GeneralDisorder

It's not an "experience" thing - many people on this site including myself have seen both in person and it's obvious which is better. Not to mention the failure rates which are considerably higher. I've been here a long time - wrenched on more Subaru's than I can even count at this point - and aftermarket just doesn't cut it for Subaru gaskets. I'm here every day and you won't find a thread about how Subaru's gaskets suck - but you will find many where people have been bitten by an aftermarket gasket of one form or another. Call it anecdotal and try to convince yourself I'm full of hot air if you like - but that's the way it is whether you like it or not. GD

No - not at all. Everyone else on this site will back me. We don't buy Fel-Pro gaskets because there's no reason to. There's no cost savings, the OEM gaskets are spectacular and the risk is too great. To even consider buying anything else (from any manufacturer - including Fel-Pro) is just silly. The motivations of the two companies are entirely different - Fel-Pro is in business to sell gaskets and make money doing it. Subaru is in business to sell cars and build a reputation for quality. If they have to lose money on a gasket to insure there isn't a repetitive problem with them - they will. I don't care who makes them - aftermarket EJ25D head gaskets are NOT ACCEPTABLE. Period. End of discussion. GD

Due to lots of my own experience with both Fel-Pro and OEM gaskets. This started years ago - back when I did a lot of EA engine work. None the wiser, I bought Fel-Pro thinking I would save money over the dealer - MISTAKE. There are numerous gaskets that are obviously inferior just on a cursory examination. Their intake manifold gaskets are a great example - Fel-Pro makes them from more or less cardboard on the EA's - looks like you cut the side out of cereal box. The OEM gaskets are twice as thick and made from grapite impregnated steel like just like the head gaskets. Since coolant flows though them the Fel-Pro's don't live long in this environment. I had one blow out and strand me 20 miles from home about 5 years ago. I haven't bought much from them since but I've had occasion to see their gaskets in person on many occasions. Their intake and exhaust gaskets suck, their cork gaskets are cheap and soft, and based on this alone I wouldn't even consider using their EJ head gaskets. Their EA head gaskets are good - the Perma-Torque line of composition head gaskets are a time saver on the EA's becaue they don't require a retorque like the OEM one's. But those are a totally different animal than the EJ MLS gaskets. Fel-Pro *can* make good gaskets - but like any other company they need to make money and they put their engineering effort into stuff that will do that - I absolutely love their one-peice, silicone SBC oil pan gaskets - well worth the $27 for one. It's not that I dislike Fel-Pro - on the contrary - for *some* stuff their gaskets are great. But I have learned to distrust their products on Subaru's and when you take into account all the trouble that Subaru themselves had with sealing the EJ25D properly as well as the negligable price difference..... it's a no-brainer - OEM all the way. GD

Speculation. GD

Hard to say for sure. Fel-Pro has not been providing quaity head gaskets for the Subaru EJ engines. People have been burned before and that's why we don't use them. It took Subaru 4 try's to get to the current 4 layer design and they built the engine - I wouldn't trust any aftermarket brand simply because of this. And also because the 4 layer current design is totally indestructible - I haven't heard of a single blow-out and my guess is that you would crack a head or melt something before you blew that gasket. GD

It's not worth it to use the Fel-Pro's. The OEM gaskets are now 4 Layer and are $34 each. There's no win with the Fel-Pro's except possibly a small cost savings - still not worth the chance of failure - Subaru did away with all the stock of 3 Layer units for some reason - I don't know the story as to why but they felt it was worth it to dumpster them...... But if they are 3 Layer MLS - based on the 2nd gen OEM gasket - they will probably be fine. It's unlikely you will have a failure. GD

It means very little unless you break a timing belt - which is a few and far between type of incident on Subaru's. Unless you just straight don't do any maintenance on them - even then there's only a small chance that what stops it from driving is actually a broken/skipped belt that damages valves, etc. The EJ belts are awesome units and this whole "I can't own an interfereance engine" crap is just that - crap. Many of the people that feel that way came from the EA82 and have bad experiences with broken belts - it just doesn't happen on EJ's unless things get neglected. That's why Subaru went to interferance engine designs - they have advantages in effeciency and power over the non-interferance engines. So the reality is that they were non-interferance until the belt system was well proven - when it was determined that they were past the belt-breakage stage of engineering the need for non-interferance engines evaporated. So really it's not a "YAY!" sort of thing - it's ok if you feel like you may not be doing any maintenence till the thing breaks or feel that your skills in installing a belt are poor and might cause a breakage.... but frankly it's a non-issue. GD

You definitely have a bad lower radiator hose and that's the major leak I see. Job #1 is to replace both your radiator hoses. Then clean and start checking for these phantom head gasket leaks. In one picture you got a corner of both the oil pan (definitely leaking oil there) and the head gasket - head gasket looked dry on that corner. If you could get more of the engine block where the head mates to the block that would be swell. Liquid Wrench is not a cleaning product - it's more for loosening rusted bolts, etc. Brake cleaner is a degreaser/cleaner and will help loosen and dissolve oil/dirt/etc. GD

