ThosL

I originally had a 2.5 engine in the Outback; they transplanted a 2.2, not sure if it is phase 1 or 2. I wrote down the code in the engine compartment of the Impreza, will post it when I find it.

His landlord said he would probably take around $300 for the Impreza; the engine and other surrounding components look a little different. I will check around on prices, plus I would have another car with remaining parts that may be worth something, but significant rust otherwise.

I looked at a 99 Impreza Subaru a friend told me about as a solution to my 99 Outback currently with an EJ22 with a blown head gasket. Are these all compatible and what are reasonable prices for switching one into the other? The guy with the Impreza said his mechanic said the rust was too bad to salvage the vehicle, but the engine had a head gasket job not too long ago.

Asinine. There are no head gasket replacement options in this area less than $1000, and that is a shop about an hour north of here. And with the many requirements to do the job right yourself, with possible cracks in one or more heads, head gaskets would not resolve that. Blue Devil doesn't have clogging material in it like Bars Leaks and the low grade products. It is more for minor leaks, but results will never convince people one way or another because there have not been comprehensive scientific studies.

There are lots of reviews of products like Blue Devil on Amazon, 100+, some good some unhappy; mechanics hate it, because with all that pressure how could it possibly work? Hard to know. My engine may be too far gone. http://www.amazon.com/BlueDevil-Head-Gasket-Sealer-ounce/dp/B000NOO798

Other choices are available; run the vehicle now with 292K miles, constantly watch the temperature gauge, do everything possible to keep it from overheating. Some lessons here are catching overheating problems early, realizing any leak could spell disaster for the engine and the aluminum heads. If the leak happens when you are far from home, you will have few options because getting help on the spur of the moment is extremely unlikely and the auto parts place that I stopped at the two young guys just wanted to stay behind the counter in their comfort zone and say "head gasket blown" because it was a Subaru. If you don't care enough to take the problem seriously no one will and many mechanics do not do their due diligence like the one I relied on. You go to them for a specific job and they do not look for potential threats to the integrity of the vehicle.

I probably poured in a half gallon or more into both top openings, when it was running and not, several times.

But the question is whether pouring it into the radiator goes into the engine and damages it there. I have always heard that pouring water into the radiator will not damage the engine.

The heater is working most of the time now, which tells me the air is mostly getting burped out; but since I have to check water level every time I'm ready to run it, and add water, who knows what is really going on. It could be in one of the many overheating cycles over the weekend, when I poured water in both radiator openings with steam coming out, the engine or heads got damaged but it still runs well. One of the local mechanics said they would do the Blue Devil try if I wanted charging me for an hour and a half labor. It may be worth the try, since I would get the BD money back.

I'm pretty skeptical of the product though if you get the guarantee, don't clog up water lines, and have a chance at success it may be worth trying. I used the K and W Fiberlock, which is a pour and go product supposedly compatible with coolant, which is hard to believe. I looked at a bunch of youtube videos nothing convincing especially on major issues.

For the older Subarus it is the least of our worries to over-fill.

Typical symptom according to F and S auto; overheating when you go up a hill; also he said none of the gasket fixes in a bottle work. I said "did you apply for your refund?", he said no. I said I got mine when I used Blue Devil though it took some doing. Also he said air pockets in the system will cause the same symptoms.

I'm looking for a replacement vehicle, probably Subaru. I don't have the tools, etc., to repair or replace the engine, and no one around here would do it for less than $1000. Plus the vehicle isn't worth $1000 even before the head gasket issue. But it still runs like a top.

I'm looking for a used replacement.

So my 2.2 engine overheated significantly over the weekend, one of the narrow finger width hoses over the engine blew and I chanced it driving short distances and putting water in the radiator, while the vehicle was hot with steam coursing out of the two openings on the top of the radiator. I don't know how badly it is damaged. No water or white smoke coming out of the exhaust or oil in the radiator. So what are the levels or engine damage or head gasket problems and symptoms of each with limitations of driving the vehicle? This is my guess: head gasket leak where bubbles come out of the radiator into the overflow tank or become apparent if you have the cap off, minimal bubbling to more serious. How long can a vehicle with the minor problems be driven? Is overheating the main issue? Since steam is so powerful as it builds, what are ways to limit it, by either cooling the engine or taking pressure off it? Does coolant fluid help in these overheating problems or is it just an expensive fluid to be used when the vehicle is running properly? If you have to keep adding fluid, you are burning through a lot of $12 a gallon coolant.

