tomson1355

BTW, some dealers don't like to do the HG jobs and just want to throw a new engine in there. Are you sure the dealer isn't hearing the well-documented piston slap? Be suspicious. HGs alone aren't reason enough to spend all that money on a new or rebuilt engine.

I believe the forester had the DOHC only in 98, and was SOHC in 99. Legacy/Outback wasn't SOHC until 2000.

Russell, Look closely at the coolant overflow. Is the coolant or the tank itself discolored? Gunky? Is it overfull? Is there a new radiator or radiator cap? Water pump? Ask if he's had any overheating and if the head gaskets have been done. IIRC, this car would have the 2.5 DOHC, and would be a candidate for a head gasket job. It wouldn't keep me form buying the car, but it would be something to plan for. Tom

lekmedm, The symptoms are not apparent all the time because the rate at which the engine puts out heat varies, and the rate at which the cooling system removes and disposes of that heat varies, especially with the air pockets that the leaky head gasket has allowed into your cooling system. You can check out the cap and the thermostat and the fans, etc., but you have the engine(2.5L DOHC), the mileage, and the symptoms of leaky HGs. I sympathize. I was in your same position a year ago, and didn't have the money to pay someone else to fix the problem. I found this board, and Skip's repair page, http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/ and did the job myself for less than four hundred dollars. It takes time and effort, but it is very rewarding and satisfying, not to mention money-saving. Skip's page is great, and if, after reading it, you don't feel too daunted, give it a try. There are many excellent people here who love to answer questions and give you a hand. You don't have to remove the engine to do the job, BTW, and I didn't the first time I did one. and don't let the valve adjustment part scare you. You can check those with a feeler guage prior to removal and you may not need to do anything with them. Tom

I can't answer your specific questions, but there are/were several clutch kits available for my '98 2.5L 5-spd on Ebay, Including Exedy, Sachs and at least one other. They all come with disc pressure plate, throw-out bearing, pilot bearing and alignment tool. I'm in CNY, too, and I bought mine on EBAY for $120 shipped from a supplier in Binghamton. Bought it one day, and it was here the next. Can't help you on the snout kit. I did not do mine. Tom

Get yourself a 10mm ratcheting wrench for the rear lower bolts on each side. A regular ratchet has too much depth. The most time-consuming part of the job will be cleaning out the grooves in the covers where the gaskets go. Tom

I reused a set and both sides eventually leaked. I redid one side using some ultragrey. It hasn't leaked again. I intend to redo the other side while the engine is out. I hated to buy the gaskets, too. I'd reuse them again, but I'd use sealant. it's terrible to be so cheap. Tom

Dave, Nipper is right that the hydrocarbon test is definitive, but the hydrocarbons are already visible in the coolant in the form of the sludge, so you know they are there. I've also heard of false negatives with the test, but I don't know that first hand. Read some of Skip's guest book. At least you won't feel so alone. Good luck, Tom

Yes, Dave, you are fooling yourself. The goop in the coolant is from combustion gasses seeping through the head gaskets into the coolant. The full reservoir is because you no longer have a vacuum to suck the coolant back into the system. The pressure test will not reveal the bad HGs because they only leak one way, from cylinder to coolant under the extreme pressure of the compression stroke. Mechanics who have not been exposed to the 2.5 DOHC have a hard time diagnosing the problem because it is not a typical head gasket failure. The head gaskets don't "blow", they just let air seep into the coolant. Thus the HGs appear intact, and they are, they just let little bits of combustion gas through on each compression stroke. But not enough to detect on a compression test. Still, with all those compression strokes, they add up to air pockets in your cooling system. Go to Skip's page and read about all the people who have been through the same thing as you, with the same engine as yours. It has happened thousands of times. http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/ The overheating is often the least symptom of this failure. There is often still enough coolant in the system to keep the car from overheating except under severe conditions. There is no definitive test. The goop, the overfull reservoir, the occasional overheating, are all classic symptoms of failed HGs in your engine. Really. Your head gaskets are bad. Say hello to Maine for me. Ex-resident of Turner, Gorham, and Peak's island. Tom

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the original HGs have three laminates and the new ones have four. The hgs are visible at various points on the head. It might require a magnifying glass, but you should be able to tell how many laminates the HG has. Four, and I'd guess they were done. Three, and I'd guess not. Tom

Before I do anything drastic, I figure I better exhaust all possibilities. To recap: The clutch pilot bearing was blown on my forester, and the input shaft on the tranny, where it sits in the pilot bearing, is worn. It's worn enough so that when I slip the new pilot bearing on the shaft, it has enough play so that I am able to wiggle it around. I assume it should be a snug fit, or else it will just tear up the bearing again, right? Has anyone seen this before? Are there any solutions other than to install a used/rebuilt tranny or rebuild the tranny with a new input shaft? Does Subaru have an undersized (smaller hole) bearing? I'm trying to avoid pulling the tranny, too. Thanks, Tom.

