Anyone have any ideas? fuel related or head gasket?

[bmxbandit]

Hi, I have a 96 legacy outback. auto trans. 200,000 miles. Was on a trip and it really didn't get driven for a month and a half save for a couple times around the block. sat under a car port but it was raining hard. Upon returning, about .5mi into the drive around a left hand corner, almost all power cut out, IE 20 mph almost floored without high rpms that would make me think think transmission. filled up, (car was stored low on gas) put a bottle of heet in it (the yellow kind) thinking maybe I had gotten some water in the fuel. Next day same problem almost, around the corner. eventually came into it and If I got to 60 mph, it was fine to keep it there. two days later, tok an extra crank to start compared to usual, and same issue but worse. was fine after. Checked oil, trans. fluid. all fine.

However, and a big however is there was a good amount of oil in the coolant reservoir. which makes me think head gasket possibly, esp. given the issues with these and subaus. Car has never over heated and there is no white smoke out of tail pipe. local mechanic seems sure it is the head gasket and wants a lot to fix, But I have some concerns given the driving issues, thinking it seems more along the lines of a fuel delivery issue, be it some bad fuel still in there possibly. Not exited to dump a ton of money into a high mileage car for the head gasket and still have an issue, esp. since I just put $1,000 into a abs unit, master cyl. and brakes this summer. any feedback would be appreciated.

[idosubaru]

Do not proceed until you know for sure what is going on. At 10+ years old a dirty overflow reservoir means little without knowing a lot more about the previous history of the car. The "oil" could just be dirt or left over. It's very possible if you bought it second hand the head gaskets were replaced and that reservoir was never cleaned thoroughly...or it could just be dirty - i see lots of older cars with dirty tanks.

 

Of course I can't see it - so "dirty" is relative.

 

These cars do not blow headgaskets without overheating. If it has a bad head gasket it will over heat at some point. The only exception to that would be if the gasket was already replaced and they didn't do a good job - giving it an odd/abnormal headgasket failure.

 

Also - these cars dont' have running issues - they run absolutely perfectly when the headgaskets are blown - minus the absolutely random overheating of course.

 

First - any check engine light? Sound like simple cylinder misfire stuff to me which means plugs and wires.

 

Old gas never does good things to fuel systems/engines either. They have additives for gas that's going to sit for awhile shoudl you run into that situation again.

 

It might have head gasket issues but the current running issues I would think are something else.

 

Good luck and hope it's not the HG!

[nipper]

So tell me, if you have a hang nail do you fix it with a heart transplant?

 

 

At 200,000 miles there can be any number of things wrong with the car. I agree with everything the poster above said. Alos ANY CAR at 200,000 miles can blow a HG, so dont just go blaming it on the poor sooby!

 

Now back to the question at hand.

 

Have you filled the tank since then to see if it happens again?

When was the last time the car had a tune up?

Any mechanic that just "thinks" it is a HG should be ran away from. You have to do a compression test and an exhaust gas test in the coolant.

 

When was the last time the timing belt was changed?

When was the last time the coolant was changed?

 

Any CEL light?

 

You MIGHT have a bad HG, but the symptons dont match it.

[bmxbandit]

Hi Guys and thanks for the input. check engine light is on and has been on ever since I owned the car, approx. 6 years. A lot of my friends with these cars have their check engine lights on as well. I understand it is for a reason but it has run fine for years like this. It briefly went off a year ago after I replaced the alternator/battery but was back on a day later.

The shop said something about a hydrocarbons test in the exhaust and the figure 500 parts rings a bell but it was over a cell phone cutting out. I'll know more on monday. It hasn't had a tune up in a long time. plugs replaced 2 years ago. timing belt two years ago also. coolant it's been a very long time since it was changed. because It wasn't overheating and intermitantly running strange I was second guessing when he jumped straight to the head gasket issue. is there any way oil could be getting into the coolant reservoir otherwise? The car does leak oil. where from, who knows there is too much gunk built up to tell. Maybe a quart every 1,500-2,000 miles. the problem did persist after I filled the car up.

[nipper]

Do you actually want to save this car or keep driving it into the ground?

 

Personally I wouldnt do a HG on a car with 200,000 miles on it and not well maintained (sorry a CEL on for 6 years is not well maintained). The restored selaing of the valves could cause oil blowby (burning).

 

I would look for another engine if this is true. It is going to cost in the 1500.00 range to fix the car if it is done properly.

 

 

nipper

[bmxbandit]

all taken into account on the check engine light. as far as the car using oil, it is leaking oil not burning as far as I can tell. With the head gaskets replaced, that might solve the issue as a few others would be replaced in the process. that isn't the issue, the issue is could there be a fuel delivery problem of some sort making this happen, in regards to running at almost no power at times?

PS. as for the used engine, what am I looking at for one of those, I think it may be possible to be opening another can of worms with that avenue also. Thanks

[john in KY]

Part of the problem to me sounds like a failing AFM.

[mikec03]

You have had great advice. It certainly doesn't sound like a HG!

 

But to answer one point, I have a 95 and a 97, each with over 150K, and I don't have a check engine light on. It is not "normal" to have this light on.

[idosubaru]

this is really simple.

 

find out what your check engine light is. there are plenty of codes that are rather benign but it's always good to know what it is rather than assume it doesn't matter. it could very well be that your car was out of limits a long time ago but not to the point of causing drivability problems - but now it is causing problems. have the code read.

 

"fuel delivery" is highly unlikely to be the problem. folks that don't know much about cars typically say things like "sounds like it's not getting fuel" or "your catalytic converter is plugged" or some other canned inexperienced answer when in reality those almost never happen to subarus.