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gaskets? look at it this way, the next time he see a Subaru like this he will easily find the problem.

a lot of problems. I'm sure more modern ones can do more. It counted the timeing and indicated weak cylinders. Once you found a weak cylinder then you did another series of tests like a leakdown on the same machine. I'm not sure how they test fuel injection now as I have mostly worked on FI on diesels. These were pretty much mechanical and you killed a cylinder with a screwdriver by holding the valve open. If the engine speed did not change you knew it was weak. Another way was to crack the injector fuel line, but that was messy. I guess this depends on what you local shop has available for equipment and how good the person using it is.

Is there anyplace you can get it on a diagnostic machine? Even a small vacum leak could cause something like this too.

The Forester fits the bill for me for its size and carrying capacity. I assume they all have the same transmission? That could make a difference to me as I don't relly trust the automatics as much. Only the 2003 might have the latest head gaskets which would be a plus. On the other hand the phase 2 leak is not as big a problem and with goop in the early cars you get a 100,000 mile head gasket warranty. For me it would be the Forester, but it's your money.

and given the relative cost of the items I would also try a PCV valve. Backing off would be likely to suck a lot of oil in on an engine with a bad PCV.

that will work with you like that. Then you don't have a giant bill for parts you don't need.

In the winter they notice the heater cut out and look sometimes. Several folks I know of drove the car until steam was coming out the hood, and at least one woman until the engine siezed. A few others had several small overheats. Of the folks that gave it one good boil it seems that gaskets and a valve job did it. Of the woman who drove until it stopped I believe she got a whole new engine. What do you other folks recall?

I also have a 99 Forester and it had about 80,000 miles at the time. When I tried it in a parking lot it would settle to the rubber bump stops and break the rear away. I asked advice here and found out about the 15% stiffer KYB shocks. With the addition of an Ebay WRX rear sway bar the car is pretty balanced and the tires are now the limit. Still some body roll, but smooth and controllable. You can four wheel drift the car and it is even on both ends. I would have kept tuning if I was not happy, but the car reached a stage where it outdoes most SUV types in corners with the notable exception of the BMW SUV. The stock sway bar is about 13mm and the WRX is 17mm, it bolts right on in less than an hour. I understand this package is offered with the turbo model.

but some of us think you are very likely to have a head gasket problem. Best of luck!

installed by a pro you should be fine if the engine is in good shape. This may depend on how much the car was overheated (cylinder-piston damage) and how much coolant got in the oil (bearing damage). One of the folks on the board had bearing trouble after repair and I believe he felt that coolant got in the oil. You can inspect the oil and inspect cylinders and valves when the engine is apart. I have heard very little about repeated failures of the new gaskets, and your motor is faily low mileage for a Subie. I would tear it down and inspect first. If it looked OK I would have the valves done and new gaskets myslef. By the way my money is where my mouth is because that's just what my car got.

I always saw material worn from the clutchs and various other bits in the pan. You usually saw quite a bit of stuff in the filter also. Doing the job like that removed all of this trash from the tranny and did not send it back through the transmission like flushing would. A drain and refill won't get all this stuff, but you don't circulate it either. I am afraid Nipper's professor and I might not argree on a few points, but this is pretty common. Folks tend to develop thier own ideas.I tend to do what the sevice manual says because it usually works and odds are they know more than me.

Whe I first saw skip's site there were only a few listed. Now there are so many I got bored before I could read them all. Here is one that ried all the usual test and it was sitll the HGs. Bought cheap used 1997 legacy at 80K miles needing repair, service, and TLC. After repairs and service, strange overheating symptoms began. Temp gauge shot up while idling or parking, even though ran fine on freeway for 45 minutes. Coolant blew out of reservoir, but engine not really hot - no hissing, steam, etc. If stopped before loss of coolant then some bubbles rising in reservoir. Took to shop numerous times for overheating and mechanic did the usual - t-stat, burb coolant system, etc. Co-worker found Skip's Head Gasket Failure web site for me and I took a printout of it to mechanic. He did compression test, cylinder leak test, and hydrocarbon test and ruled out the head gaskets. Two weeks later he gave up trying to find the cause of overheating and called his expert service. They told him it was the head gaskets. After replacement and machining of 1 head ($1350) car seems to be running fine. I love the car, but I will always keep one eye on the temp gauge. Thanks for your site, Skip.

