I got a 2004 gtb legacy, The water looks very rusty coloured, and it smells like unburnt petrol fumes in the over flow. Anyone come across this before? cheers 

head gasket? bubbles in overflow?

Unfortunately i think you are right. Is it possible to retouqe the head bolts for an easy fix??? Heres hoping anyway. thanks

Yes it does blow bubbles.

Nope. Re torque doesn't work on these. Just gotta replace them. I'd guess you'll have some issues with corrosion on the heads around the coolant ports. The heads usually need to be resurfaced anyway.

How long have you had the car? Was the coolant green or blue-green when you bought it? (Did you check?)

pull heads resurface and reinstall did a 04 impreza last week had 184000kms and was leaking and burning coolant have even done them as low as 70000kms the gaskets loose there coating and there done

Nope. Re torque doesn't work on these. Just gotta replace them. I'd guess you'll have some issues with corrosion on the heads around the coolant ports. The heads usually need to be resurfaced anyway.

How long have you had the car? Was the coolant green or blue-green when you bought it? (Did you check?)

 I bought it online so i couldnt view before buying but when i picked it up i did notice a bit of bubbling going on. Had it over a year now.

pull heads resurface and reinstall did a 04 impreza last week had 184000kms and was leaking and burning coolant have even done them as low as 70000kms the gaskets loose there coating and there done

How long did it take you and is it easier to take the engine out? How hard is it? Do i need a pit? cheers

The engine takes me 25-45 min to pull and about 1 hour to teardown two hours to prep and surface heads two hours to reassemble and a hour to install and test on a auto one i bill 10 hours and a standard one is 12 hours as it takes more time if servicing the clutch. I put the engine on a stand and disasemble the heads before i take them off the engine. I also knurll #2@#4 pistons if any piston slap thiss take 1 hour to do but makes a big difference

dam

Ivan does Subaru repair all day every day.

 

You're much better off to remove the engine and put it on a stand to work.

It takes every bit of 4-5 hours to remove an engine the first time, especially a a turbo with all of the piping for that thrown into the mix. The DOHC heads need to be disassembled before they can be removed from the block. And room between the frame rails is lacking.

Resurfacing the heads is usually a half day at a machine shop, maybe longer if you have a valve job done.