This is either a mechanic's job or an advanced do it yourself type person. Do you have all the tools to do the job? Do you know all the torque settings for replacement of parts where that is critical? Do you have a sufficient garage or other place to do the job? How much experience do you have in doing similar jobs? Do you have any mechanically adept friends who could help you out? How much is your time worth, and would you actually gain by having a reasonably priced mechanic to do it? Look at all options and alternatives. If the engine is the 2.5, notorious for head gasket issues. How bad is it? Maybe re-torqueing the heads is an option? Subaru makes a silicate additive for minor leaks, and there are others with guarantees, with lots of youtube videos on.

I have a friend who asked me to sell a Ford Taurus junker for him though it has a lot less miles and is newer than mine. A lady called up who obviously had significant problems physically, etc.. So I told her it probably wasn't for her though cheap. Never fall in love with a car you have to have.

Most people don't know how to vent out the steam, etc., using the passenger side radiator vent bolt, actually I lost mine on Saturday, and was not able to find a replacement at Auto Zone or Advance Auto, and those guys are leery of coming out to try to help, so I found the right metric thread bolt at Home Depot. But the steam built up with head gasket issues. Since my leak was from the narrow hose over the engine below the throttle body, I did not fix that blown out hose until yesterday, but it is just jerry rigged with a foot of hose I got from Auto Zone spliced in with a worm plastic connector to the old hose. So I'll just have to keep monitoring everything as these engines can heat up quickly if the steam gets bottled up!

Thanks--another option is the plastic vent bolt on the passenger side of the radiator top; so you can release pressure that way; also useful for burping the air out of the system. Also I have run the heat full blast to suck some excess heat from the engine, but now it seems to only be hot part time, which tells me the water is not getting to the heater core all the time or possible air bubbles are making the heater ineffective? Radiator is new last fall; fans are a-OK, thermostat was put in with the new water pump last fall. At that particular point in time, the mechanic who installed the water pump actually said that the gaskets he could see were partially melted at that juncture. I used the K and W Fiberlock then because they thought that the head gaskets might be toast as the bubbles were coming out; but that could have also been the crack in the radiator, which I later replaced. No over heating then until recently.

This is an old thread, I've been perusing it for ideas after my 2.2 overheated several times on Saturday though it had been running like a top with no issues and even passed the emissions inspection with check engine lights off. But now with 292K miles on it, and the likely head gasket issue, I will have to just use it for short trips monitoring the temperature gauge anxiously. I bought another bottle of the K & W Fiberlock, double your money back @ around $40, nothing to lose. The bubbles/steam came out the radiator top bleeder plastic screw, not the radiator cap end. No real option except to try and baby it as spending over $1000 on the head gasket repair is not sensible.

It happened to me once on the highway; tow truck city. Not an easy job; $300-$400?

I found the thin hose on top of the engine had the leak, very hard to get to unless you had super thin fingers to change it.

The other vehicles I had were V8 GM pick-ups, never had engine problems. As they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Most of the work I have had on the car they haven't done much in the way of preventative maintenance.

Thanks a lot for the probable causes. I will limp back to my parking space later and then see if I can find a mechanic to fix it then. I guess it doesn't take much to turn a great running vehicle into a cripple. 2.2 '96 engine in 99 Outback Legacy. So really few options as no one is going to help you fix something like this that makes the vehicle, undriveable, and I don't know any other vehicle that is as prone to engine threatening problems as the old generation Subarus. I just hope the head gasket is not blown. I either had to call AAA to have the vehicle towed, which would easily run into the hundreds or be at the mercy of one of their recommended mechanics and have to find my way back 70 miles away or take my chances with my own attempts to keep the engine in the safe range.

The water was hissing on to the engine, like the leak was hitting the engine, and I saw the dripping directly down from the back of the engine.