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I have an '01 Forester with an EJ251 engine. Last night it got super-cold and although it started up fine this morning the cabin vents would blow cold even after the engine was completely warmed up. So I parked it and nervously waited thinking that an overheat was imminent due to the blockage. However, after waiting 15 mins. I started it up and the heat started working again. I'm thinking that the thermostat got stuck due possibly due to the cold but I really don't know how it works in those vehicles. Can anyone give me a clue? Thanks! --Damien

Well I dropped by our local Subaru dealership today and picked up a bottle of...uh...medication for my Subaru. (They only charged me $2.73 for it, too!) As a final note, I think regular oil changes is also key to keeping those HGs intact, as well. I think old oil causes a pressure buildup within the crankcase.... Cheers! --Damien p.s. If the hair on your head was a spark then your baseball cap would be like a headgasket, wouldn't it?

Its an '01 EJ251 which supposedly has the redesigned gaskets. Well I took it out on the highway today for a 30 mile stretch from a cold start...it was interesting because the temp gauge didn't rise to its usual level. When I parked it, got out and looked in the OF tank it was bubbling out some kind of gas so I though d***...I'm screwed again. But the interesting thing what that the coolant level was much lower than normal (usually when it is fully warm it rises to a level much higher in the tank). So I drove it back home and this time on the highway I really gunned it...but when I got back and inspected the tank again there was no sign of bubbling and no residual bubbles at all indicating that the bubbling had stopped somewhere on the trip back. My guess (no pun intended ) is that perhaps the gas that gets trapped in there is water vapor anyway and pushes more coolant than normal into the OF tank. Some sort of 'vapor lock' perhaps within the radiator. I think that because if it were exhaust gas in there the OF tank level wouldn't return the the usual level when it cools as it always had. Maybe those engines generate enough heat to cause boiling within the water jackets (which I suppose could be bad anyway). It didn't smell like HC in there anyway and the tank is squeaky clean. That why I asked about the coolant mix because if it's boiling in there I want to eliminate that so the vapor doesn't lead to cooling irregularities which would in turn cause shear stresses and strains that would completely cause a block failure. I drained the radiator once (which had the original Subaru green stuff) and filled it with 50/50 ShellZone yellow stuff. I figured it would be a good idea cause what was in there didn't seem like it had been changed once since the life of the vehicle (and it's pushing 135K miles). I heard that the so-called Subaru green has a special formulation but there seemed to be some skepticism about that claim. Perhaps that's normal operation because most people don't notice anything is wrong until it really blows up!

Oh I didn't know it also raised the boiling point. Well there's a mix of OEM Subaru green and yellow stuff in there now. Clearly the two are different and they share different physical characteristics. I was amazed at how much the yellow stuff would expand into the tank. If corrosion on those gaskets is a problem thermal characteristics could play a key role. The right mixture of coolant could draw heat from the cylinder walls and reduce entropy like that. Anyway I'm bracing myself for the bad news cuz...I could hardly believe the low sale price! It's a nice car tho...now the chiggers and mosquitos leave me alone... Sounds a little bit like a diesel, too...maybe the compression ratio in there is a little higher than on other similar engines. I bet that's also part of the reason why those gaskets blow, as well. Imagine putting d2o instead of h2o in your radiator! Cheers! --Damien p.s. Slaves ain't cheep!

well ok...but what could be causing intermittent HG leakage? I think it's just blowing off some steam due to evaporation (hoping I'm right). Maybe the radiator cap is not properly sealed drawing air in. They way those engines are designed and the way they aspirate probably affect how they disperse heat. It goes against conventional thinking but such phenomena are entirely possible because water can and does exist in all three phases simultaneously. It doesn't leak a drop of oil...it doesn't leak a drop of coolant. The OF tank is squeaky-clean. Go figure! --Damien

But that stuff won't help with seepage through to the water jacket...will it? What could cause occasional bubbling like that because it doesn't do it all the time...I've checked on more than dozen occasions to sure of that.

I'm pretty sure it's EJ251 which is SOHC (I think). Maybe the headgasket is leaky but it doesn't bubble all the time and there's no other symptoms of a blown one. So you're saying it's the so-called 'external leak'? If the HG is blown then that would explain it's very low price but maybe the seller was too sure that was the case.

