Blown head gaskets ? - 98 Forester

[Doctor John]

Well folks, a while back I posted here about the problem with my wife's
Forester breaking on the Interstate down due to overheating. Thank you for
all the feed-back. I went out on the next warmer day (a balmy 15 degrees
outside) and replaced the thermostat, which I thought was stuck. Turns out
now that when the engine warms up, back pressure is introduced into the
cooling system. A repair shop I trust checked it out and told me its either
a blown head gasket or a cracked cylinder. So I'm looking into getting the
head gaskets replaced (at least a $1200 job - yikes) and I've thought about
trying to find a low mileage used engine or a rebuild (the only
remanufactured engine I've located so far was a long block at $4600 plus
without installation). Its a 2.5 liter (non-turbo) Forester in otherwise
good condition with about 100K miles on it. I thought I'd consult you gurus
to see if anyone else has had similar problems and to see what you think.
There is no guarantee that it is only the head gaskets and the engine did
overheat, so I'm worried about oil rings being bad, etc, after I spend quite
a lot on the head gaskets. What to do .. what to do. Thanks.

John

 

[Mickey]

Well folks, a while back I posted here about the problem with my wife's
Forester breaking on the Interstate down due to overheating. Thank you for
all the feed-back. I went out on the next warmer day (a balmy 15 degrees
outside) and replaced the thermostat, which I thought was stuck. Turns out
now that when the engine warms up, back pressure is introduced into the
cooling system. A repair shop I trust checked it out and told me its either
a blown head gasket or a cracked cylinder. So I'm looking into getting the
head gaskets replaced (at least a $1200 job - yikes) and I've thought about
trying to find a low mileage used engine or a rebuild (the only
remanufactured engine I've located so far was a long block at $4600 plus
without installation). Its a 2.5 liter (non-turbo) Forester in otherwise
good condition with about 100K miles on it. I thought I'd consult you gurus
to see if anyone else has had similar problems and to see what you think.
There is no guarantee that it is only the head gaskets and the engine did
overheat, so I'm worried about oil rings being bad, etc, after I spend quite
a lot on the head gaskets. What to do .. what to do. Thanks.

John

My indie mechanic says these engines are good for about 300k. My BIL
has a 98 OBW that he just swapped in for a newer model. He had 200k
on his and no problems. It did have the HG replaced when he bought it
several yrs ago.

You may have seen my post before on this topic but here goes again.
Had to have my HG replaced on my 00 OBW this past winter. Had 124k
miles and had done the timing belt water pump thing not too long
before. Wasn't needed to be done again. I paid $1325, the engine was
pulled, head resurfaced and ALL seals replaced. Mech uses only OEM parts.

Mickey

 

[CiscoHeadsetAdapter.com]

I had similar problem with my Outback'97. Subaru shop asked over $2000 to do
headgasket job. I have found the "headgasket repair" system in a AutoZone
for about $10. One day and my engine like new. Sure, it's not a winter type
of job unless you have heated garage, but it works. Sure it's the chance
that it may not work for you, but if you want to get another engine anyway,
why not to try?

 

[DG]

Please elaborate on the "system" you bought from Autozone.

 

[CiscoHeadsetAdapter.com]

I can't find exact product I used on the web. But when I bought it, there
were 3-4 different brands in the "heating/cooling" section. It's a bottle
with a substance, which looks like a cupper dust. You just follow the
instruction. Process takes about 36 hours (I did it in the Summer).
Basically you drain and flush your cooling system, pour "the system" to the
radiator, fill the cooling system with the water, and a couple cycles of
heating your engine, and waiting for cooling it down. After about 6 hours
you drain your cooling system again, and wait for 18-24 hours. Then flush it
again and fill with a coolant.