My old man's car blew its head gasket according to the dealer. So in an attempt to save a few mortgage payments getting this car's gaskets replaced in a dealer, I figured I could do it myself. Now, I'm no slouch in the mechanic department; I'm wondering if any other members here have done the head gasket themselves on an H6 EZ30 motor. The repair industry calls for 14 hours for each head gasket and I know that there's not very much clearance at all in the engine compartment. 

 

Provided the heads are not damaged (the rad did boil over) I could potentially save a lot of money. The labor is not something I'm fearing.

 

TLDR: Head gasket blew on an H6 3.0 (EZ30) engine. I want to replace the gaskets myself. I have an AllData printout of what i need to do but:

 

Do I need to take the engine out?

Do I need any special tools?

Any tips from the pros? what to look out for, what not to do etc. 

 

Thanks a lot in advance, wish me luck!

what exactly is the headgasket doing?  probably leaking oil externally?

 

 

*very* well documented head gasket repair info/thread subaruoutback.org

 

pretty much have to pull the engine on that engine.

 

on the 4 cylinders you can remove the two lower engine mount nuts (14mm) and upper pitch stopper and jack the engine up a few inches for easy head removal/replacement.

that I know of - no one has tried that on the H6 engine.

 

keep track of the timing chain cover bolts - there are like 13,456 bolts and they're not all the same.  identify them on removal to simplify reinstalling.  they have a specific torque sequence too.

 

heads are unlikely to have any issues.  you can resurface them yourself, look up the thread on this forum on how to do it.  very easy and beats trips to a shop.

Thanks for that, I'll have to read that website thoroughly. The radiator boiled over and it had been "burning" a lot of oil and a lot of coolant. I didn't want to say it was the head gasket and we had already sank some money into it replacing a driveshaft and miscellaneous other desperately needed repair work. Dad just doesn't want to spend any more on it. 

I've seen the bolts on the timing cover and they look like a nightmare....

 

I don't exactly know what the gasket is doing other than the dealership found oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil. I don't hear anything abnormal like the sound of a cylinder detonating. Mom said it doesn't have that "Batmobile" acceleration it used to have when they bought it 100,000 miles ago...

If the fluids have mixed and they have been driving it that way you may have bottom end damage to the bearings without proper lubrication.  If you put the money in to the HG and then a rod bearing goes you will not be happy.  

 

If they want to keep the car you might think of a total rebuild or used motor.

i haven't seen it happen yet - but i would also inspect the oil cooler - if that can fail internally that's another place for oil and coolant to mix.  it's the gizmo that the oil filter screws onto and it also simply screws into the engine. it has oil and coolant passing through it.

 

otherwise it's a headgasket replacement, it's on the laborious side, but is nothing to give up on either.

or used motor.

^^ good alternative, worth investigating.

I did a piston on one was crazy hard 285 bolts one piston pin In center cly [ what a pain ] anyway timing covers and componets was crazy amount of parts. Had to make cradboad templates to keep bolts organized and coverd the whole floor of my shop with peices before i got to cly head . Took me about 15-20 hours with motor out. One other note have 3 of thoose engines two had oil cooler to block ishues were coolat was getting into oil somthing to do with orings on oil cooler halfs. The one engine i have has 380000kms on it headgaskets were fine

Thanks for your help guys, I'm getting started with taking the engine out tomorrow. I'm not at all worried about rod bearings because the car's always had oil in it, like I said before, time is not a restricting factor. 

Trying to stay positive on this job, it'll be hard and I'll probably curse (a lot), but I'll get it done. I'll try to take photos and make a guide out of it, it's about darn time I gave back to this palce =]

Wish me luck guys!

If I still lived in CT (Berlin) I'd be dropping by to gawk!

 

Dave

awesome, good luck diving into it, you can do it!

Make cardboard drawings of front / rear covers and mark bolt holes on it so yo can keep all bolts in order of were they go this saved me hours. And took minutes had 6 or 8 templates this is the best way i can think of as many of the bolts were differnt lengths