Ok - I bought the '99 Forester with the bad gaskets. Here's the deal:

 

1. Radiator was BLOWN. Happened on a 107* day a few weeks back. I replaced the radiator and drove it 30 miles today. Temp gauge was rock solid at less than half, but it was only 80* today. I'm wondering what could have caused a radiator to blow the upper tank loose from the core like that if the engine apparently does not have a comp. leak into the cooling system? It got low on coolant, got too hot, and the pressure rose till the 10 year old radiator couldn't take it anymore?

 

2. Documents from the dealership claim the head gasket is leaking OIL. I have not heard of this in all the threads I've searched. Is that a common failure mode for these? I thought it was primarily coolant.

 

3. The timing belt, all idlers, and the tensioner were replaced by the dealer about 20k miles ago. I have all the documentation to show this. If I do the head gaskets I am tempted to reuse all these components as they have a ton of life left. Is there any reason not to?

 

I am going to resell the car, but I AM going to fix it 100% right before I do.

 

Thoughts/sugestions appreciated.

 

GD

I have heard of oil leaks before GD on these, but have never seen one. Like you said it's typically coolant.

 

Blown radiator is awesome. Hard to imagine something not causing that.

 

You're on it, leave those pulleys, they'll be in great shape still. You'll be able to tell when you get to them, but highly unlikely they'll need replaced as the Subaru pulleys are of excellent quality.

re blown radiator: is the cap oem, did they replace it with a higher pressure rated cap when it was over heating?

 

 

re repair 100%: reuse the existing, unless they show a reason not to, and advise the buyer to replace all in 75k miles building in a safety factor of 10k miles.

Yeah, it's ussually the drivers side rear of the head that leaks oil. Often leaks coolant too.