Hello! New to the site and Subarus. I just bought an 02 Legacy GT from my Uncle for my son. Only has 49000 original miles but does have a head gasket leak. It doesn't seem to overheat at all, nor does it have the bubbles in the overflow tank, just a slight oil leak that appears to be coming from the head gasket above the oil filter.
I got the car cheap and plan to do the repair myself so that hopefully it will be a good car for him for very little money. I'm looking for recommendations on best practices for this repair. It seems a lot of people to the timing belt and water pump while everything is apart. I inspected the timing belt and it looks perfect. Not sure on the water pump too. Given the low miles, I'm tempted to leave all of that alone to save some money, but it is old too, so not sure what people think about that.
Also curious on having the heads resurfaced given the low mileage. Should I do it to be safe and save another tear down, or do you guys think it would be OK? Also looking for any other advice on the repair or things to look for. Planning on using Fel Pro gaskets and new head bolts but not set on that brand, I've just heard you don't want to go with cheap crap and Fel Pro has been good for me in the past. Any help is greatly appreciated!
I got the car cheap and plan to do the repair myself so that hopefully it will be a good car for him for very little money. I'm looking for recommendations on best practices for this repair. It seems a lot of people to the timing belt and water pump while everything is apart. I inspected the timing belt and it looks perfect. Not sure on the water pump too. Given the low miles, I'm tempted to leave all of that alone to save some money, but it is old too, so not sure what people think about that.
Also curious on having the heads resurfaced given the low mileage. Should I do it to be safe and save another tear down, or do you guys think it would be OK? Also looking for any other advice on the repair or things to look for. Planning on using Fel Pro gaskets and new head bolts but not set on that brand, I've just heard you don't want to go with cheap crap and Fel Pro has been good for me in the past. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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