mechanic use a press at work to remove the bushings and install them backwards so i then had ones for both sides. no problems there and he didn't comment on them.

"allow the bearing to roll smoother" - a transverse link bushing with a bearing - super high tech! the marketing is awful, but i bought a few awhile back when i first saw these because of the price.

"it comes in pints!" shifting sounds erratic to me. since it's you post, i assume there's no check engine light or damaged transmission pan... lazy TPS? hmm, i don't recall what the last bottle/can/size was that i used was.