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Edited August 13, 201312 yr by bumper crop

Shall I assume it is an outback with a 2.5L engine? What tranny and how many miles?

 

And welcome

Is that last one a T body/chassis?  Beautifully done!  My obsession as well is balanced between Subaru's and Fords.  '65 F-100 is what started the whole car game for me, the Subaru's make much...easier...daily drivers though!

Shall I assume it is an outback with a 2.5L engine? What tranny and how many miles?

 

And welcome

No, it's a Forester also, but yes, a 2.5l. 2000, 140k, 5 speed.

Is that last one a T body/chassis?  Beautifully done!  My obsession as well is balanced between Subaru's and Fords.  '65 F-100 is what started the whole car game for me, the Subaru's make much...easier...daily drivers though!

last one is a '27 T roadster on an A chassis. I built it for a beach race in New Jersey called The Race of Gentlemen. Raced it, got some pics in magazines, sold it. Now I'm building another for this year's race.

Edited July 30, 201312 yr by bumper crop

Nice 620 ! so your engine is leaking oil / coolant from the ds lower part of head and ps front lower part of head ? or boiling over coolant bottle ? dose the engine still run good ? any piston slap when cold ? I ushaly do head surface Head gaskets reseal timing belt idler pullys and waterpump all at same time and pull the engine and put it on stand to do thiss job is way better than trying to do in car. Make shure you surface heads is absolut must be done.

No, it's a Forester also, but yes, a 2.5l. 2000, 140k, 5 speed.

interesting, Foresters don't blow HG as often as outbacks. 

 

What makes you suspect a HG, just curious.

air bubbles in the coolant overflow, coolant loss, but no leaks (assuming burned off), nasty buildup of oozing nastiness at back of driver side head, and the fact that it still overheats despite replacing t-stat, various fan bits, water pump, etc.

 

as far as i can tell, there's nothing left...

Nice 620 ! so your engine is leaking oil / coolant from the ds lower part of head and ps front lower part of head ? or boiling over coolant bottle ? dose the engine still run good ? any piston slap when cold ? I ushaly do head surface Head gaskets reseal timing belt idler pullys and waterpump all at same time and pull the engine and put it on stand to do thiss job is way better than trying to do in car. Make shure you surface heads is absolut must be done.

 

Yup, oil and coolant build up on the DS lower head, bubbles in the tank, but not boiling over, using some coolant. Engine starts easy and runs great. I just shut it down when it starts getting too hot. Lately I can't run it more than 20 minutes and the needle climbs high. So I can move it around to shuffle cars in the shop and driveway, but that's about it.

Yup thats a HG. Get the head gasket itself from the dealer so you have the latest design. 

i dont know if i'll soon be asking questions that belong in another part of the forum, but what about some of the other head gaskets out there that claim to be better than the Suby gaskets, like Six Star?

I prefer OEM as it gives me someone to yell at.  Also OEM parts will be the most up to date, as HG failures cost subaru money on warrenty claims. Subaru has a interest in getting these things right. For the record SUbaru isnt the only one with iffy HG's.

 

The concern with Six Star, or anyone else for that matter, is that I am not reading anywhere howmuch mileage is on them. Subaru doesnt want the car ever coming back for HG ever again, espeically if it had to be done under warrenty (costs them money). As long as the HG is MLS, it comes down more to the preperation and the source of the part. the more critical the part the more I stay away from ebay. I can't find who makes Six Star, and sometimes I am leery of parts made for NASCAR (as is claimed) as they arent built for 100,000 miles or more, they are just built for one race. My big question, if these six star head gaskets were built by a company that builds "these type" (awkward) of parts for NASCAR, why is the company not named?

 

Some casual reading

http://www.aa1car.com/library/gasket_failure.htm

Edited July 30, 201312 yr by nipper

1.  Use Subaru Turbo EJ25 headgaskets.  those don't leak.

2.  Resurface the heads

3.  Use Subaru's coolant conditioner - follow directions on label ($2.47 from Subaru).

4.  Adjust the valves

5.  replace cam seals and water pump

6.  reseal the oil pump and tighten the backing plate screws

7.  Install a complete ebay timing belt kit (import experts, PCI kits, Gates kits are favored)

8.  Install new serpentine belt pulleys if they're questionable.

 

Done for 100,000 reliable miles.

 

In case you didn't know already, Subaru headbolts do not need replaced.

 

If you're into a larger task, regrind the valves and install new valve stem seals.  Subaru's generally don't have issues with those but while you're in there...you might want to.

 

You don't need to have them pressure tested, they never crack or "warp".

Resurface them yourself, you sound more than capable of this, it's really easy:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/122588-diy-head-resurfacing-or-post-apocalyptic-machine-shop-techniques/

 

Enough people have used the Six Star that I wouldn't have a problem installing them if someone really wanted them, but with the Subaru EJ25 Turbo gasket option there's been no need for me to try.

Stop runing it till fixed what you cant see is the coolant leaking into the oil and evaporating off if its leaking externaly then its leaking internaly thats geting coolant into oil even tho you dont see it its geting in then pcv pulls the water out but leaves the sugars and additives from coolant in oil needs head surface and gaskets. PS do just as mnay forester headgaskets as outback ones no ej 2.5 is immune to headgasket failure. Have done over 40 heagasket jobs in last 6 months

Yes, I have stopped driving it. I am aware of what will happen if I continued to do so.

 

Good points about using the OEM gaskets. I'll go that route. There are a couple other cars in need of work that are ahead of  this in line. But I'll report back when I make progress.