OK the parts subie I bought, well I tried to get it home, lady said it had an overheating problem. Well on the way home, it drove nice for a mile then died a horrid death, running badly and belching blue and white smoke, i look under the hood and water is in the oil and when the engine died it belched some of this up thru the SPFI into the air cleaner.

 

Am I right in assuming Head gasket, or could something else seriously failed...it did start again but runs terrible belching mostly blue and white smoke heavily.

 

If it is a Head Gasket, i have a question...is it easier to replace the HG, or would it be easier to just do an entire engine swap from my loyale sedan and use it for parts, my wife likes this wagon alot better than the sedan. The 5 speed worked great, and the entire engine is so damn clean, its immaculate new radiator, new water pump, brakes, etc.

 

So, Head gasket replacement or engine swap, or use it for a parts car?

 

bigtrout

well a full gasket set from napa is 200 bucks , it took about 14 hours with 3 guys , well 2 guys new what they were doing and i did not , if the body is good and no rust , and what you will have it after everything is done ., and a place to do the job and tools

I just had engine work to the tune of $2200 done on my 99 Legacy SUS. It is at 108k right now. Most of the work do to a head gasket issue and about $500 due to a low flowing radiator. I am here in Germany and had problem. WOuld have been considerably less expensive in the states.

 

 

After forking out the cash I found a used JDM 2.0 liter engine for $1695 including shipping (stateside).

 

Depends what you want to do I guess. My engine wasn't to badly damaged so with the head work they did and the clean job on the engine I am set for anothe 100k. If your engien is badly damaged it could be cheaper to transplant. Depends what you want to do.