Q About Blown HG for Those In the Know

[JT95]

I just picked up a 2003 WRX as a project car.  It has been in CA its whole life, so I was drawn to it because I figured it would be pretty rust free.  Picked it up at auction, as-is, so I knew the drivetrain was a gamble.  When I got possession of the car, it would not start.  Would crank/turn over, but not start.  Finally got it to fire up twice, and while it would sputter and die at idle, keeping the RPMs up kept it running and seemed normal sounding/feeling.  Took it for a little test spin and after 10 minutes the temp gauge started to shoot up, so I shut the engine off immediately.  The next day it would not start again.  No codes.  Fuel was pumping.  MAF sensor ruled out.  Checked all fuses.  Reset ECU.  Nothing.

 

Hauled to a shop that was recommended to let them look at it.  They aren't Subaru only, but he does a lot of WRX/STI work.  He called today and said he's pretty sure the car has a blown head gasket.  Said he would need to get the engine apart to know what actual damage there was and what my repair options were at that point. 

 

Will a bad head gasket alone result in a car not starting like this?  I've got no personal experience with HG issues.  The shop seems legit thus far, but I just like having a better understanding of what's going on with the situation.

 

 

Thanks for any input.

 

 

[idosubaru]

Hard to say sight unseen. But yes if an internal leak pukes into the cylinder it can cause a no start and worse.

 

Is this an EJ25

[Fairtax4me]

No, head gasket alone will not cause a no-start.

Overheating after 10 minutes is due to a low coolant level, or a stuck thermostat. Why is the coolant level low is a question. External leaks can be slow and un-noticable. Head gaskets possible, but unlikely on a turbo engine. Repeated overheating can compromise the head gaskets and cause them to fail, but they're not often the original cause.

 

Taking the engine apart is not how you diagnose a bad head gasket. "Pretty sure" isn't a diagnosis. Its a guess.

A leakdown test will tell if the head gaskets are bad. Exhaust gas tests don't work on these.

Sounds to me like theyre trying to rip you off. Second opinion time.

[JT95]

Thanks.  Yeah, in my mind a blown head gasket wouldn't keep a car from starting, but I've never dealt with one, so I don't know what's possible with one. 

 

To be fair to the shop, he hadn't had time to pull the car into the bay and look at it.  He said it'd be next week before he could do that, and if it looked like head gasket then he'd have to pull the heads before he could know the severity of damage.  I will certainly make sure he does a leakdown test before pulling the engine apart.  He did say he was going to pull timing cover and check to see if the belt had slipped.

 

The car sat for about a month with a dead battery.  The guys who hauled it to me had trouble jumping it and getting it started to load on the hauler.  I put a new battery in it when it arrived, but car still wouldn't start.  Transport guy was pumping the gas pedal like it was a cold morning in a carburetor car, so plugs are probably fouled too.  Work is crazy busy right now, and I have no free time, so I thought I'd let a shop see if they could diagnose the issue, since I was planning to have a timing belt kit done anyway. 

[Caboobaroo]

I've actually dealt with this before. Had a 2003 WRX come in that had been severely overheated and parked for a year due to a cracked radiator. Put coolant in it and couldn't get it to fire up. With the coolant fill bucket on the intake resevoir, when it would crank, there was a geyser shooring from the bucket.

 

Ended up having a warped head and an internally breeched head gasket, and I think it was two cylinders too.