chadwick35/04 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 My uncle has a 2005 subaru outback in which he has bought from brand new, with current 83k on it, taken to the dealer to find only that the headgaskets are leaking? I thought by 2005 this issue was licked, now the fact is has 83k on it, that's not a good sign to me, very curious, then at the same time the axle boot was torn on the driver's side to, really? I suppose they are wear and tear, so please comment on this headgasket issue, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 yes. Firstly, the 2005+ headgaskets leak oil, externally. There is not risk if you keep the oil level inspected. As far as I know, it is not coolant that leaks past the gasket, only oil, and it leaks outside the block. Many people have had to repalce them and it seems the 85k-95k mark is where they show up. Better than overheating due to loss of coolant like the old ones. Better than that. Keep eye on oil, deal with the burning smell, or else, fix them. They will leak again even with new OEM Subaru gaskets. Subaru NEVER did figure out the EJ25 block/heads for the headgasket design. Hence, you will see new engines from Subaru, the new FB block is going to be better. Sorry had to be blunt Some "bad" shops will purposely poke, rip, knife axle boots for a job that pays well in labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 There were still issues with them leaking coolant. From what I've seen, they leak oil sooner then the earlier EJ253 head gaskets but then take longer to leak coolant. When they do start to leak coolant, it won't be slow, more like a drip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 up to 2008's (probably 2009's too but i haven't seen one yet) are showing external headgasket leaks. 1996-1999 and 2000-2004 and 2005-2009 are all a little bit different in how they fail and the symptoms they exhibit. your uncle can keep driving the car as-is, it won't cause any issues as long as he doesn't let it run out of oil or coolant. they typically start leaking so slowly it doesn't really matter, not enough oil loss between oil changes to worry about. he can live with it until it gets bad or try to time the headgasket job with a timing belt job to save some work/money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadwick35/04 Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 yes. Firstly, the 2005+ headgaskets leak oil, externally. There is not risk if you keep the oil level inspected. As far as I know, it is not coolant that leaks past the gasket, only oil, and it leaks outside the block. Many people have had to repalce them and it seems the 85k-95k mark is where they show up. Better than overheating due to loss of coolant like the old ones. Better than that. Keep eye on oil, deal with the burning smell, or else, fix them. They will leak again even with new OEM Subaru gaskets. Subaru NEVER did figure out the EJ25 block/heads for the headgasket design. Hence, you will see new engines from Subaru, the new FB block is going to be better. Sorry had to be blunt Some "bad" shops will purposely poke, rip, knife axle boots for a job that pays well in labor. Yikes, that's not good to hear at all, he was indeed thinking of trading it in, but it's also payed off to with no car payments, so if he has the repair done, you said it will return? He is also concerned that it will, i myself had no clue that 2005 and up had issues to i have a 09 forester myself and hope that doesn't creep up on me either, but i only have 20k on it to, i did work at a subaru dealership and remember 96-99 and then 00-04, both did them different, so at this point he is having the axle replaced then the headgasket next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 is it really that bad that it needs to be done now? sometimes they can be told the HG's are bad but it's seeping so slow it doesn't even register as fluid loss...>?? i've seen some recent discussion about using the Turbo headgaskets instead of the non-turbo or possibly the 2010 headgaskets. i wouldn't want to install the same headgasket again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 too soon to say, "EJ22 swap" ? they never really had a HG issue. Rock on ej22:headbang: And, please, I hope Subaru is watching the USMB posts, and that they ditch the ej25 and that dreaded HG issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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