We just recently purchased a 92 Loyale. The guy we bought it from said he was on his way home from work and the car died on him and would try to start but wouldn't. The mechanic who looked at it was not a Subaru mechanic. He said that the engine was seized. We have been told by friends that you can sometimes take off the heads and put oil on the pistons and work the engine and loosen the pistons. Anyone heard of this before? Or should we just have the engine overhauled or a used engine?

best to confirm what is wrong with the engine first.

 

best thing to do is try to turn the motor over by hand and see if the timing belts are okay. it is possible for the timing belt to get wrapped around the crank and prevent the motor from turning over. unlikely, but possible.

 

does it have oil/coolant in it at all?

 

if it is seized i'd get another motor (rebuilt, used, whatever you want). if you look around and are patient you can grab a motor fairly cheap. pulling the heads and oiling the pistons on a motor that is seized sounds like alot of time for a mistreated, questionable engine. it would probably work, it would just use alot of oil and the oil would degrade fast, depending how bad the blow by is around the rings and cylinder wall wear.