TypeOPositive

I certainly did miss the distinction you made about the machine shops and dealers. Sorry about that. Removing the engine has been the popular opinion in the posts I've read as well. Guess it's time to get an engine stand. Thanks again for the advice.

In your experience with resurfacing EJ heads using a piece of glass and sandpaper, has the end result consistently been within tolerance / flatness? It seems like a perfectly acceptable way to do the job if the stealerships are using belt sanders. That's actually kind of sad. I've basically accepted the fact that I'll have to pull the engine myself or part with a large sum of money. So thank you for helping me realize its not nearly as bad as I would have myself believe. Doing this myself definitely seems more realistic now. The block seems like the least likely component to be affected by a head gasket failure, but is it worth having it checked? I recall an issue I had with an oil cooler on my truck where the surface warped after the mating parts were removed. That was spooky, and i no longer trust aluminum! So now the big question is, wheter or not to remove the engine? Seems like it would make life easier.

Thank you very much for your very thorough reply. It seems like making them flat again is the most important part. The additional work seems like it might be worth it if the mileage was really high. One other thing that I've worried about was the change in engine timing. I know that its only a few degrees, but the only solutions I've read about are adjustable pulleys and thicker head gaskets. Is it worth fooling with in your opinion?

Do you have a suggestion on where to have the heads resurfaced? I did momentarily consider doing the post apocalyptic glass and sandpaper thing. But it'd be a shame to waste all the effort over a little money.

Hello everyone! I bought a fozzy a while ago with blown head gaskets. The PO had their mechanic replace parts on the cooling system thinking that was the issue, so I'm lead to believe the engine wasn't overheated. Its got around 150k, so I'm having a hard time justifying the cost of a junkyard motor. I'm not exactly sure how much money would be saved doing the repair myself. Seems like I would just be paying for a more thorough job with the money saved on labor by doing it myself. My concern is that after looking into how involved this job is, I dont know if its wise (financially) to attempt this on my own versus having a professional do the work. I think I'm capable, but from the reading I've done, this model year has the variable valve stuff. Seems to complicate matters. I live in southeast Ohio, if anyone has recommendations on a shop. Thanks in advance!

Looking at the receipts from work the PO did, we have a Timken camshaft seal, a Fel-pro (and/or) a beck/arnley crankshaft seal as well as a DNJ engine components lifter. Interesting... Edit: Forgot to write seal after camshaft

Just replaced those exhaust gaskets when I replaced the front O2. PO had to replace the CAT, and the rear O2 was seized (even with a torch.) But, I'm sure it can't hurt to verify. Would a leak down test be conclusive one way or the other?

I've cropped and attached the pictures of the plugs I took with my cellphone (sorry) during the compression test. Electrodes on all the plugs seem fine to me. The suspect plugs are from cylinders 3 and 4, and had a bit of gunky crap on the bottom of the threads nearer the electrode. Does the rear pair of cylinders cool less effectively than the front two? Doesn't seem to me that any plugs have an oil deposit. That's why i suspect exhaust valve stem seals. Assuming that is the only other place oil can get out the exhaust but avoid the combustion chamber. It's also just as likely I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Hence why I'm here asking questions! I'll thoroughly look at the PCV hoses this weekend. Should I just replace the hoses and call it a day since I've already replaced the valves?

Sorry, that should have said 10 thousand miles. I've had to replace several quarts of oil and would like to avoid replacing my catalytic converters if possible. You're likely much more familiar with this than I am, but isn't the problem usually a valve stem seal? I think that's'd what I read. At any rate, I'll thoroughly clean the pcv hoses this weekend.

No, and I've put around 10 miles on it, smoked the whole time. If oil isn't coming from the bottom end, but is being burned, isn't the head the only logical place?

Where would one get a resurfaced head from?? What about the head internals if going used??

It's a five speed. I actually took pictures of the plugs during the compression test. It's all coming out of the tailpipe. The spark plugs in Cylinders 3 and 4 had a but of that build up on them. Not terrible, but it was definitely present.

I did replace the PCV valve (hoping it would stop the smoking) with a subaru one. Still had the OEM, wasn't terribly gummed up either. I'll clean the hoses when I get a chance. Thanks for the suggestion.

Quite a lot, gets worse with acceleration. Smokes enough that I can see it in the rear hatch (even after a 40 minute drive daily.) As far as the color, I'd be tempted to say blueish.

The engine in question was compression tested and measured 200 psi across all cylinders for one gauge, and 180 for another. I previously thought i was burning coolant. This smoking and the lack of fouled or oiled plugs leads me to believe it's in the top end. 120k on engine. Do I need to send my heads to a machine shop to have this work done, or could I handle it?? Should I replace the said exhaust valves and all valve guides? Also, can anyone recommend a shop in or near ohio? Thanks in advance

Hah! That would give the neighbors cause for concern. I appreciate everyones advice, and I'm really excited that I didn't have to do anything to the heads. I instead spent some of that money that wasn't spent on the head on various parts to make driving this winter a little less chaotic. Thanks again everyone.

I've used three tanks of fuel (around 900 miles) and none of the symptoms have returned. I'd say it's time to drive it!

Alright, I'll see if I can't get that needle to move in traffic tomorrow. I'll pick up the thermostat and cap from the dealer if it's not too much different than the online price. Thanks for all the hand holding!

