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92 Loyale with 187K. 2WD. Is there a way to guess if this is just a blown Head Gasket or a cracked head? The car has been losing coolant for a couple of years. Now the temperature started rising. I introduced compressed air in all the cylinders at TDC. At the cylinder #2 the coolant started leaking from the radiator. I am a fairly conservative driver, drive around the town and do not rev the engine. What do you guys think? Regard, Sam

Hi all, I'm about to mate an EJ251 from a 2000 Impreza RS to EJ25D heads from a '98/'99 Outback. I was told to utilize the head gaskets from the EJ251 (very thin) to bump up the compression. I was also told that I needed to use copper sealant on the HG's. I'm not sure why, the shop didn't have the time to explain to me... Looking around the other subaru forums, I've not seen any mention of copper sealant being used for ANY application, be it stock or hybrid. Ideas? Is there a difference between the Permatex Ultra Copper RTV and Copper sprays? The RTV states that it is rated for 700 degrees farhenheit. . . Take care, Greg.

Hey all, I finished a Frankenmotor build about a month ago. I used the short block out of a '96 OB, and the heads from a '96 Legacy. I surfaced the heads on my own via the flat board/sandpaper method. I used .056" thick Cometic MLS headgasket with their hybrid pattern. This is my third HG replace dealing with a Subaru motor, and I have other background experience with Toyota motors. I'm just trying to convey that I'm not unfamiliar with these things, nor to say that I'm an expert. I have found coolant seeping from the passenger-side head upon start up. It'll seep out onto the exhaust and smoke. After running to temperature/driving, the seepage stops and all is dry underneath. I have not seen any white smoke from out of the tailpipe; usage from the over-flow tank is not unreasonable. I followed the directions for headbolt tightening via the FSM. Doing this before, I've yet to see this seepage. But I was also using OEM headgaskets from Subaru. The MLS HG was pretty beefy. The rings surrounding the combustion chambers were aggressive. I've talked with some big-power-turbo Subaru enthusiasts, and they've mentioned different specifics for the torque. They use 30-60-90ft-lbs (I believe those were the numbers they referenced...) increment increases (first tightening is 30ft-lbs, second go around 60ft-lbs...). Is it possible that the FSM procedure doesn't squeeze the MLS HG enough? Can I safely tighten the head bolts now? Say another 25-45 degrees? Or is there an torque end-value that is actually achieved via the FSM process? Or is this a moot point, and I should be preparing for a HG replacement? I watch my gauges and fluids religiously, so I know that I could probably get away with driving it more without overheating. Any advice will be appreciated. Greg

