tradesman

Thanks all for the replies. Seems my fears are correct. Now just comes the decision to invest the money or eat the loss. Only paid 2300 for vehicle and from what I've heard head gasket replacement can get pretty expensive. Also if the last owner dumped it because of this who knows how long they let the problem persist so the issue of warping is another hidden concern. Thanks again.

So I recently bought a '99 Legacy Outback with a 150k miles. When I test drove the car everything seemed to be running great. Unfortunately shortly after (with a day) the check engine light came on and seemed to run pretty rough off the start and in idle. Took it to my mechanic and when we popped the hood there was a lot of radiator fluid all over and the reserve take was to the brim. Obviously where fluid was coming from. Diagnostic said misfire in cylinder 3 and thought it may have been from liquid getting all over the cables and connections. After drying everything off and syphoning some out of the reservoir. seemed ok but light promptly came back on and was still running rough. couldn't get car in until weekend so had to wait a few days. Meanwhile the temperature gauge began to run all the way up whenever I would stop or slow down real slow. But preceded to go back to normal once I got going again. Did this for a few days until eventually peeking out on hot while I was actauuly on the way to getting plugs and wires replaced. Steam was pouring out of what I think was a pressure release valve on top left of radiator (opposite of cap). So we replaced the thermostat and all plugs and wires. Also epoxied the top of that valve cuz it seemed to be cracked. The problem seemed to be fixed. Car ran smooth and didn't overheat. Also coolant seemed to stay at normal level. Ran great for about a week. Until today. When I noticed the temp gauge acting up again and pulled over and noticed that coolant was all over again. presumably out of reservoir. And was doing the same thing where the gauge would spike at a stop but return to normal once I was cruising even going about 60mph. Seemed to run cooler at higher speed. and hotter around 30 mph. If anyone has experienced this issue before or has any ideas would really appreciate some feedback. My mechanic said this could possibly be a head gasket problem. Feeling like I may have gotten taken by the seller who was a mechanic and wont return any of my calls. Thanks for any input