I have a 1998 2.5 legacy gt DOHC. 118k miles and I had the notorious headgasket problem. Tooked the heads off had them milled down,bought the seal kit from Subaru and now everything is going back together. I am following the repair manuals step in torquing the head bolts, but 52lbs does not seem very tight does the engine heat expand and tighten the bolts more? In taking the bolts off they seemed to be pretty tight. In comparison 52lbs seems like it will be too loose.My mistake is that I torqued the bolts to 80lbs. My mistake, I want to torque them correctly can I reuse these head bolts they were new but tightned to 80lbs and the head gasket. Did I ruin them too? Thanks for any help

Where did you get those specs?

 

The torquing sequence for these is kind of complex. You torque the bolts, back them off 180 degrees, torque them to a different setting (with the two inner ones different from the four outer ones), then tighten them 90 degrees, then another 90 degrees. Sorry, I don't have the numbers offhand.

I don't know where you got your specs ,but it's wrong .

Here are the factory specs

 

SEA#3

Okay to correct the problem do I need to buy new bolts and headgasket? The car was not started

The bolts and head gasket are cheap enough, buy them and rest your mind. Now if you have to take the engine back out to do the job then I can see why you may be asking.

Okay to correct the problem do I need to buy new bolts and headgasket? The car was not started

http://www.aa1car.com/library/gasket_failure.htm

 

Read this and use the links at the bottom of the page. It may help explain things for you.

 

 

nipper

Thank you for the info, I will buy the bolts and new gaskets Monday. Thanks again

Dealer techs don't replace the bolts. I'd say, if you loosened all the bolts back to their factory specs, then followed the correct sequence, you'd be fine. I don't know what the final torque value is, but it feels like more than 80 foot lbs.