Hello, I'm a new comer in USMB. Always like subaru, bought a used 04 Outback (Blue color ) with 121K and love this car! It had a slight oil and coolant leaking when I got it. After I did the coolant flush with "all maker/all models" orange coolant without any "conditioner" ( have no idea of the head gasket thing back then, did the flush because a stupid coupon...), coolant is leaking faster. Now I can hear the dripping when car stops. It lost about 1 gal coolant in 3 months, but the oil level was only down down a little bit between oil changes. Now it has 128K and I'm going on a road trip so I need to replace timing belt to make it safer. I did have the T-belt checked before it was in a good shape although it's original. First I planed to replace both T-belt and head gasket (HG) at the same time to save the labor cost, but I decide to only do the T-belt and use the famous subaru cooling system conditioner to mitigate the leakage, after 3 day's research online. Really thanks everyone who post on HG leaking, especially grossgary and GeneralDisorder Here's my reasons: 1. many examples (15+) has been found that prove the little conditioner works pretty well and car should be good for 50K+ miles. And almost everyone who tried conditioner found it worked although the total number is only a few. a. GeneralDisorder tried this on his severe leaking 99 forester ( I guess EJ253?), the dripping stoped almost immediately and last for 20K+ miles (by now?). Also he said "My parts guy says many times the stop leak cures the problem forever and they (customers who had HG leakage) never come back." I think most customers found HG problem was fixed, though some might sell the car. b. grossgary talked about his friend's 03 (outback?) went from "solid oil leak" to "leaking really good oil" in 70K~80K miles, which was quite a lot mileages. But I don't know if HG is finally blown or not when he stopped using car. c. lots other cases can be found by searching on this board or through the internet, I just can't named them all. d. Very interesting and useful reviews about the conditioner on amazon: <http://www.amazon.com/Subaru-Cooling-System-Conditioner-SOA635071/product-reviews/B008HQHS7M/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=byRankDescending> 7 worked, 4 didn't specify the effect. also all worked cases are from newer reviews, so I guess they got this information online maybe this board. Great Jobs:) 2. coolant won't go to combustion chamber or mix with oil for these engines (EJ25 Phase II). Because of newer design of phase II, leakage was found to be external and most likely to stay with external leakage. Although allwheeldriveauto claimed this external leakage can become internal if not replacing HG after major leakage, I have only found one suspected case that overheated after 15K miles of coolant leaking, but no reason for overheat was stated. No one actually posted internal leakage after external leakage (I might see somebody said a direct internal leakage developed, but not sure), after going though some posts here, all posts in HG failure log on <http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/88-head-gasket-issues/18583-hg-failure-log-no-discussion-log-only-20.html>, and most post on <http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-head-gasket-problems-explained/>. 3. Even if coolant goes to combustion chamber, sign can be seen from bubbles in coolant overflow bottle; or even if coolant mixed with oil, sign can be seen from milky color thing on oil dipstick ( maybe and oil in coolant overflow bottle?). Even if all signs are missed, replace HG after first overheating seems won't cause more issue. If overheat is missed, then no next.... 4. This seems to be better in the long run. I expect my subie could run more than 350K miles, even not with me at last. I wish it could last for 8k+ miles with the conditioner, then replace both HG and TB, definitely using a MLS HG, which should be good for at least 150K according to allwheeldriveauto. But does anyone see a failure on the MLS HG? just curious...(I know the OEM ones are prone to fail a second time as the first one) 5. For the short run, spend much less money now. Local independent Subaru Shop quoted ~1500 for HG and TB replacement at the same time. If do them separately, TB (and gears) ~530, HG ~1270, so total is ~ 1800. As a college student, I feel nearly $1K saving is a lot. Even if it turns out HG need to be done very soon as well (which is very unlike to happen), I only need to pay 300 more. The disadvantages and concerns: 1. Replacing HG seems to be better for the mid-term run. If I only drive it for less than 8K miles, it is better for me to do HG now, but not the best way for the car. 2. The risk is higher for long road trip. Replacing HG gives more peace in mind than checking oil and coolant at each stop in a long road trip. I love road trips so this is a big concern for me. But checking fluid levels frequently also provides quite a peace in mind. 3. If the condition doesn't work and problem become severely bad within 10K miles. then I need to have the HG replaced, spend 300 more. But I believe possibility for this to happen is <2%. 4. This is just for me, my mechanic is a honest, knowable, and fair Subaru specialist. It may be a little struggle to find a good Subaru mechanic if I move away after graduation (probably will). But I need to find a good mechanic in the new area anyway. Well, to sum up, from the information and analysis I got, if just using conditioner, topping off fluids, and keeping an eye on temperature after leakage being found, I think there's 97% probability for engine to last 20K miles, 80% to last 50K miles, 60% to last 80K miles, 40% to last 100K miles (frankly, just guessing) before problem goes really worse, like annoyance by topping off every 300 miles, or internal leakage, etc. I have already dropped my car for replacing TB (&gears), coolant flush, and adding conditioner. I would like to test this method and post updates later, to see the result. Thanks for your reading, looking forwards to replies, answers, corrections, comments, etc. apologize if any misleading due to my poor english as a non-native speaker. And most important, Happy Holidays! Fisky

Hi all, Current vehicle of question: 1999 Outback Wagon, 2.5l DOHC, 120k, Second owners... This is a friend's car that I'm helping out with, and am hoping to get some good insight. Knew that this would be the place. Story: The car was bought last October, and has had 9000 miles put on it by a very calm and defensive driver... They started noticing the thermostat indicating it getting hot. After watching it, they noticed the coolant was low, and that they needed to add. Then they noticed air being forced into the coolant reservoir. They took it to a few independent subaru shops, and got the same answer: Blown Head Gaskets, and bad Viscous Coupler (for a different post....). So we pulled the motor, and started getting the heads off. It had the old style HG (http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-head-gasket-problems-explained/), and they were both bad My question has to deal with the driver side head in particular... While taking the intake camshaft retainers off, a pressurized aqueous solution squirted out at us from under the retainers. Also, two of the camshaft retainer bolts were heavily corroded. Is this a sign of a cracked head? I plan on submerging the head in a tub of water, and spraying compressed air into the retainer bolt holes. If there are bubbles from anywhere, I'm assuming the head is bad? Should we be concerned with the block internals being compromised? How much should another head cost, and should they just slap a 2.2L in there (I'm in favor...)? The oil that we drained from the pan is not chocolaty/frothy. And there was maybe a gallon of coolant that drained out of the system. Thanks, Greg