Hi, glad to be here. We were given a 98 Forester that was my neices car. It's now my daughter's first car. It appears to have been neglected a little bit, and it sat for a year before we started driving it again. It's the first Subaru Ive ever owned.

Ive recently fixed a few leaky o-rings in the A/C system, new plugs/ wires, and Ive changed the valve cover gaskets, the oil cooler seal and the oil pan gasket- no more oil leaks now. It needs a new steering rack, soon to arrive. Seems like a fairly easy job.

However, we've had some ominous overheating issues with 'disppearing' coolant.

I guess this is a head gasket failure? It's got 160K miles- sounds about right on schedule, based on what Ive been learning. I do my own mecahnical work, although Im not a mechanic, but the EJ25D is really easy to work on. Is the head gasket something I should tackle myself? Im not really looking forward to pulling the motor, but I also dont want to throw down 2K for the repair either.

Anyway, Ill also post this in the forums later.

Welcome to the USMB, Chris.  You've found a great place here for friendly help and guidance.

 

You're probably right about it being head gasket failure.  Post your questions in the "Newer Generation" forum and I'm sure you'll get a lot of input.

Gotta love "free stuff", still a good investment though, you won't find a car that's been rebuilt for the cost of your parts & labor. ENJOY & WELCOME!!

Forester in Florida eh?

The Florister?

Welcome Chris! Looks like you're off to a great start on doing all your own repair work! I hadn't done much auto work besides changing oil and breaks until I got the Subaru Bug about 12 years ago... since then I've learned a ton, still have more to learn. You'll find the people on this board a great resource!