Well the good news is that the clutch kit arrived today, one day after ordering it. The bad news is that the new pilot bearing fits sloppily on the transmission input shaft, indicating too much wear on the shaft from the bad pilot bearing. I guess I'll be doing some transmission work, too. Thanks for all the help. Tom

Most of the oil is on the transmission side. The pressure plate, disk and flywheel are dry. There is a fair amount of oil on and around the separator cover. The RMS is brown with a few drops of oil around it that looked like it dripped there. The Haynes suggests that a bad pilot bearing could cause excessive shaft movement and, therefore, an input seal leak. Or is that too much to hope for? Thanks, Tom

There is still oil on the dipstick, but it is below the low mark. Of course,. I do have the front of the car several inches in the air. Clutch is hydraulic. By the snout I mean the area of the transmission shaft that lives inside the pilot bearing. The clutch operated smoothly and the flywheel appears unscored. Enjoyed your description of the tranny rebuild, BTW. I'm not chicken, either, but head gaskets and clutches first, tranny rebuilds later. It's all new to me. thanks for the reply. Tom

Yup. Thanks for checking on me, though. Tom

Is there a reason to not use stainless steel clamps on CV boots? Or do I have to get hold of a boot clamp tool? Thanks.

1998 Forester 5 spd. 147000 miles. Clutch started smelling and slipping. On getting it apart, I found a bad pilot bearing with several balls missing. The plate and disk look OK to me but I'm an inexperienced judge. I'll know more when the new parts arrive ($113 on EBAy for a clutch kit!) so I can compare. There seems to be some wear on the snout. Do I have to sweat this? Does anyone know the spec for it's diameter? There is some oil inside the bell housing. Should there be none? It isn't clear if it came from the separator cover, which is plastic and is oily, or the rear main seal, which looks good but did have a little bit of oil around it, or possibly the transmission, which is low on oil (The dipstick is easy to find with the engine out! I'd wondered where it was!). Is the tranny ever the source? Last: What is the purpose of machining the flywheel, and is it necessary? Thank you for taking the time to reply. I'd be lost without USMB. Tom

I just discovered that. Too bad I broke that pinch bolt. Thanks for the suggestion. Tom

Thanks! I'll give it a shot today. Tom

Found this on a search and bumped it up. Is this saying that I can replace the inner boot by removing only the inner joint from the front diff? I have the engine out so I have good access and I already broke the head off the BJ pinch bolt. If I'm reading this right I can take the inner DOJ apart, slide the boot on the shaft and reassemble. No? Tom

I've run these on several cars and they are incredible in the snow. Has anyone used cooper Lifeliners (classic or touring) as all-season tires? In the snow? I'd like to get by with one set of tires year-round but I'd still like to go in the snow. Tom

Thanks for all the input. I guess I'll have a go at it from above. Lying under the car all I can think of is it coming down on me. I did like this method, though: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36994&highlight=clutch Thanks for the help- Tom

98 Forester 147k. Did the head gaskets in the car at 130k. Definitely needs a clutch. I think it is its original but am not sure. Am I better off pulling the engine than the transaxle? Never pulled a transaxlw before, and I don't like working under the car (whomp!). I have a chain fall and a bucket loader to lift with. I am grateful for your opinions. Tom

Dave, A warning: People have spent a lot of money needlessly on unnecessary parts while trying to fix their coolant goop/overheating/bubbles in coolant problems on DOHC 2.5L Subarus. Many mechanics simply won't believe that a leaky HG doesn't always result in either low compression or water in the oil or out the tailpipe. Also, the overheating can be subtle and sometimes the first sign is the spewing of coolant out of the reservoir. If it were the transmission theory, I would espect there to be coolant in the T-fluid. If it's a DOHC 2.5L with goop in the coolant, bubbles in the coolant, or a high coolant level in the reservoir, It's almost certain to be HGs. Tom

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