bearbalu

Is he already pulling the engine out to replace the head gaskets? If so $495 would be a ripp - off - it is 20 dollar part with 1/2 hr to 1 hr of labor.

Okay, before I get off the thermostat horse, how much TIME does it take the engine to warm up? If it takes longer, it would still point to thermostat. If it takes almost same time, may be it is okay. If you are taking a lot of short trips (that don't add up to a lot of miles), you would still be expending a lot more fuel since engine is running cold... How about a trip to warmer south to see if the problem goes away

Are you planning getting the head pressure tested for cracks? Might be a good idea. If you have valve seals, you can get machine shop to replace them - they will disassemble the valves to do that - the machine shop here did it for 30 additional bucks. Diassembly will get everything inspected including valve guides.

Check thermostat - if it opens too soon and engine runs cooler, it can dramatically impact mpg...Is the temp gauge lower?

I have 2.5 DOHC manual transmission. RPMs are high just like you - 4k at 80mph. RPMs seem to be always 1/2 of speed in fifth gear (so 3K at 60mph etc)...

These idler pulleys are 55 bucks each at 1stsubaruparts.com... you might want to see if you can get from there. You can also compare new idlers at dealership with old ones. If you are planning keeping the car for a while, it would be worthwhile replacing if they are noisy. If you are planning selling in a year or two, you can take your chances...

Might be worth comparing voltage at starter solenoid when doing a cold versus warm start.

May be the head is warped around the "alignment pin" area in addition to the 5pm damage you mentioned. Did you get the heads checked out a machine shop for cracks/warpage? Do that before you put it back in..

I read somewhere on this forum - do searches - that if you disconnect negative, put key in ignition at on positoon and connect it back with key in ignition it might work.

Starter motor and starter solenoid.

I agree that is ignition related. Coolant temp sensor determine amount of fuel that injectors put out. Since your car starts when you push, it can't be fuel related, it must be an ignition related problem.Further, it would appear that your flywheel is not turning fast enough when you crank but turns okay when you push- so starter circuit. Compare crank sound when cold and warm. Start with battery - make sure cables tight...

Glen, I agree Subaru doesn't have to do anything based on their warranty contracts. But companies must go beyond normal warranty contracts in exceptional situations - it just makes good business sense for Subaru to retain customer loyalty - no body expects a Subaru engine to blow at 75K - only 15K over the normal 60K powertrain warranty. Specially not one that was taken care of at dealership by Susie! If it had blown at 120K, I would say it is way outside. Now, they agreed to pay for head gasket based on what they find at tear down. Why head gasket? Because mechanic could visually see anti-freeze in oil and mentioned the head gasket? If mechanic could look into the car with an x-ray and find a shattered idler bearing or a cracked block, he would have pointed that out upfront too. What would have inspector said then? So I think a fair thing to do is to do a tear down at Subaru cost so that Subaru knows why an engine failed so early and have owner pay some fraction of the cost of total repair. It would benefit Subaru as well...

Idle Air Control. May be I am wrong, but at Idle, Subaru bypasses the Throttle Plate completely. Search this site on how to clean IAC.

You can swap plug wires at least temporarily to diagnose the problem. I think wire 1/3 are exactly same, 2/4 are slightly different. You head gaskets are probably fine. Search for CEL misfire and you will gets lots of info on what you can swap/test.

A few suggestions as to what you can tell Subaru. 1. Bury the head gasket issue since the problem didn't start there. What Subaru needs to be do is to tear down the engine at THEIR cost to find out what caused the CEL light to come on and engine to loose power and burn oil. After all, your Subaru is a well maintained car based on paperwork you have and it must be the workmanship that caused it- so it in SUBARU's interest to find out what failed so that they can prevent it in future. 2. Optionally, based on findings, you would be willing to pay a maximum of 20% of total repair cost if you choose to repair it. If the problem happened due to a dealership oversight (like they put in idler pulley with worn bearing when doing timing replacement), Subaru should ask dealership to bear the cost. Worst case, engine would be 5K and it might still be worth 1K if you get a new engine from Subaru! 3. Put a link to this thread and show Subaru what kind of publicity they are getting that they can do without! Tell them this thread will live for a long time and Subaru's decision would be reflected in this thread!

Seems like something bad happened in the engine. I am still at loss as to why head gaskets blew within 30 seconds. It could point to a cracked engine block or cracked head. Whatever it is - that sounds like a bigger problem...

Do a search for blown head gasket and it's symptoms, look for bubbles/gask smell in overflow tank and do a sniffer test if not sure.

Something doesn't sound right. While you might have blown the head gasket, sounds like the problem started with something else. Make sure you know what the original problem was and what is it going to cost to fix it. Don't just do head gaskets to find out other problems that will cost you another 3 grand. Did the car overheat before you pulled over or in recent past? I am not sure if first symptom of a blown head gasket is Check Engine Light and burnt oil smell. Bay area is expensive. When my head gaskets blew, I shopped all stealerships in bay area and best quotes came from Santa Cruz which I read on nasioc.com is a least-worst-of-all-stealerships. I was given an estimate of 1800 for tear down and re-assembly plus another 150 if heads needed resurfacing which I assumed they did. Working through other line items that one would take care at 85,000 miles including timing belt, waterpump, resealing oil pump, clutch, crank/cam seals/rear seal, it added up to 3100. And they would split the rental car. They said they would give me 10% off adding to a grand total of 2800 - close to what most independent shops quoted as well (2200-3200 range).

Check your thermostats. If your car heater doesn't work as well, it definitely would point to thermostat opening too soon. If they open too soon...that has a big impact on mileage.

On manual transmissions, I think it is supposed to go in a bracket that goes on the transmission mount bolt on driver side.

I had similiar problem and I am still not convinced that everything is okay. I haven't tried another good Subaru to be sure. Search for engine shake. I did take the left and right timing covers off (easy) and made sure it hadn't skipped a teeth. You can't get to the crankshaft mark, but you can check that camsprocket marks are aligned. It won't hurt to count the number of teeth between camsprocket marks (add up numbers) and ensure they are okay too.

The area you circled seems to be around PCV valve. Not sure if a clogged PCV valve can cause oil leaks around it with burning smell.

Since it downshifted just before dying, could it be something related to loose transmission mount/drive plate?

Could be EGR...cars are strange. Other things to check - overheat - hope it's not head gasket...check for exhaust in coolant overflow...search for dollar bill test on this forum for sticky valves...

P0400= EGR Flow malfunction P0304 = Cylinder 4 misfire. Which one do you have? If it P0400, good news, obviously you need to focus on EGR components. If P0304, causes can be various...