Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Ultimate Subaru Message Board

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

85 rx headgasket question.. maybe the turbo instead??

Featured Replies

alright heres the skinny on it..

 

was drivin along, car started missing a little.. no overheating, nothing.. other than the miss it was normal..

 

i let it sit for a few hours, and started it and now its blowin water out the tailpipe....

 

i thought originally a headgasket took a dookie..

 

now thinking about it, is it possible the turbo is sucking the water and blowin it out the pipe? maybe the turbo took a dookie instead?

 

i'm not real keen on turbo's so i don't fully understand if they could do that or not..

not likely to be a bad turbo. it would have to rust through the housing or crack internaly.

I would suspect head gasket.

To find out pull plugs and check to see if coolant steam cleaned all the cylinders or just one or two. turbo leakage would be in all 4.

Have you run the engine with the radiator cap off, radiator full and watched for bubbles? If it is a head gasket, there should be bubbles, if there are no bubbles, it MIGHT be the turbo, but I have never seen a turbo water jacket go bad. But that is not saying that it couldn't.

  • Author

na haven't done that yet.. never used any coolant and nothin funny in the overflow either.. lemme go out and check that..

  • Author

well its not the turbo.. i finally pulled the dipstick for the first time since i parked it.. looks like milk and is prolly 3 quarts overfull...

 

guess it was a headgasket.. ahh well it'll have another engine in it soon :)

I was going to say ... it's almost impossibly unlikely that it's the turbo (at least as far as our subarus)

 

Definately either - headgaskets, and/or freeze plug failure. I had both happen on my car while I was still workin on it.

on my turbo build, one of my heads was questionable with a crack in the exhaust port. when i started the car in the morning, i would get a little steam, and some coolant smell, as water must have leaked out into the crosspipe overnite.

 

if you have the heads off, or at least the cross pipe, look for cracks in the exhaust ports

Meeky Moose,

 

Do your self or someone else a favor and don't let that block sit with coolant in the cylinders for long.

 

I just bought a motor with what turned out to be a bad turbo leaking coolant. The cylinder bores were so pitted by rust I am getting .5mm bored. Coolant is suposed to stop corrosion, but I 'm not sure I buy that.

 

Maybe just some oil or wd-40 in the spark plug holes will preserve to corpse for a future rebuilder

 

garner

  • Author

ahh yeha, got that one covered.. its only sat for about a month.. started her up and moved it yesterday.. as soon as it comes out i'm tearin her down and tossing that gen1 head on the drivers side..

 

i got 2 ea82T's sittin here for parts.. the 3rd will go in my rx.. so plan is to take the 2 of them and rebuild a "hopped up" ea82T for the RX.. then keep stock engine #3 for a spare.. i figure cams, port and polish, balanced bottom end, forged pistons, and maybe a few other things..

 

i know what ya mean by rust.. got a block for a friend for his jeep (4.0) it sat so long he had to have it bored .30 over to get it all out.. head was unusable.. amazingly though the cam was perfect.. looked new..

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in

Sign In Now

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.