hello.. i have an 97 ej25 obw w a 154000 on it.. i did the headgaskets at about 140xxx... i hit a deer this winter after getting the front end put back together it started over heating.. pulled the top radaitor hose and water pump seemed to wking good.. did a compression test and all where between 175 and 190... the only thing diffrent is the radiator is out of a 97 ej22... spark plugs are all burning good and are autolight double plat.. is the head gasket out again?

coolant needs to be properly bled you can search here for bleeding or "burping", these engines are particularly unforgiving.

 

the radiator may be clogged. was it replaced after the hit?

 

any coolant loss?

 

are the fans coming on - maybe broke or wires busted from accident?

 

typical headgasket sign on this motor is bubbling in the overflow tank when you shut the car off. these motors don't typically fail compression tests or have oil/coolant mixing when the head gasket goes.

i didnt bled the coolant and will try that.. i m flushing radiator now.. yes radiator and fans were all damaged in the hit.. i repalaced both w them out of a 97 2.2... fans are coming on thats the only thing keeping it from overheating completley.. the temp goes up fans come on temp goes down.. the heat is up and down after driving for about 10 mins.. the temp needle goes 3/4 the way up then drops to 1/2 then up then down... how can i test for a headgasket failer?

i bleed the system cleaned radiator... ran it for about 15 miles temp was great. it was bubbling a bit in the overlow tank but not crazy... guess i ll find out if i make it to work tomorrow..lol

The big question is, did you use subaru HG's? If not, you probably blew them again. If you did, I would look elsewhere as in the bleed of the system. Hopefully, you got it after bleeding the system.

yes i did along w new head bolts also.. this is about the 5 th one i did and never had any problems w any of the othe ones so far.... it does seem 2 be going through anti freeze though could it b burning it out the exhust? the plugs all looked good when i checked them... this car did sit for about 4 months till i started working on it... did the system just get that drained down?

i've seen lots of bubbles coming out, but if you're continually seeing bubbles that doesn't sound like a good sign.

 

failed EJ25's do not easily come down once they start overheating, so the fact that it's wavering means it's not a "typical" EJ25 head gasket failure. that and the fact that they've already been replaced means we might not know what to expect. test for exhaust in the coolant and compression and wetness on any spark plugs.

 

in case you didn't know, replacing the headbolts on these motors is pointless. that is determined by what kind of headbolts are used in a given application and in this case it's not the kind that need replaced. that's why some are and some are not.