coryl

OMG they did the ultimate and between my dealership and Subaru Canada they are 100% covering the entire cost. I think I'm still in shock, but so happy.

Subaru Canada and my dealership have done something truly amazing. Each of them have agreed to put in 1/2 of the cost and are covering my head gasket repair which includes 100% of all parts and labor. I am just totally blown away by this gesture of goodwill. Wow, I truly wasn't expecting that! I was so happy with Subaru today that I left my Evo in the garage and drove my Subaru. They said that the reason they decided to do this, was because I've done more than perfect maintenance, have been a very good customer, and that my extended warranty had recently expired.

I''ve had that same bill...lol. Actually not funny.. I will keep you posted.

It's hard to say if one issue of overheating caused engine damage and yet if you caught it quickly as you mentioned and stopped driving, then I'd hope on the no side and I'd go with that yet no guarantee, Any of your family members had this overheating happen? If they did, then there is a probabability of engine issues as grossgary mentioned. That said, your car is worth over the $1G to replace the gasket. I'd personally do it for that price, and I'd feel it's worth the risk. Yes for a car that age, every component could be a probability for a fix. Your car will tell you. I'm not a he, I'm a she, and no I don't mean battery, brakes, and routine maintenance...every component of an old 17 year old car is up for a fix. I've raced my Evo and my Subaru for the past 7 years. I truly know a lot less about my Subaru than I do about my Evo. I've faught for us little people in the Mitsubishi world on their AYC pumps, and now I'm fighting to help us in the Subaru world too in head gaskets. I'm going to research further.

Really. I spent so much money refinishing and repainting interior bolts/frames which totally rerusted...I hate any reddish color on my cars. Dynaflux 309 is the only thing that stopped this from happening.

I'd say, do not go to the dealership to fix this on an old car if you decide to do it. Personally, with a car this age, go to our immigrant friends who own shops. Yes, they sometimes have broken windows on the front of their shops and do everything by pen and paper, but in my experience, they do quality work for an honest price. My dealership can fix my head gasket for just over $2000, yet my Middle Eastern friends who own a shop will do it for $1000 Canadian. Just saying. Grossgary has mentioned to resurface and to use EJ25 head gasket. I'd go with what he says.

You didn't mention that your car was overheating. No, you can't just drive that car then and add coolant because you are going to destroy the engine...head gasket totally needs replacing to prevent that from happening. You need to figure out if you have an attachment and want to maintain an old car, with many issues to come, and then also fix that head gasket.

But that is only if you feel attachment to the car, and only if you feel it's been maintained properly by your relatives, and you feel the car is worth it.

I'm on this site because of my head gasket research...many of us have that problem. You have a lot of miles on that car. That said, you've had the timing belt, water pump replaced, etc more recently. The car is worth only a few thousand $' if you sell it. I don't know your emotional attachment to this car, but if you have none, then I'd just leave it as is, drive it until it drops, and save for the next car. That car is 17 years old. Do not replace the engine, but if you can find a mechanic that will replace the head gasket for around $1000 or less then perhaps go for it.

BTW,, if you use this product please review the safety concerns and use the appropriate safety masks...you don't want to breathe a hard zinc coating into your lungs.

Dynaflux produces a hard Zinc coating that will stop rust and protect all metal from corrosion. It's equal to hot galvanizing. I'm so glad I found this product. It really works, and if you have the $'s, do the total underside of your car.

Depending on what you want to protect from rust, the best I've ever found is a product called Dynaflux 309. That product stops rust on everything and it's on all my bolts, frames, dampers, AYC/ACD pumps, etc. The color is grey but can be painted. I bought a case of 12 spray cans in the past for $160 (Canadian) which was including tax/shipping on Amazon.ca. Now it's about $240 for the same so about $20/can but well worth it regardless. Spray oil as your father did to keep costs down, but use the dynaflux for any valuable metal part..

Grossgary, most people purchase their cars by, test driving, commercials, what they see on the street, word of mouth, price, etc, and not on a detailed research. I used to buy cars like everyone else, but in the past many years of car racing and being on car sites and understanding cars, I will never do that again, so you really don't need to keep telling me that it's my fault I should have checked into my Subaru...I understand now how stupid purchasing cars like this is, but that doesn't mean I can't hold Subaru responsible for knowingly having this head gasket issue and doing nothing about it and especially because it affects many people who cannot afford that fix when the time comes. I believe that the more we are the people who bring complaints forward., ie, 'the squeaky wheel", it will make car companies more responsible to fix issues faster and to build better cars for everyone. I will look for your posts and DIY tutorials.

Numbchux....Thank you for your message....I've contacted Subaru Canada and I'm waiting to hear back, My extended warranty is done...like you mentioned, it's a possibility that the valve cover repair was the actual head gasket issue. Regardless, this is an issue that Subaru should own..

