I have a 1999 Forester i just bought that needed a new head gasket on the driver's side left.I had the head milled and installed properly torque etc..,the engine almost immediately started blowing white smoke and vomiting coolant out the tail pipe (burning coolant).Took the head out and had it pressure tested,tested good,The only thing I could see wrong was the steel rings on the upper short block(the rings you can hang the head gasket on?)One of them is pushed almost completely into the block,Could this be my problem????  .Thank You 

what brand headgasket was used?  if it wasn't an MLS headgasket (Six Star, Fel Pro (some), or Subaru Turbo/variant) - then the headgasket is likely to blame.  Don't use cheap gaskets on this.

 

when you removed the head the second time could you tell where the breech was?

1.  if it was "vomitting" coolant i would expect the breech to be obvious

2.  if you didn't notice - i wonder if the headgasket was for sure the caused?

 

i doubt the pins are the issue.  i can't imagine the headgasket shifting once clamped into place properly.

but i would certainly make sure they're in place the next time around.

Could be a cracked block or the engine side was not totally cleaned,

Could be a cracked block or the engine side was not totally cleaned,

 

yes - when buying a blown head gasket subaru you really have no idea how well it was treated or badly it was overheated.  what if they knew they were going to dump it cheap on craigslist and abused it?

 

if the timing covers are melted/distorted (which i've seen before) you may want to look into another engine.

 

99-01 EJ22's swap in place of that engine as well.

I used mizumo gaskets the first time,I am going to use fel pro for the second try.If they don't work this I'm throwing the towel on this engine..Yep,the timing cover on that side was melted/distorted.Does the EJ 22 plug right into the EJ25 harness?Thank You.

I've had the mizumo ebay gaskets fail inside a year. Not woth saving a few bucks- on my wife's car where coolant made contact with their graphite material the gasket eroded and was carried into the coolant system. This was on a 2.2- doubt there gaskets for 2.5 are much better. Good luck.