dizzydiva51

Thank you everyone for your advice...I live in Humboldt County and good mechanics are hard to come by. The dealer here consists of rude and unhelpful people so the shop I take it to deals explicitly with foreign cars, though they hate subarus...due to the high volume of expensive jobs. They saw one subaru who had FOUR head gasket jobs done within one year...they tried to convice me just to get rid of it...but I am too in love with my sube! Anyway, the job also includes replacing the right cylinder head and a lot of the items all of you mentioned will be included and some that won't, I will only have to pay for parts. I am fixing and will be selling it within the next year, hoping that nothing else goes wrong. I can not trust subaru anymore...and i do so may long road trips i can not afford to see if this problem reoccurs. I am really saddened at subaru for them not acknowledging and at least offering to assist those who are putting out a lump sum for a job that may just happen again.... The sad thing, in my opinion is the power of word of mouth and because they have not taken care of this problem the trust goes doen the drain. I personally work in an outdoor field as an outdoor cooridinator and subaru is the car marketed to all outdoor enthusiasts...and because of this problem and the problem I have read by so many others...I am sooo angry and bitter...i have already turned four people away from consisdering buying the outback and let alone any subaru...they have lost a trusting customer who now has the power of words to influence the market I work in...and it will never be regained. Thanks to all who chipped in and at least read my anger...

Okay, I was the author of 97 Ob in shop thread...and the word came back that I do have a blown right head gasket and there is a leak in my right cylinder head as well. I asked for pricing, which would include the left gasket as well, preventative, and I was quoted abot $2700 for the entire job. I had a new timing belt already put in about two years ago when the oil pump seal went bad. So my question if I do get this fixed what should I make sure they also check or replace while they are under the hood, especially since my car was overheating while driving? Are there specific parts I should request and finally will this solve my problem or can i expect a recorrence in the next few years? If so, how can it be prevented NOW.... Again, thank you to everyone who posted in my last thread and to anyone who has any words of wisdom on helping me make this desision...

Okay...so the word from the mechanic is that there is definitly a misfire they are trying to determine where...so I read through some posts that Subaru has newer head gaskets that can help alleviate this problem from occuring again in future..However, the mechanic said that Suabarus may also have cylinder head problems that coincide with head gasket problems. So my question is, if I do replace the head gaskts could I have cylinder head problems arising in the near future? How could I find out if this will be the case with my car? If that's the case, is this car worth the $2500 to replace both head gaskets?

So, here is a long story short..my 2.5 97 Outback is in the shop AGAIN! I and the mechanics are stumped. About two years ago, 6 months after I purchased it at $12,000 (70,000 miles), they found hydrocarbons in the coolant system and indicated to me that I would soon see the infamous head gasket issue arising. I continued to drive it as I had no apparent issues. About two months ago, I had them test the hyrdocarbons again due to the fact the car just wasn't running that well, it was much higher. I decided why not just replace the head gasket before it blew and before I was left stranded somewhere, I was preparing for a month long road trip with the car. I dropped the car off and two weeks later was told that there is a leak in the coolant system but they can't find where it's at. They had it under compression for nearly the entire time, mainly because they didn't know which side could be causing the problem. That was news to me, finding out my car had a double overhead cam as opposed to the single. Yes, I was one of the stupid, excited buyers who did not do ENOUGH homework to find out more about my future "lemon". So, they did not want to tear apart both sides and indicated to me that they just can't tell which side is going bad. They told me my car would have to show it's symtoms before they could fix it. So I drove off knowing I literally have a time bomb ready to go off, a car that is now unrealiable. In preparing for my month long trip, I decided to take the car on a three hour trip. Two hours into the drive the temp gauge started rising quickly, when I pulled over to check the engine, the coolant was all over the engine and the radiator was empty. The fan did kick on and once water was back in the radiator the temperature gauge would go back down. There was never any steam coming from my exhaust,as the mechnic had indicated would occue nor was there any evidence of water in my oil. So in order to get back home, we drove it continually stopping to refill water. So now the car is back in the shop. My question, as I have been searching this board religiously, is this indication of a blown head or could it be the thermostat or water pump? Any information would help as I fear the compression test they will perform may not reveal anything. Are there any others ways to find out which head gasket is going bad? Thank you, thank you....to anyone who had input or could lead me to where I could more similar information.