The 1997 Subaru Legacy Wagon Progect

[thestudent]

Hello this is the first Forum that i have been to and from reading some of the responses i seem to have found the right place to ask my questions. 

 

I have a 97 Legacy Wagon, and it like to overheat. So far i have changed the radiator, the hoses to the engine twice, the thermostat three times and last night, after it overheated again, i had a waterfall of coolent from above the oil can. both radiator and the heater were cool to the touch. 

 

so far i have had three diagnostics told to me, the thermostat is bad, the water pump is bad, and the head gasket is busted. 

 

any advice or help to figure the problem out would be great

 

Thank you

[ocei77]

Classic HG issues, 

Engine? Mileage.

When full do you get heat?

How long does it take to oveheat?

Doesn't o/h at idle, but after driving a bit, the gauge goes to hot?

 

O.

[thestudent]

2.5L engine i believe, just reached 200,000 mileage

i get lots of heat more than normal, and it can take a day to two days of driving before overheating 

it revs occasionally in idle but i dont push it while driving over 3000 rpms

 

i do notice that i loose all heat as my temp gauge starts to climb 

 

C

[mikaleda]

Sounds like a typical head gasket.

[ocei77]

You need HG. All depends on what you can do mechanically and your budget.

If a 2.2 swap is reasonable then that would be a great option.

or fix the HG with Subaru turbo gaskets, Six Star, Cometic and lastly Fel-Pro.

The heads must be resurfaced, which you can do yourself.

 

O.

[porcupine73]

An easy thing to check also is do you ever see any air bubbles blowing into the coolant overflow tank, i.e. looking like it's boiling?

[AdventureSubaru]

Sounds like head gaskets as mentioned. Confirm it with the bubbles in the overflow. If so, best thing you can ever do for this car is find a 1995 EJ22 motor from a legacy or Impreza with an automatic transmission and swap it in. you will lose just a little horsepower but gain the following.

 

Head gasket issues almost non existent on 90s EJ22s unless overheated or badly neglected. Even so, swapping them is cheap and easy.

 

Good used EJ22 motors run as cheap as $100. but ballpark $300-$500 to find a good runner.

 

95 motor will be non interference. You can also use 96-98 motors if you get the y pipe from the original car.

 

Takes about a day to do the swap your first time. I've done them in as little as 5 hours. Lots of writeups on here but far superior motor for durability and longevity.

[AdventureSubaru]

last I checked a whole EJ22 motor cost about the same as the gaskets etc. + head resurfacing and all for a EJ25 in my area anyway. End result is so much more reliable.

 

Plus you can usually get $100-$200 for the old EJ25 as a builder or parts for someone else.

[thestudent]

thank you so much all of you, this had been a great learning experience

 

yes i do have lots of air getting into my radiator and overflow tank. 

 

the information i have right now on prices for the parts to replace, and the resurfacing of the heads would be around $750

 

but i could just get a new engine for about $300? 

 

out of experience that i lack, what would be the defining difference in the choices i have besides price. 

such as which would better in the long run, a slightly used engine replacement or repairing my original engine. 

[AdventureSubaru]

Read through my prior posts where I detail the differences. Hands down a used EJ22 would last far longer than rebuilding your Ej25. I have replaced 100,000 mile EJ25s with 260,000 mile EJ22s knowing full well that the car would be much longer lasting. Any 1990-1998 EJ22 can be installed but a 1995 that came out of a legacy or impreza with an automatic transmission will be the easiest by far.