Petersubaru

I do have a service manual mailed on the way for me and the car is a '01 Outback with a "detached" resoviour...

with only 45,000mi on the P/S pump, and now that the colder weather is apon us(-15F)..the P/S pump makes a slightly high pitched sound that is more like a "whining" ...the colder the weather is, the longer it takes for the sound to disappear until the motor is somewhat warmed up...when the outside temp is at freezing(32F), the "whinning sound" will last just for 3-5 seconds...it is definitely not the belt makeing the noise (no slippage)...maybe the bearing??, ..concerning the bearing, I don't hear a definite grinding sound that i experienced with a water pump, and when completely warmed up, the noises sound normal even with a stethoscope when comparing sounds between the alternator and P/S pump

importecparts.com....they have what you need and also OE with the correct fasteners...those ebay item sure look poor...

Not sure? .. but I think an easier way to go would be to install a " programmable dual fan controller" from "dakotadigital.com" ...search for "pac-2000"

Looking forward to the SOHC HG thread..

just curious here.. would it be advisable to tighten up a little more the bolt with the torque spec of 77.6 and bring it line or closer to the other bolts(81-84) ..to a layman it seems like such a wide spread in numbers

keep the info coming..a very popular topic with over 800hits in 2 days

it would be nice if all the required maintenance could be verified.. take the car before buying it, to the dealer and have it checked out by some one who is very familiar with this model looking for potential problems ..

An interesting read with testing included and other facts at: lnengineering.com/oil.html

what was happening or what did you see, to make you believe that the head gasket was leaking for 25K before repairs were needed...

my recently purchased '01 had only $20 napa organic pads in the front,,...enough to pass the mechanical safety for the used car dealer .. when the temp gets to around freezing, they would barely stop until warmed up after sometime ...but even after warming up they were very poor compared to the other cars I also drive...at the moment I am waiting for another set of pads...

I am aware of this Well written "needed understanding" and I will bring up in the near future under the old subi forum your suggestion of what others might have to say about the One lose head bolt..

If you "think it could be something else" other then the gasket ...could there be a possibility that the head bolt backs out ever so slightly...I say this because on the older vehicles ('80s) at least from my experience the leak also occurs at the same spot for my cars (passenger side, at the rear) ... the mechanic who previously worked on my car(s) for three HG repairs among other subarus felt that when removing the head bolts, there was one that seemed to be easier to immediately "break lose" (the last head bolt toward the rear)...3yrs ago I had to replace the headgasket on one of my older subi's and tried testing this theory useing my torque wrench(snap-on and tested to be correct)..the rear bolt was not even close to proper specs,... the Other bolts were tight,... maybe ARP's would work better....who knows??..I can only assume that when the HG repair was done that ALL the bolts were tightened to spec.................................

Other manufactures like VW have documented headgasket failures and many people who use these vehicles FAR from home include the HG replacement as a maintenance item,(without any arm bending from the mechanic).. even though it is not mentioned in the owners booklet or any technical up-dated reports..in some cases it is prudent to have this job done...

Thanks for clearing up any possible confusion between the different motors, that may have developed ... I seemed to understand that this thread was a general discussion about headgaskets, even though a late '90s car was mentioned ...anyway, the varous stories that all the members gave was appreciated..

even though the HG replacement is not mentioned in the owners manual..it certainly has become for me a maintenance item on the 3 ..'80's loyales I have owned for the past 20 yrs...O well..I really like subarus and hope to have better luck with my '01 Outback... I could't afford the mechanics any more so I learned to it myself

Thanks Guys

you know < I have this problem all the time...you take the car to the mechanic and all of sudden their seems to be no problem..I am sure many of us here(men) can relate to your story...I would suggest that if you can, stay with the car outside the dealership, let it run until it hesitates and then quickly get the service manager ...the CEL will not always come on for every potential problem...for ex: about 3mths ago my '01 outback had some hesitation, not very often and there was no CEL on... the mechanic suggested that I change out the front O2 sensor because the car was sitting for a very along time between start-ups(certainly not at there price)..I did and everything has been fine since...your problem also could be a cracked spark plug insulator..or perhaps one plug wire that even new and out of the box is faulty...coil/wires/plugs,,to many ignition items changed at once...maybe the dealership would have some of these used items hanging around for you to isolate the problem

Would you remember how many miles were on car for the head not having to be milled??

when replacing a carbed car(manual) with a turboed mpfi(auto)...just wondering if the conversion would be similar to the spfi conversion which I am familiar with(manual tranny to manaul) ..also, hopeing to make it as basic as possilible with no digi gauges etc...I believe the motor support member and cat will have to be used along with maybe the radiator

I wish I could give you an authoritative reference point, but I can't concerning the recommended headgasket replacement as was told to me ..as said earlier, I was looking with a friend of mine at some '01-'04 Outbacks, all of them had the 2.5L motor with average kil/mi on them...when I asked the salesmen about any extended warranties concerning headgaskets like they(subaru) have in the States, his immediate response was that subaru canada "recommended". the headgasket change at 165k kil/103k mi ..(fits conveniently together when doing the timing belt)..at least he did not lie or try to cover something up...good luck trying to find what is the truth and I too would like to know if they have actually eliminated the HG problem for the new cars??...some concrete info. to the consumer would be appreciated rather then just knowing that the "magic blue bullet" coolant conditioner is Now added at the factory...some comfort that is??. ...I see you are from NJ so my info may not apply for you...I did not want to stir the pot here..

If you are useing the OE headgasket, have you seen any noticable differences in the "upgraded" gasket that might help??.. or are you useing another company like Ishimo/Corteco/Fel-Pro...even among these companies there seems to be visibile differences, at least for the much older subi's. ..in the eighties, subaru came out with there upgrade for the ea82 which really did not help much either.. it is amazing that so many years have gone by and apparently the designers are still having problems with this issue ..

With their newly stated recommendation, Subaru has found the "sweet spot" between the law and the consumer...

strange as it may be,...I was looking at "used" subarus with the 2.5 motors for a friend of mine and asked the salesperson if he was aware of the extended headgasket warranty that SOAmerica gave...his response was that here in Canada there is No such extended warr. and that SOCanada recommends replaceing the headgasket at 103,000mi/165,000kil

I didn't want to quote your post because from "experience" I don't know one way or the other..just what I heard or was told to me by Subaru ...