Seattle area members?

[smith2016]

Does anyone know much about a service center in the Seattle area called All Wheel Drive Auto? They claim to have and have used a new and unique headgasket that has been a fix to the dreaded Head Gasket nightmare. There site seems strait forward and on the up and up. What im interested in is knowing if anyone has used this gasket and had good, bad or as expected results. Just getting the information they post about themselves is only one side of the story. Many reviews I have read are all positive.

 

We all never want to replace a head gasket and those of us who must replace it only want to do the job once. I have a 1997 Outback that is in need of headgaskets. Do I try these or go Subaru OEM only? We know the OEM are crap they fail regularly. So does anyone know about this shop to order these parts from. Has any one used them?

 

The web address is below.

 

http://allwheeldriveauto.com

http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-parts/

 

Please check it out and give me some feed back. For those who are familiar with this shop give me your honest opinion of these folks and the headgasket if you have used it.

 

Thanks

Edited February 12, 2010 by smith2016

[NoahDL88]

This is a quote from WJM from another forum, I don't know if he's still active over here but this is what he had to say, FWIW he works at a Subaru dealer. Cliff notes, the STI headgasket will work with the nonturbo EJ25 and is only 5-10 bucks more and is 100% better

 

FINALLY FHI/SOA has heard my word.

 

The 2.5L N/A engine (EJ253) uses the 07 (also same as 06~08 EJ255) STi head gasket. Part number 11044AA670

 

That's right, THREE (3) LAYER METAL.

 

That means it will NEVER LEAK like the POS single stainless steel w/rubber coating head gasket used on the 99+ EJ25# series.

 

However, the 08+ and 09+ Impreza and Forester still use that POS gasket in their EJ253 engines.

 

I wonder when the Impreza and Forester will switch to the 670 gasket...

 

 

Background info:

 

The 11044AA642 was used on the 2004~2006 EJ257 and the 2004~2005 EJ255 engines. In 2006 the EJ255 went to the "improved cooling" heads w/out sodium filled exhaust valves. Slight changes in the coolant passages meant a new headgasket and the 11044AA670 was born.

 

In 2007 the STi went to these "improved cooling" heads and it too used the 11044AA670. The EJ255 in all 2007~2008 MY turbo vehicles uses the same.

 

For some reason in 2008, the EJ257 received a different part number gasket, the 11044AA770. In 2009 all EJ255's received this as well.

 

The 670 and 770 appear to be identical. *shrug*

 

Other metal gaskets:

11044AA483: EJ205

11044AA610: EJ25D engines (can use on any EJ257/EJ255; the gasket is a little over 2x's the thickness of the 642/670/770 gaskets)

 

And to revisit, the 11044AA633 is the POS gasket. Previous part numbers for this gasket is: 11044AA520/521, 11044AA630/631/632.

AKA do not buy any of those.

[bobaru]

those are subaru OEM gaskets

 

the bad head gaskets are destroyed you cant get them.

 

Subaru knew they were shoty redeveloped new ones and destroyed the remaining

 

Toyota did the same thing with the V6 headgasket

[ericem]

I do not believe I have went to see a single 97-99 Legacy gt with a 2.5L that did not have signs or most definitely HAD a bad headgasket. Just sucks! What's amazing is I feel no coolant in the upper hose and there overflow is bubbling yet no overheating? How the heck?

 

Does it require alot more driving to get it to overheat. i never said anything to the owners I just know and I am well aware of headgasket issues in the future. Just didn't think it was so frequent!

[smith2016]

Thanks for the info Bob, I will be using Subaru head Gaskets for the repair. I just got it started after sitting for 2 years. Bad gas and a frozen fuel pump. New gas and a little carb cleaner for ther pump with a direct conect to 12 volts i got the pump to take off. Put all back together with 5 gallons of fresh gas and she started right up.

 

The car was parked 2 years ago due to overheating. Now that i have it running again I will work on the overheating issue. Im fairly confident it is the head gaskets. I have an oily residue in the coolant over flow tank.

 

It would not overheat just sitting at idle (15 minutes) or on a short drive. The owner said it would over heat at 14 miles. I only drove about 4 miles on it yesterday as it is not registered or insured, I did not want to push my luck!