I have a 1983 wagon with a problem. It is an automatic 2WD with a 1.8L V-4. It cranks okay but when it reaches operating temperature it blows white smoke out of the tailpipe. We took a spark plug out and turned it over and it sprayed water/gas about 7 feet. I believe it is a blown head gasket but that is just based on a best guess. We have put a lot of water in it and it seems to disappear. I know this is a common issue but mostly I want to know about this specific engine.

 

Two questions:

1. If it's not a blown head gasket, then what is it?

2. How much trouble is it to replace a gasket on this engine? Are there any online tutorials?

 

Okay that was technically three questions. I have replaced head gaskets on a 1980 Chevy 350 and a 1993 Chevy Corsica v-6. How much different is this engine than those? We are breaking into it this weekend but I'd like to know a little bit of what I'm getting into beforehand. Thanks

Well besides a headgasket it could be intake gaskets. They are known to leak and pour water into the heads. If it is a headgasket, you should see alot of coolant bubbling with the rad cap off (when the motor is running). Of course it could also be a cracked head.

 

 

I suggest you get a haynes manual. It is pretty simple to replace headgaskets. The engine is a flat-4 (not v-4) meaning the pistons are horizontal. More like an old volkswagon engine. You just have to unbolt the intake and exhaust, unbolt the valve cover and start unbolting the head bolts (actually maybe studs on your motor, not sure) It may be an idea to pull the motor, because space is cramped down by the heads.

ok well to make sure have you smelt the exaust? is it actualy a sweet smell of glycol? then if it is yeah a head gasket and for the headgasket replacement you will have to pull the motor and I would recommend getting a repair manual even though some of the guys are gonna shun me for saying this get the haynes manual cause it's better than the chiltons and just follow it especialy in the torqueing of the heads and I would recommend doing both of them.

 

and a warning be careful when pulling the motor to not pull the torque converter out with it and also the intake bolts due to age and stuff might be hard to remove so take your time and don't snap them and when you put it back together a good anti-seaze lube would be a good idea for that

How rude of me to not include a picture. Here it is.

 

 

You can keep up with my progress on this website. http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/690941

Thanks for your help. We'll see how it goes this weekend.

oh yeah forgot to mention since it is a Auto if the exaust smell isn't sweet it could be ATF being sucked into the motor through the modulator valve cause it has gone out but with what you have said it could be the coolant then if you had moisture coming out of one of the sparkplug holes

Looks like it is the head gasket. We took the drivers side head out (without taking out the engine) and two of the head studs were very loose. The gasket had a black stain between the cylinders where it appeared to be burnt. Unfortunately this is where we ran out of time and had to stop working on it. I won't be able to work on it for another couple of weeks. What should we do in the meantime to deal with the rust that is beginning to form inside one of the cylinders? Thanks for all your help.

coat it with oil or maybe petroleum jelly just remember to wipe it off before installing the new gaskets

You would have to coat it rather often to keep the rust out. If the rust goes any further than the surface to a point where you cant hone it out you are going to have a block not worth using.

 

I recommend pulling the engine and doing both gaskets at the same time and putting the head back on temporarily until you are able to seal it properly. The oil suggestion is very good but it won't last weeks.

One of the guys I used to hang with years ago, told me to use Dextron II ATF to coat the engine down with during rebuilds. It don't run off like oil will, kinda stays put, atleast a film does. His name is John MacEldowny, those old enough to know anything about the '60-'70's drag racing scene will know that name. Even if I spelled it wrong, been awhile since I've talked to him, or even seen his name in print.

Okay, so I got the new head gasket on and put the head back on, but it won't crank. It almost cranked after a little bit but then died. Shortly thereafter the battery, which was not good to start with, was too low to spin the engine fast enough. This car is at my parents house and I cannot work on it during the week due to my job. Unfortunately, when the battery died it was time to go back to my home an hour away and I still do not know if something else could be wrong.

 

Here's my question. Is there some special secret to putting the pushrods back in? I made sure they went in their original order but it didn't really feel like I was putting them in the right spots. I put them in and had no problem tightening the rocker arms onto the ends of them. With other heads I've worked with, there was an obvious "hole" (for lack of a better word) to put the pushrods into. I didn't see anything in these heads that was quite like that.

 

I didn't pull the engine. I did remove the alternator and all parts attached to the drivers side head that were in the way. What mistakes could I have made putting this thing back together that would keep it from cranking? It cranked before and it was spewing water out of the cylinders of the drivers side. This is so frustrating because it may crank after being on a slow charger all week but I just don't know. I might have just flooded it. Any advice you guys can offer will be very helpful as I enter round three this weekend.

 

Thanks,

Matt

did you check the valve clearances when you had the head and rocker assy back on the engine? and might crank it by hand with that valve cover off and see if all the valves open and close while your at it but still might check the valve clearances and adjust them accordingly .010 in on the intake and .014 in on the exaust side

Thanks, that at least put me on the right track. One of the pushrods wasn't installed correctly, it was compressing the spring of one of the exhaust valves constantly. I guess that is one of the reasons everyone recommends taking the engine out so that you can see everything. It now runs without using water or smoking, although the plugs are seriously fouled. It ran for about 7-10 minutes before the white smoke cleared up but when it did it never came back. We drove it for about 30 minutes and saw no evidence of the previous problems. It does run a little rough but I guess that's to be expected after sitting for over a year and having bad plugs.

 

Does anyone have any quick tips on tune up? It runs rough and has a tendency to die when moving at parking lot speeds. It doesn't smoke and doesn't have a noticeable knock. We got it up to 55 and it had a little shimmy, but we can have it fixed when we get new tires and alignment. An interesting side note, it will kick into passing gear with a very noticeable change in RPM's, but it seems no power results from it. Any suggestions?

 

In closing, if you're looking to replace head gaskets in a 1983 1.8L Subaru, here's my recommendation, the heads can be removed without pulling the engine if you feel more comfortable with it that way. But be very careful installing pushrods, there is no clear guide or hole to put the pushrods in that I could see, you kind of have to go by how it feels. Make sure they are in correctly before putting the valve cover on and/or attempting to start the engine by putting a wrench on the main pulley and turning the engine, making sure that all valves move. It is also tough to get some models of torque wrenches on the bolts that attach the rocker assembly but after you get them as tight as you can I suggest you try, we got ours on with only minor difficulty. Remove the rubber pullout plugs built into the frame in order to remove rocker assembly bolts and pushrods, they are located directly across from the bolts that attach the rocker assembly and aren't obvious at first sight. Thanks for all of your help!

ok since it's been sitting for a year here goes, change plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and airfilter for plugs and wires get NGK trust me

 

as for the hesitation and dieing drive it somemore after tuneup to get the crap out of the carb it might work

 

the shimmy should be just the tires but the tire replacement and alignment is a good idea

 

as for the auto that is sometimes normal cause of that is known as the slushbox among other names lol but might check the fluid levels after warming it up and with the motor running or else if you want to convert to stick that can be done somewhat easily just need the parts and time to do so