in my 2006 impreza,my head gasket leaks,big suprise. i have been told many different things about the o.e.m. gaskets. i have also been told to replace them with gaskets for a turbo engine. right now it is just a wiff of oil burning smoke every now and then and the car runs fine so i am just planning on the future since it is still under warranty. i like to fix things before they break it, it is cheaper that way.

Ok, if it is oil how sure are you it is the Head gasket?  You have valve cover gaskets, rear main, separator plate, etc... that can all cause oil to leak down and hit the exhaust.  And a valve cover gasket leak can look like a head gasket leak as well.

 

Are you losing/using coolant?  Do you see coolant on the ground under the car?

Ok, if it is oil how sure are you it is the Head gasket?  You have valve cover gaskets, rear main, separator plate, etc... that can all cause oil to leak down and hit the exhaust.  And a valve cover gasket leak can look like a head gasket leak as well.

 

Are you losing/using coolant?  Do you see coolant on the ground under the car?

That's not how the headgaskets leak on those engines. It's very common for the 2.5 to have headgasket issues. And these ones start to fail by leaking oil.

 

Use either 6 star or oem STi headgaskets to fix the issue.