gsrxrsx68

No comparison...Having owned all three, including two toyotas I can say the Subies do not stack up. Another family member also owned a subie that turned out to be junk.Driving wise though, subies are a one of a kind for their price...So buy'um new, drive them under warranty, sell 'em. Or, if you are incined to work on cars(which i do think can be fun) then they are also great.

'97 OBW,2.5 Does anyone if Subaru specifies burping the coolant system after installing a new timing belt? The backround on this is I had a timing belt replaced, the next drive from the shop the car overheated and now has a blown headgasket. This car has never overheated prior to this. Upon this happening I asked the mechanic who did the work what they had done. He denied touching the cooling system at all. Well after much research and doing an inspection of their work I now realize that you must remove the fans and the coolant resiviour. Further I noticed the timing marks were not 100% line up. I read that they can look that way due to the imprecise nature of the plastic timing marks and other components. However, when they were adjusted by one tooth the alignment was perfect. So does anyone know if Subaru's procedure inclures burping the coolant system? Or could being off by one tooth cause a weak head gasket to fail? Thanks

Why be their test monkey? The hg is not holding up. I think it is the third or fourth HG for this engine. Are the engineers really so inept that they cannot design a HG? Of course not. If that were the case all HG's would fail. Obviously the HG is not the cause of this problem but is rather the manifestation of the problem. It is true the rest of the car is great, but the cost of the repair to this engine is prohibitive on a higher mileage car. Spending that kind of money on an older car puts the true cost of ownership right in line with owning a new car. I would say buy new and sell when it goes out of warranty or buy a year and model that is proven to be defect free, IMHO.

Stay Away. Buy a different model wo HG problems. Sell your '97 too. Get different models without the HG problem. Say you need to spend $1500 on a $5000 or $6000 car. The car is still only worth the same after the repair and there is no improvement to the car, plus how could you even sell it without disclosing the problem? I know many people can but I couldn't. F%$# all the subaru's with this problem, it is total bull@#$$.

Add this to your question: How many people got their head gasket fixed and then got rid of their car. I know my car is going bye-bye. I would also guess the motor has been out of the car once before yet mysteriously that is not in the service logs(I guess someone color coded all the hoses just for fun).

The real problem is the wind...too much wind makes folks debate such issues.

Thanks, Iforgot...it is a '97 obw

Questions on two techniques: 1. I read a post which suggested place the car in fifth gear, set the break and use a breaker bar to remove the crank pulley. Any thoughts? I started to do this and got to thinking about all the torque and stopped myself. Any chance of causing damage using this technique? 2. Someone posted they would remove the engine if they had to do the head gasket again so they could adjust the valves. If you have the head off is it possible to adjust the valves then? I guess I should run to the store and get a manual.

I'd love to, car needs this, that and the other thing also. I don't have any place descent to work on it though, so I look a the car itself as a parts container. It is a sucky situation.

sweet, 130 k on that motor, it's gonna get a hillbilly fixin...Next stop...reman motor anyway.

I guess I forgot to specify EJ-25 OBW...Still think it can be done?

removing engine? Anyone done it that way?

Anyone have any suggestions for aiming headlights on this car? It seems like the lights aren't even on sometimes but when I check them they look bright.

Great site. I saw a reference on your site to replacing the hg with the engine in car. Is that possible? I really don't feel like pulling the motor or have a good place to do it. If it could run til summer I would be happy. Is it predominately the passenger side HG?

So is that correct that ECU's need to be swapped if the engine is DOHC?

Yeah, exact same thing. I looked at it for a while until I thought of whether or not it would be better if it were over one tooth or not. On one side it was a no, on the other side it was a probably not. My engine runs fine, but is not. HG is definately blown. I figure it was already blown when I got the main crakseal fixed. The crank seal appeared to fail all at once, during an extended drive. As soon as a new seal was put in oil and exhaust gases showed up in the cooling system causing overheating. My theory has evolved to believe that the super hot exhaust gases led to both of these problems. I guess I am thinking the ehaust gases escaping the head seal was looking for the path of least resistence. I have looked at all the solutions to thos problem and have come to the conclusion that this engine is a POS. That is what I get for being an uneducated comsumer. I didn't realize this motor had these problems. I wouldn't have paid for the crank seal and timing belt had I known about this. $350 for that, $1100 for an HG, valves job $450 and I still have a spent motor with 130K on it. I looked at doing a hack job(just a HG while leaving the motor in place) not even possible and also a terrible idea. To me the only option is reman motor with a warranty($3000 and a lot of wrench time). Anyway, that's life.

Thanks, I found some good info at endwrench.com(?). I was wondering about that clamp. If air was introduced at that connection could it cause overheating? The story I got from the people who replaced the timing belt was that they didn't touch any part of the cooling system when doing the timing belt. Kinda funny denial. Just for fun let's count the "touches": 1. The timing belt accross the water pump. 2. The coolant reservoir. 3. The fan assembly. 4. It looks like they took the upper radiator hose off(the clamp bolt is shiny clean and the rubber deformation through the hose clamp slots doesn't match up.) I guess he meant he didn't get any coolant on his hands or something. Seriously, I have no idea why someone would claim to have not touched something when they obviously did.

Can anyone explain the timing belt marks for this engine. The single marks on the top pulleys do not line up with the notches at the same time, although they appear to be off by less than one tooth. What about the double marks, how and when should they line up. Also does the coolant overflow tube require a clamp where it comes out of the radiator? These questions relate to my post "new timing belt, then started overheating"

Yeah the oil is troublesome...the only hopeI have left for that when the engine overheated it went above normal engine temp only long enough to let a small amount of oil/emmission in that normally wouldn't occor at regular temps(small hope).

Thanks...I guess I was thinking along the same lines. Is there an way to check timing belt placement without removing all the pulleys? They said the didn't open the cooling system to get at the timing belts(no hoses removed), so I was thinking along the lines of the belt being off by a tooth. Maybe that could be enough to blow an already weak gasket...Thoughts anyone?

'97 Outback Legacy. I recently had to have the crank seal replaced on this car. The timing belt was over due so I had that replaced at the same time. Low and behold, first drive after having the work done the engine runs fine for about 40 to 50 minutes on a cold day, and then it overheats and starts overflowing from the coolant reservoir. When I look in the tank there is now a thin film of oil. After getting it checked it is confirmed to have exhaust in the tank. I am not a believer in coincidences. I find it hard to believe that a car that has never overheated, as a matter of fact I have never seen the temp gauge go above the halfway mark (or even move once up to temp) suddenly has these problems after having a timing belt changed. How about some expert advice? Does anyone see a relationship between the two events? Or is this just a case of being unlucky?