an extra oil change or two does not hurt. If you are going to toss in an extra change dino is cheaper. On the BMW I gave it one extra change with BMW syn. It hurt the wallet but was good for the soul. Since the M series engine requires synthetics due to the high oil temps it can make dino wasn't really an option. When I broke my Merceds in after rebuilding it I did a couple of dino changes to get the hot tank and honing grunge out before running it on syn. I am probably a bit conservative on this stuff, but I usually have good results.

a number of folks whose engine passed a compression check and still had bad gaskets. The problem is that when the gasket is just beginning to fail it will seal when it cools down. By the time you get the plugs out to do a compression or leakdown test the engine has cooled a fair bit. If the gasket gets bad enough both tests work fine. At least trying a radiator is cheap, but frankly this car sounds like it has a blown gasket. It is true that a lot of folks have thrown many parts at this problem trying to diagnose it. Folks have even been able to limp these cars for a while by pulling the thermostats as the engine runs cooler and the gasket seals until it gets worse. If it were my car it would get head gaskets now with no more fooling around.

If you are up to wierd stuff in the coolant you have a bad head gasket.

That was pretty much what I had done to the engine of my Subie shortly after I got it. As an ex mechanic I like to keep everything as well serviced as possible. My radiator was in good shape so I left that, but it got clutch, that stupid plastic oil slinger, all seals, all belts, tensioner, water pump, and the front exhaust replaced. The joy is that the car runs like new and does not drip a drop of oil or coolant even after a several hundred mile trip. The pain is paying for the job. The other joy is there are no car payments and I am very sure that I will get at least another 100,000 miles out of the car.

was the great luck my relatives in New Zealand have with them. I didn't know about the 2.5 head gasket problem until I found this board. Folks here advised me to get a phase 2 which I did. Of course I did replace the gaskets on my phase 2 also, but if I had waited Subaru came out with a "sort of" fix for the phase 2. I feel sorry for you guys and maybe you could form a head gasket support group.

if the waterpump is really bad when they get it apart. It has to go anyway by me. The exhaust gas in the coolant may not show up until the gasket gets fairly bad. It is actually sort of a good sign if it does not, as this means you are getting a gasket fixed before too much damage has been done. These things seal up when they cool down when the gasket just starts to go. I have never seen any car act like a Subaru.

At this poin the water pump may very well show weeping signs. I am sure it is due to be replaced anyway. The problem is that may not fix the car. If they are willing to work with you and not charge you twice for this job, fair enough.

I would try a new and possibly heavier oil in the diff. If that changes the sound then at least you know where it is coming from. Changing an engine should not affect the diff, but sometimes I am amazed what folks can screw up.

and shop to shop. That is less than I paid for my head gasket job, but here in CA things are expensive. Some independents are much cheaper than dealer work. In this area I think an engine change would cost at least $4,000, but would be quite satisfying. Just around here you could get great variations in price, for example installing a used or JDM engine might be far cheaper than a dealer or up market indie rebuild. There are also small corner shops that might do jobs quite cheaply. I was willing to pay more for my head gasket job to ensure the mechanic knew Subarus. I would expect to pay $1200 to $2,000 around here because there are things you should do at the same time. water pump timing belt check heads and valve job if necessary tensioner reseal oil pump crank seal If you do those the front of the engine should not require more service as long as you own it. You can save money by leaving any of these out, but do you really save in the long run?

mileage. There is a pretty good chance that for the conditions you drive in that is fairly normal mileage. In the dead flat area around here I seem to average about 25 mpg with my Forester. Forester box shapes don't help the highway mileage much. Do a search and you will find what others have for mileage. We sure don't get what those 2.2 legacys and Imps get.

that an OEM temp guage is not usually that accurate. It is not a bad idea to put a thermometer in the radiator, (be careful) put it in cold, and watch the temp rise and compare to the guage. If your temp went up on hard pulling that is fairly normal and means the guage works. I have a Pontiac in my yard that says it is about 120 when it is parked and cold. Cooling system service is a good idea and changing the thermostat at proper intervals is a good idea. Also inspect all the other items while you are doing it, like heater hoses and cap.

at AutoZone no less. It was pretty cheap and I think I've only used it once. It sure worked fine to read and clear the code I got last winter, but I am sure it could not do anything very sophisticated. Luckily most of the time that will be all you need.

30 mpg is if I coast down the rockies.