I was wondering if anyone has had/heard of problems with the heads on the 2.5 from 99 leaking around the plugs. I have just had a second heli coil installed to correct the problem. At the same time the shop ran the OBDII codes to clear the check engine light and was succesful. The 15 min drive home was great until I pulled into my driveway and the check engine light came on again.

 

I have brand new plugs and wires from the dealer so I know this is not the issue. The first time I had a heli coil installed the same thing happend, got home and the CEL light came on again. The CEL has been on ever since (over 6 months), without a problem, until yesterday when it blew out the plug wire on cyclinder #3.

 

If anyone could shed some light and/or experience on this it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Marcus

I have a 99 Forester too. I am not aware of any other Foresters having the same problem. It is most likely that the spark plugs were improperly installed in your car at some time. The use of a torque wrench is mandatory when installing plugs in the Forester. Too tight, and the threads are stripped or damaged. Too loose, and the engine will "spit out" the plug, again stripping or damaging the threads. Due to the overhead cam, the spark plugs can be very difficult to install. You can not see, or even feel, how they are going in. I use a special articulated spark plug tool with a "friction" holder for the spark plug. If the plug starts to cross thread the friction holder lets go, preventing damage to the threads. It is possible, although not likely, that the heads are defective. Also, the damage could have been done some time ago. It is probably impossible to assign "blame" to one individual or shop at this point.

Here is a link to a site, showing how popular the "head gasket" problem is in Subarus: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze730qe/guestlog.html