I believe the bubbles were caused by air in the system. The car has never tried to overheat, randomly or otherwise. I've even tried blasting the AC in 4th gear on the highway, so I'm fairly comfortable just driving the thing for now.Not real sure what would indicate more pressure than usual... What's the correct radiator cap to put on? I believe the one I have says "0.9" on the top. I'll replace the thermostat this coming weekend because I forgot to order it last week. Not as bad as most people think?! My dad was one of those people to ride his two wheeler in all weather conditions. He laughs when I complain about rain and calls me a fair weather motorcyclist.. .Go figure... I don't know that I'm QUITE that brave. I think johnceggleston and lstevens76 are correct, and driving it is the best course of action. Should it fail at the most inconvenient time, I could use public transportation and a bicycle. And then source a Ej22T turbo monster to swap in! Just kidding about the turbo monster.

I think the burn off had more to do with the copper gasket stuff added to the exhaust than it did the head gasket job done before I bought the car. The smoke isn't something I have been able to recreate. Aside from the normal amount of condensation that leaves the pipe when you start the car up. The plugs we pulled were filthy, and were crusted white. I really should take some pictures of them, it's sad. I drove the car about 80 miles today. No puffs on smoke on a cold start up, no change in the coolant level when cold. 4 stops so I checked it every time. Didn't check for bubbling. I do think your philosophy makes sense. The only thing I don't like about that idea is that I need this car to get me to and from school until late December. If I start noticeably burning coolant when there's snow on the ground... I'll be SOL. Motorcycle doesn't go so good on ice Regardless, an OEM thermostat needs to be ordered, yesterday!

I noticed the 2.5 updated gasket is MLS, is it unnecessary to go that far for this EJ22?

The engine was never overheated in my possession, but I can't speak on it's first 100k miles of life. There is something that I'm not entirely sure makes sense, but it would be awfully nice. I did see bubbles in my exhaust one time when I started the engine cold tonight, and gave it some throttle while looking into the overflow tank. I tried to pull the hose out of the water to see if it was just extra coolant, but I could not get it to bubble again after that. I'm thinking I need to burp this system. Had my phone recording the exhaust. There was zero white smoke. Since I can't seem to recreate the smoke that I saw, wouldn't it be nice if it was actually caused by the copper gasket compound? We didn't let it cure the 24 hours it called for, after all. The plugs being white as if they were burning coolant being caused by the wrong heat range / incorrect gap? Or I could have no idea what I'm talking about. Which is more likely. Any other suggestions?

Seems to run like before, has plenty of power and doesn't stumble or hesitate in any condition. The smoking is hard to detect, I was ready to call it a fluke until we pulled the plugs we replaced yesterday and they were all white. The thermostat isn't stock either, I believe it's a gates.

I suppose I didn't clarify very well. The subaru I have is a Legacy Brighton Wagon, so I don't believe the PO would have gone through all that trouble with the 2.5 swap. Once the coolant was poured directly into the heater core, and then bled from the system on the front end with the car jacked up, the heater blew hot air once again. I have heat in the car now. I was given a rock auto receipt for the work done, and the gasket listed there. It is a beck/arnley # 032-2891. If in fact this head gasket repair fails, I have a hard time being comfortable going the used engine route. It's possible that engine would be in similarly bad shape, and this is my only vehicle for winter transportation... Not a whole lot of good if the block has been compromised though.

I was originally under the impression that the PO had replaced the head gaskets and the timing belt... Upon further investigation, it doesn't appear that the timing cover was removed as the fasteners look like they have been in a junk yard car. Speaking on the junk yard suspicion, there are paint pen markings on a few different items. On top of that, all four spark plugs show evidence of having been burning coolant for a while. Who does a head gasket without replacing spark plugs? A friend of mine was helping me install an O2 sensor as well as block heater, so we had to drain the coolant. We may have done the fill procedure incorrectly and had an air pocket near the thermostat because we didn't directly pour coolant into the heater core. We started the engine up and I tried to squeeze the upper and lower radiator hoses to move coolant around. The car wasn't running even running for 10 minutes. The needle got to the normal operating range, and I shut the car down because it was still blowing cold heat. I've noticed a sweet smell and a white cloud behind the car when it dropped below 70 degrees outside (directly after redraining/refilling the coolant), the cloud got thicker as you gave it more gas. Temperature is up in the 70's and I can't easily tell there's a leak today via smoke. The coolant level is certainly going down in the overflow, and this is only day 2. The car is not overheating, or even trying to go outside of normal operating range. Initially i thought the smoke that came after might have been caused by the ultra copper that we used to secure the exhaust gaskets. I don't think I'm going to be that lucky... I called the previous owner, curious about how (and why) the previous head gasket was done.I'm told they didn't resurface the head, and they also reused head bolts. The reason for the head gaskets being replaced was an external oil leak. I notice that this isn't a common problem for this particular engine based on the postings here (http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/68699-which-engine-models-blow-head-gaskets/). I think that's cause for serious concern. In my head, I'm thinking I've either bought a basket case that was overheated and something is warped. Or perhaps if I'm lucky, the head gasket job was done wrong. Or maybe it's a junkyard engine? I guess it doesn't really matter... I called around to a few machine shops to price resurfacing for the heads, have been eyeballing different gasket kits (subarupartsforyou) or maybe purchasing an aftermarket MLS cometic gasket. I've momentarily considered buying ARP studs, until I saw the price tag. Is it likely that head bolts are causing this problem? I'd doubt it. I know this topic comes up a lot, but it seems very odd to me that this engine that's not prone to blow head gaskets (unlike a 2.5) would have this happen TWICE in less than 15K miles! I would really hate a bad purchase on my part to turn me a way from boxers. Any and all advice is appreciated.