My daughter's 2.5L '96 Subaru Legacy has been overheating, blowing out coolant into the overflow bottle and onto the ground.

Subaru dealer pinpointed leaking head gasket which I assumed from the characteristics of the overheating. Quote from the Subaru dealer is $1400 to replace the gaskets.

How hard of a job is it to replace the head gaskets in a Subaru? I assume the engine has to come out to do it, right?

Anybody here done this repair? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Spoke

If its been badly overheated you might need more than just head gaskets.
Might be cheaper to find a good running donor engine from what I'm told.


Changing the head gaskets is a complicated proceedure but it can be done.
I've been researching it for my 99, which has a headgasket leak as well.

hit NASIOC forums for better advice.

Yep agree with brer, heads might need to be worked on or worse. my buddy has a subaru and had the head gaskets done at the dealer. it was more than $1400 once the other work that was needed was done.

Is it the single cam 2.5 or the dohc 2.5? becareful if it is the dohc 2.5 alot of headgaskets are misdianosed it is actually a cracked cly. liner or stopped up radiator.

I think it's a DOHC. Dealer did a cooling system pressure check and cylinder leakdown test to determine. At this point I'd like to just drive it off a cliff and be done with it. Without me in it of course.

Spoke

If it's an all alloy engine, cant it warp the case as well as the heads? wouldnt that mean a whole new engine? can you surface a case?

I had a 89 camry that did the EXACT same thing, it was exhaust leaking into the water jacket. I got lucky that i didnt crack the heads, but they needed surfacing...the block was iron.

good luck bro

I've done it on a '97. That's the DOHC 2.5, and they had head gasket problems. At the same time we replaced the timing belt and water pump. Expensive parts, with the gasket set and a replacement cam gear and idler some $600-700 from the dealer if I recall correctly, plus another $200 to do the valves at a local head rebuilder. Head gasket surfaces were good, but we had them cleaned up anyway. I've heard you can R&R the heads without pulling the engine, but I didn't see how. Probably be more work to do it that way anyway than doing the work on a bench. If you're a reasonably experienced mechanic it's all pretty straightforward. Pay special attention to the manual for the cam gear/belt alignment, which is a little odd compared to other cars. Only real problem was corroded engine-to-bellhousing bolts (steel into aluminum), awkward to get to and easy to break.

OK, so it looks right now that I won't be driving it off a cliff or taking it to the dealer or DIY. I have some family connections with the local Syrian mafia here in A-town and have a quoted price of $650 cash.

I would like to do this myself if for no other reason than the challenge of fixing it DIY and saving some cash.

I can't pass this deal up and I've been told not to pay a penny more. The last time I took my car to these guys they quoted $150 (dealer wanted $450) to replace the gas tank in this car and it took them 2 days to complete. I know they had to drop the rear suspension to remove the tank so I gave them an extra $100, cash. This didn't sit well with the family.

Spoke

Give this man a

One head is warped and the other is cracked. New engine w/72K miles going in now as we speak. $1500 installed.

Spoke

The saga continues...

Put the new engine in almost a month ago. Ran fine. Didn't give it to my daughter to take back to school until I checked it out and drove it for a while.

Figured I'd get the tires re-balanced and rotated, check alignment. On the way back from the tire shop, it overheated again with the new engine. Puked out its coolant into the overflow tank. This engine also has the head gasket problem.

Could there be something else wrong or another HG problem?

For my sanity, I removed the radiator and thermostat to check. Ran full garden hose water through radiator, didn't appear clogged. Put thermostat in water and heated, opened right up before boiling. These items look ok.

Took it back to the shop. They said they'd either fix the engine or replace it with another. I'm ok with that. Go on a biz trip and call 3 days later figuring they would be fixing/changing the engine. They said they think its the thermostat. WTF??

Got home the next day, took it for a ride while telling him I'm not taking it, just driving it. Drove it 5 miles and it started puking out coolant but didn't overheat. The overheat only happens because the block is out of coolant.

I tell him its the HG and he says what's the chance that 2 engines have the same issue? I say very good, check www.nasioc.com and search for head gasket.

They drive it and say 110% sure its the radiator. So new (used) radiator goes in. On Wed this week I take it for a ride and same thing happens. I bleed the system using the coolant bleeder and just steam comes out, engine overheats a little.

We get into a bit of an argument because he claims I mess with the system when I drive it and they can't figure out the problem. "Hey asshole, it's the HG and I shouldn't have to fuck with it. I pay you to fix my car so just fix it and leave me out of it or give me my money back.". Asshole.

He says call back Friday (yesterday) so I stop by after lunch. He just looks at me and says "We're gonna change the head gaskets or put in another engine. Stop back on Monday". Good call, Sherlock. Asshole.

I'll stop by monday to check the progress.

Asshole.

The upside of this is my daughter doesn't have her car at college and she's doing good in her studies. No car means no distraction of going here and there, and taking friends to the store or going to pick up her boyfriend.

Spoke

I've done the head gaskets with the engine in the car, and have pulled the engine to it. It can be done with the engine in the car, less work overall.

The extra work is disconnecting the transmission (harder than expected in my daughters car - a 1990 and pins rusted, heater lines, fuel lines, electric and cables.)

Hardest part of the job is getting the new timing belt lined up correctly. After turning the engine over by hand I invariably found a gear was a tooth off. DOHC means more chance of not getting it right the first time.

So a little update:

Got the Subaru back with the 2nd engine and this one seems ok WRT head gaskets. No coolant blowing out the overflow tank, temps nice and solid.

I picked the car up at 2PM and drove it 2 miles to work. When I started it, it turned over slower than usual. Hmm.

I leave work at 7PM and go to start it up and absolutely nothing! No clicks, no sound from the starter. Lights would turn on but not bright.

Get a jump and go home. Pull into the garage, starts right back up. Waited about 3 hours and dead battery again. Also, no A/C, fans don't kick on, compressor doesn't turn. WTF?

Dead battery, dead A/C, I'm done with this car. Called the repair dude and asked if he wanted to buy it from me. We agree on $2K and I sell it to him. Minus the $1.5K I put into it with the engine, I clear $500 for the car but I'm glad to have $2K in my pocket and that car out of my hair.

The car also had some rust showing up on the driver side rear quarter and rust starting at the top of the windshield. The passenger side rear brake rotor shield had just rusted off so I'm glad to get rid of the car.

That was 4 weeks ago.

Fast forward to today and I just bought a 1995 Audi A6 Quattro for my kid.
Nice car with 118K miles, green with tan leather interior. Not bad for a college car. Will pick it up next week.

As you can see by my signature, I'm stuck on Audi's as well as Quattro's.

Spoke

Its auto!! :puke:

I do like the Audi's though. I have a friend putting 500 or so hp into his. I'm amazed the tranny hasn't broken yet with the amount of abuse it gets

Damn, dude... my college car was a 1973 Vega, a 1977 Pinto and a 1978 Fairmont.

Of course, they were all about the same relative vintage at the time... ~12 years old :-)

That is an effin sweet "college car"!! I made do with a bicycle...

My brother has a Legacy Outback that had the same issues. He lives in CO and took it to a local dealer who charged $650 for HG replacements. I am unsure of the exact year and if SOHC or DOHC, but at that price I can't imagine the engine had to be pulled. He hasn't had a problem with it since, though now close to 150k miles, it is close to needing a new clutch...