I purchased an aftermarket warranty that covered every part of that car that expired in 2015. I had the valve cover replaced in 2014 Many experts have suggested that it's often a head gasket misdiagnosed as the valve cover and I'm thinking it's a good possibility therefore, yet my dealership cannot believe that they would have missed it. Read your post to me....you were totally defending Subaru. Yep many issues (as you've googled) with Evo's ...difference is that those issues often occur when people totally modify those cars (and it's a rare evo that's not been modified) and if I was the manufacturer, I wouldn't warranty them either as I've told many of my Evo friends...we pay to play. I'm talking here about basic problems like head gasket issues that Subaru has known about on their cars since 1998 and failed to fix and therefore allowed their customers to take the cost when these customers did nothing but trust. I don't accept it like you do, that buying, repairing, cars , that this company knowingly sells them with such an expensive repair after they know it exists when the warranty ends. I just took a trip home to Alberta, and my brother-in-law picked me up at the airport in his Subaru. I mentioned to him that he needed to repair his front windshield from a crack that went across. He said, "I've got a head gasket issue, so not sure I'm fixing it we can't afford it". This is just so wrong and we need to support each other.

Clearly you've not had to fork out a few thousand dollars for a head gasket repair shortly after warranty ends. Subaru clearly knows about their head gasket issue and is choosing to do nothing about it. And really, do not analyze me as you're making assumptions that I've only dealt with "one" Subaru issue. Subaru had the rusting bolt problem in 2008, and those with the STI's (and I think WRX's) were the only people who were lucky enough to have this repaired as a RECALL which meant they got the body repairs due to the damage those rusting bolts created fixed and their bolts swapped out. I argued with Subaru Canada, (that my 2 1/2 year old car, just 8000kms over the 60,000km bumper to bumper warranty), that my rusting bolts on my doors and spoiler would definitely be the same bolts put on my car as those who got the recall...they refused good will, and I had to replace all the door/spoiler bolts and make the body repairs including purchasing a new trunk at my cost....that was a very expensive repair! Here's an example of a car company coming up to the plate... Mitsubishi put the AYC/ACD pump on their Evo's and Ralliarts underneath the car close to the wheel area at the back. For those of us who live in areas of snow and salted roads, these expensive pumps were failing from corrosion. I spent a lot of time getting a company in England make the relocation kits (putting the pump to the trunk) for those of us in north America and have since relocated my pump. Mitsubishi, after denying the actual problem for 6 years , they eventually came up to the plate and gave reimbursements to those who had the failures, and then extended the warranty on the pumps to, 10 years, 160,000kms. By you accepting and defending a big company like Subaru, who knows that they have a problem and doesn't step up to the plate to fix it, actually does everyone who owns a car a disservice. Companies need to take some responsibility if they expect loyalty.

As I mentioned, it was an "potential" head gasket issue, but I was under the car last Thursday and oil is clearly leaking badly from the left head gasket and I can't just leave it and needs to be repaired ASAP. Car had only 95000kms when this was initially noticed by one of my friends at the dealership (I rust proof so there's always something dripping so I didn't realize it). I argued with my service manager who said "I know about the problem, they all have it, and I've seen cars with low kms with this problem, it happens". My service manager agreed to "support" me with Subaru Canada after I said I would take this further. Let's see how this all plays out. I told my service manager that my Mitsubishi Evo X MR is a 2008 and months older than my Subaru, yet I've never had any issue with it other than routine maintenance, yet I race it as often as I can. I love my Subaru but I'm so angry with all the money that I've had to put into it on top of routine maintenance. If I'm left to do this expensive repair on my own which Subaru totally knew about, I will be the worst Subaru advocate ever! Just saying.

I've decided to fight this repair with Subaru Canada to see if they will back their cars and "participate" in the repair...I've opened a file. I'll let you know what happens.

Was at the dealership today and spoke with the service manager. OMG they accept no blame after warranty expires for their faulty head gasket problem although she said she knows it's a definite Subaru problem. She did get her best guy to put my car up on the hoist quickly and confirm that my left head gasket is leaking and needs to be changed soon. I told her that at 95000kms a head gasket should not need changing and I told her that I was going to take this further and speak with the regional rep and with Subaru Canada. She said that she'd support me with Subaru Canada but said that they won't cover it but may in some way help. I've looked after this car with coolant changes, and twice yearly synthetic Mobile 1 oil changes....doesn't matter what you do, Subaru head gaskets will fail. I'm going to fight this...let's see what happens.

Boiling point is 500F for the Super DOT 3 and 446F for the Asian Dot 4.

Went to Subaru and they no longer use "Subaru" brake fluid and just use some generic DOT 3 brand I'd never heard of at a high price. So I went to Canadian Tire and picked up the "OEM" brands of "Super DOT 3" and "OEM Asian DOT 4"...never heard of either of them but the guy recommended them. Just trying to research which goes into my car tomorrow morning. My friend who professionally does autoX just messaged that he thinks I should just put in RBF660 "and call it a day", but I don't have time to order that online either by tomorrow. I'm just trying to figure out why the Super DOT 3 has a higher boiling point than the Asian DOT 4. I lap my EvoX but the cost is high, so I want to do a little more autoX with my Subaru when I can't get to the track. I've done autoX with both cars.

Have a friend who tried this on his Lancer...lots of problems. Haven't seen him in a long time so have a feeling he blew up the car.

Decided to go with the Subaru DOT 3 and I'll pick it up tomorrow. My friend who drives in the autox nationals went with DOT 4 for just that event otherwise he also uses the DOT 3 so think it's good enough.

I replaced my starter, then changed the relay, and in the end after many dealership $'s later it was actually just a loose wiring connection to the relay which was a cheap fix. Got to love friends who can help you pop the clutch to get you going.

OMG this is totally confusing. I've been googling this for hours and everyone has a different opinion.