If you have a pressure washer or can go to one of those self-service car washes you can wash the underside of engine bay to get a better idea. Also a couple cans of brake-cleaner and some rag/paint brush work can do wonders. GD

Brat's have EA81's. Do a cooling system pressure test. "Seeing" some coolant is not a good enough test to make a judgement on HG's. GD

Hehehe - what will really blow your mind is that the threaded boss for the cogged idler is NOT the engine block - it's the water pump. So you just replace the water pump (which you should be doing anyway on a t-belt job) and you are golden. Complete t-belt/idler/water pump kits are ~$225 on ebay for the '99. If you swap back to a '96/'97 tensioner bracket and tensioner (more reliable) then you can use the $160 kit off ebay . Your engine ate the water pump and bent some valves. Not dead yet! Fix it. GD

Yes - have the CEL checked by any auto-parts store and tell us what code it reported. The cruise could be a lot of things and it could even be related to the CEL. GD

Don't use an easy-out - it will break off and you'll be in a worse situation. Get a set of left-hand drill bits and make sure you center punch it VERY accurately. GD

Engines get swapped around - it happens. No telling how they got what they got..... I've done both '97 EJ25's and '97 EJ22's and both have always had the old style for me...... but it could be a late-'97 thing as you say. The belt kit's on ebay start comming with the new style tensioner for '98s. Rockauto's catalog agree's as well - '97 old style (and some '98s as well - apparently the brighton used them) and then '98 moves to the new style. But nothing is for sure - I always check before I order a kit just to be sure. Especially on EJ25D's since so many have been swapped out at some point and on anything that's '97 through '99...... GD

The interior light/door switch problem is a common issue with the 90/91's - it's actually not the switch - you need to readjust the door latch and striker on the jam. I've had to do this with every 90/91 I've owned including my SS - haven't had to replace a switch yet. Looks good - that interior is amazing, and the mileage is fantastic for a '90. The small exterior issues are not bad considering. You'll be real happy with this one - especially with paddles, frankenmotor, and brake/suspension upgrades. Dirty engine bay. I have a steam cleaner for that..... GD

Yeah - these idlers should be replaced with the belts. It's just common sense. '97s also have the older tensioner - I just did a head job on a '97 OBW that I'm selling and it was indeed the old style tensioner. Definitely the original engine. But you can swap that tensioner and it's bracket to any other DOHC engine. If you want to swap it to a SOHC engine you have to have the bracket from a SOHC or cut off the rear belt cover mount. GD

Yes - the conditioner is from the dealer - it's about $1.50 for a bottle. Never a bad idea to replace suspect hoses. Try and trace down that leak if you can. Good pictures will help us to direct you to possible sources..... GD

Bad u-joints in the steering shaft. Your pump and rack are likely fine unless they are leaking or making noises. GD

If you pull the engine it's no big deal to thread the lower hole for the starter - or you can just leave it off. The upper engine mount bolt is enough to hold the starter by itself. I agree though - just rebuild the heads. It's about $400 for a head rebuild on the DOHC heads. GD

Yeah - if you have adjustable camber (EJ's) then it's not as much of an issue. It's a fail on the EA's though. GD

And it's upgradeable to "infinite MPG" with the "Peterbilt in your back seat!" option package. Death trap collectors item. Never seen one on the (public) roads. Totally not even a choice at this point - can't get any parts for them so you can't actually own and drive one. They are museum peices. GD

Probably a toss up between a 2WD Justy and a 2WD, 5 speed, non-turbo XT4. All the honors definitely go to the old-gen. Nothing in the EJ series can compare though I would imagine a 93 to 95 2WD Impreza coupe would be decent in it's own catagory. GD

I don't know about cold climate's and the conditioner - it won't clog anything as long as you keep the system full. It only hardens in the presence of air. I have two bottles of the stuff in my Forester and it's just fine. GD

They claim an external leak by "residue"..... sounds like a job for the Subaru Coolant Conditioner. Doesn't sound like a huge problem to me. Sounds like they are trying to drum up some work. I question their motives in recommending a gasket job for a small leak such as this would seem to be. If its not enough to drip on the ground then toss in the conditioner and monitor it. GD

They claim you are using coolant..... you need to have a cooling system pressure test done not a compression test. It is evident that your compression is fine so testing that will tell you nothing. A leak-down test might show bubbles in the radiator. If it passes both of those tests then there is still the possibility that a leak exists which only opens once hot...... that is much harder to find and it's best to only conclude that once if passes both the leak-down and the cooling system pressure test yet continues to use coolant. GD