New guy to the older subie cars. I am currently looking at a 88 GL10 turbo sedan. It has 151k on it and is in fairly good shape. It does overheat though. The current owner tired replacing the thermostat and that didn't help. Most likely head gasket? What other concerns should i have? I am looking to use this as a daily driver and trying to keep costs down. His asking price is pretty good which is the reason why I am considering it even with the overheating issues. Thanks for the help.

Cracked heads. Very common on the turbo cars. I had a 87 GL-10 turbo wagon and a 89 GL-10 turbo wagon. Both had cracked heads

And that is most likely why it is overheating? How much would a replacement head cost(roughly) and would a pretty clean car with 151k for like $500 be worth it?

This issue is very common with the turbo models. Cracks begin to form inbwteen the valves, growing until the hit the water jackets. This is one reason why turbo heads are so hard to find. Most of the time it's not worth it. My 88gl turbo is swapped for a 2.2 because this same reason.

 

It'll cost more than 500, because you'll need most likely both heads. And they run up to 350 ea if there in good condition.

 

Prwa

All EA82 heads crack that way. Not just the turbo ones. It's most likely the head gaskets. The EA82 turbos were known for overheating issues.

the best thin would be to buy it and put an EJ engine in it, it would cost roughly the same as buying new heads and you would get more power and better reliability 

EA82 Turbo heads crack in a particular way........worse than the regular "Between the Valves"  BTV cracks.

 

The turbo heads crack in the exhaust ports.....right above the outlet port on the bottom of the head.

 

Finding an uncracked head is very hard.....getting harder.....e.pxensive.....and eventually that head will crack.

 

Only really worth it for an EJ swap........the MPFI cars are good canditates for EJ swap since they already have the high pressure fuel pump, and an easy spot to hook up VSS, TACH, Nuetral sw., CEL, etc.....Plus disk brakes in the rear.

And how difficult is swapping in a ej22t? What other parts are needed?