Do the thermal expansion coefficients on various antifreezes differ greatly? What I mean is...I recently swapped out some very old original coolant in my recently acquired Forester. Now when I take it for drives the expansion tank fills to a level much higher than originally. When I take it for very long drives the tank fills almost all the way to the top! Presumably this is because the mix achieves a higher temperature. When it cools overnight the level returns to almost exactly the same place. I'm just concerned whether putting the new antifreeze (ShellZone yellow stuff) was a good call. It's not DexCool and I was told that mixing would be compatible. There is no overheating but I do notice sometimes a little bubbling which occurs mainly after long, hard drives. I don't think it's a HG because it does appear to be intermittent, perhaps due to water evaporation that may occur when the engine is really horsed. Maybe I need to mix in more water? Thanks for your input... --Damien

I don't think so...my '98 OBW developed a real crack in the plastic housing of the radiator (after my Dad took it over and he puts lots and lots of hard miles on it). It would spew out copious amounts of coolant. I had some original coolant which I saved from my '01 Forester that has the Radweld equivalent added. After topping off a few times the crack was totally sealed and now it doesn't leak any coolant at all. Those additives are good for something...you just have to know which one to apply IHMO. --Damien

The ones I ordered came with the rods secured in by a clasp. I don't know how much pressure there is in them but I suppose it could be quite a lot. It looks like a pretty good product...even though it's from China I heard about a model of Subaru that had pure gas struts that were actually adjustable with no springs so maybe in this model they copied some of that idea. It certainly is technically feasable as anyone has seen that the hydraulics on excavators, for example, work perfect and can easily toss around thousands of pounds of weight, job after job. I'm just trying to figure out as much as I can before I go ordering parts...unfortunately I have to grope around in the dark (like most scientists). --Damien

Well then why did the vehicle clearance return to its normal value when he lowered the vehicle from the lift? No that doesn't make any sense cuz those shocks have some intrinsic lift associated with them (apparently). Don't those gas shocks work in a similar way to the ones that support the rear hatch?

Oh I see...yeah...it's subtle. I think that setting those ideally depends on vehicle weight, tire dimensions/composition/tread design, spring constant, strut characteristics, torque arm length, drivetrain characteristics, etc. etc. They didn't fix it but they gave me a free engineering lesson! I guess that what my kind of money buys these days... Cheers! --Damien

I don't think the strut is severely damaged like that...although the technician suggested that the mounts may be worn/damaged. It just doesn't support the wheel much more any longer...I guess they are gas shocks and the air leaked out from one of them cuz of a bad hit or something.... One of those struts is leaning way forward while the other is leaning completely the other way...that's what I was trying to say.

I don't know if it's a viscous one. It's a 2001 Forester S...it says 'limited slip differential'. I read that they align wheels like that on purpose to affect handling characteristics but I was wondering if it could also affect the suspension/axle adversely.

Is it normal for two wheels on the same axle to have opposing caster settings? I noticed (on a Forester we recently acquired) that the rear wheels have opposite caster settings (one is negative and the other positive). I'm concerned cuz one of the struts appears to be shot and I'm wondering if it's cuz of that setting and also if it may be adversely affecting the LSD. Thanks! --Damien

No the tires aren't wearing evenly...the one that is mounted in that well is getting uneven wear. I don't know because I've only had the vehicle for a few thousand miles....I'm hammering out all the bugs, you see... :-)

I guessed the strut assembly must've gotten damaged/bent so I went ahead and ordered pair of struts thinking it's best to keep it balanced. It seemed odd to me that the tire would sit right sometimes and other times not... When I get it finally repaired I'll post back and tell you what the problem ultimately was. --Damien

Yes, that's correct. OK but if it's a bad spring how could the problem be intermittent? Sometimes the wheel clearance is normal but much of the time it sits impacted in the wheel well....

One of the wheels on my Forester droops from time to time compared to the other ones. Sometimes it's on level with the other wheels but more often than not it's lower than the other ones. Normally I wouldn't care much but it's chewing up one of my tires! I'm thinking maybe it's the shock/strut but what else could it be? A spring...mounts? A visual inspection doesn't reveal anything obviously amiss... Thanks for your input... --Damien

Well...that's what I thought myself sometimes...but it's true only in the static case...not the dynamic one. In a way it really is like a motorcycle in a nutshell...when in motion they stay perfectly upright and stable...when stopped they easily tip over.

Grab a pair of vice grips and gently squeeze the inlet tube until....crack! Old ATF leaves a varnish deposit that fused the dipstick to the inlet port.

The inner race cup was 'wobbly' about the axle stub. Not wibbly...wobbly. :-)

A pair of FEQs my dealer installed for me worked but were shaky like that. It would drive fine but it was like I was downgraded to a motorcycle. When the boots finally ruptured I bought a pair of Cardone Select and those had no clicking symptoms at all (although there was some play like that about the axle stub). It was a better product overall...you may be best served with a pair of those.... BTW the OEM axles that are in that my new 2001 Forester do have some play about the axle stub but it's not as pronounced as in two other Subarus I've had the pleasure of getting to know. Chow! --Damien

Apparently so-called 'Japanese green' is a deeper green and contains no silicates and just phosphates. It seems like that's what's in there now...or maybe it's just dirty from additives or wear....

Oh I get it...you just can't mix them...