I overheard a couple people talking about a 2010 Impreza, and the one guy was absolutely convinced that you can reuse MLS head gaskets if they have less than 3000 miles on them. What do you guys think? Me personally, I think they are crazy. For a little more context though, the one guy is a very firm believer in, you can especially reuse them if you use the copper gasket spray, as long as it's before the engines first oil change.

Sorry for the late approval for this thread. If its Subaru related, it "usually" doesnt need to be in OT

Nope. Disagree! Before first oil change or not, they’re squashed and had a heat cycle. 

You *might* get away with reusing them if you have to pull the head again during reassembly, realistically though, for all that work would you really want to risk reusing a head gasket only to have it fail prematurely? 

Some might have a crack at it. I won’t be though. 

Cheers 

Bennie

On 11/12/2024 at 5:32 PM, biggman100 said:

I overheard a couple people talking about a 2010 Impreza, and the one guy was absolutely convinced that you can reuse MLS head gaskets if they have less than 3000 miles on them. What do you guys think? Me personally, I think they are crazy. For a little more context though, the one guy is a very firm believer in, you can especially reuse them if you use the copper gasket spray, as long as it's before the engines first oil change.

I installed heads, never installed (therefore never ran) the engine.  I need to pull them and reinstall.  Everyone even some very experienced mechanic said it's not worth it. 

It's probably debatable how long they'd last.  A month, a year, 50,000 miles?  I think it would be very hard to argue they'll last as long as a properly installed new set.