I did a search of head bolts hoping to find whether I had to get new ones or reuse the existing ones. The Haynes manual said nothing about new bolts but that's Haynes and not Subaru.

 

I found posts where the member said NEW BOLTS! You can't reuse bolts or you will burn in the flames of hell!

 

Other posts by members were just as adamant that you CAN reuse bolts.

 

With authority (and whose authority), can or can you not reuse head bolts on a 97 2.5?

 

Please, I don't mean to be a jerk (it just comes natural, ask my wife) but if you don't know don't post.

 

"I read a post somewhere", or "I heard my cousin Clem say" won't do me much good.

 

I don't want to spend the money if I don't have to but I will if I must. I don't want to go through the hassle of this job to only have done it 90%.

 

Thanks to all who can help,

Greg

If the reason that you are doing head work is because of a blown gasket, and overheating, my recommendation is to use new bolts.

If the reason that you are doing head work is because of a blown gasket, and overheating, my recommendation is to use new bolts.

The reason the heads are coming off is because the valves are bent from a melted down idler pulley wich resulted in the timing belt coming off. No kidding, the idler pulley melted the cover! When I took the cover off there were ball bearings everywhere and the idler pulley had nearly melted the mount out of the center.

 

The HGs were done about 40,000 miles ago. At that time the heads were machined. I will check the previous owners repair invoice for bolts.

I'm pretty sure the 99FSM I looked over a couple months ago said to use them TWICE if they weren't damaged. If you had a severe overheat or something I wouldn't risk it.

 

 

The reason the heads are coming off is because the valves are bent from a melted down idler pulley wich resulted in the timing belt coming off. No kidding, the idler pulley melted the cover! When I took the cover off there were ball bearings everywhere and the idler pulley had nearly melted the mount out of the center.

 

The HGs were done about 40,000 miles ago. At that time the heads were machined. I will check the previous owners repair invoice for bolts.

dont replace unless they are bad, just clean the threads really good and lube them up when they go back in. if you have a wire wheel take that to them. trust me on this as experience from a subaru shop

I reused mine with no troubles, but if the heads were off before and this is the second time I would replace them just to be safe.