Just put the car in the shop yesterday to have it all checked out, new waterpump, and timing belts. The mechanic says I have a blown head. Any suggestions? I bought the car for 700, it has the typical rx rust, I've put an hks bov, tmic, and 2 row radiator, electric fan and greddy profec b specII boost controller. As of yesterday I spent another 700 just having the car checked over and routine maintenance. I'm upside down in it at the moment. Now I have a blown head and a bad cv boot. Should I dump the car or if not, what options do I have and is it worth it? I love the car by the way, just frustrated by it going south.

yo yo im guessing this is Justin. Sucks to hear about the headgasket. these are usually the ones to go with that fun fun engine. Talk to The Subaru Junkie about that stuff, he knows the frustration of ea82ts to no end. Could always start early on the EJ swap

yo yo im guessing this is Justin. Sucks to hear about the headgasket. these are usually the ones to go with that fun fun engine. Talk to The Subaru Junkie about that stuff, he knows the frustration of ea82ts to no end. Could always start early on the EJ swap

Actually its might not be the head gasket, it might just be the turbo going, either way it doesn't matter, I'll fix it and make it better. I can drive it without it ever getting warmer than normal, no biggie, I just stay off the turbo and everything is kool. I gotta do a compression check and find out how the motor is really doing. It only smokes when the car is cold and at Idle

after it gets warm, no issues.

If you paid $700 to have a mechanic check it out, then he better have told you what was wrong. There's no mistaking a blown head gasket, expecially not with a blown turbo.

 

If you run a compression test on the motor, you will know wether or not you have a bad head gasket. Your motor should have Gen3 heads on it, so the gaskets will go before the heads. Unless you severly overheated the motor... then the heads will warp and crack and you'd be screwed. There's no mistaking a cracked head, if the car is running alright right now, i wouldnt worry about heads.

 

What color is the smoke you see? Do you have a boost gauge hooked up, and is that a blow off valve you installed or a bypass valve?

 

-Brian

yes as stated above blown head gaskets are a pain.. but for an RX, I would fix it. BHG's have a few symptoms that go along with them.. sweet/white exhaust when its cold, frothy oil (check the dipstick), blow by in the cooling system - when the motors at running temp you'll have bubbles blowing in the radiator (start with rad cap off and let it warm up).. constant overheating is also a pretty good sign if the rest of your cooling system is ship-shape..

 

turbo's will blow seals on occasion.. oil in the intake tract is a possibility but can also point to a faulty pcv valve. coolant leaks within are a little harder to tell.

 

an easy test for a cracked head is as follows: loosen the exhaust at the head and slide a piece of white paper in between the head and the flange and re-tighten the exhaust (both sides) let sit overnight, then remove in the morning.. if the paper has liquid discoloration you have a cracked head.. typically on the passenger side of a turbo car is where you'll have cracked heads 1st.. #3 cylinder runs the hottest.

 

as for the cv.. a new boot may do if it hasnt been bad for that long (sometimes) or a replacement axle.. 100 bucks at autozone if you can DIY

 

hope this helps

 

rllywgn

Yes, forgot the radiator cap test.

 

Remove the cap, start the car, let the car warm up to operational temps. Pay attention to the fluid in the radiator. If little exhaust bubbles start to appear, you have a blown headgasket. If large bubbles appear, it maybe even worse... and if coolant goes gushing all over and spraying 3' above the radiator... you prolly have a bad head.

 

-Brian