DOH!!!! I was trying out the new camera for this.....but I didn't format my card first!! The pics can be viewed on the camera but it tells me it wants to erase the card in order to format. I will find a way to make this work. The car is actually really nice and its a Limited so it has all the bells and whistles. I got the motor out last night and disassembled it and got the heads back from the machine shop at lunch time today. I reassembled it tonight and will drop back in tomorrow night. I took plenty of pics with some helpful tips for the noobs looking for things to watch out for. We will get this thing back on the road and reliable yet!!!! It is deffinately worth fixing...trust me. It is just one of those scenarios of someone trying to hide things from the unsuspecting buyer including use of block seal to try to cover up the HG issue. I am gonna help Scott try to reclaim some of the investment and I will be putting together the pics and I will personally state everything I found wrong with pics....... hopefully

This is a new car for you and it never overheats unless you turn on the heater? Head gaskets don't normally turn their symptoms off with the heater controls on. You've just been through a summer when the heater is not used. If your previous owner had the coolant flushed by an inexperienced shop (without opening the heater) you could very well have air in the coolent which could account for your problems.

 

Take it to a shop you can trust (try rallykeith, he's not too far from you for advice on local service) and have them diagnose the symptom. Is your car an EJ22 or EJ25? EJ22's do not normally have head gasket problems at this mileage.

 

Before you spend a ton of money on head gaskets, make sure that's what your problem really is. Also, check with the previous owner if he still has any of the service records. No point in doing a timing belt if he had it done recently. If he has no record of doing it, definitely schedule a timing belt as soon as you can since you have an interfence engine and breaking a belt will certainly turn your engine to junk.

 

If you find that a head gasket job and everything else included is necessary, investigate the local craigslist; you may find a wreck with an excellent engine that can be swapped over for less than the cost of all the things you are contemplating.

 

Good luck with it and keep us apprised of how you're doing.

I just had my '99 OBW done. The HG were replaced as well as the timing belt, Waterpump, Thermostat, cam seals as well as the oil seals. I am from W PA. The mechanic does at least 3 Subies a week here.

Ernie