johnwan Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 My ride needs head gaskets. 93 Loyale. 330,00km. It is consuming coolant, temp goes higher than normal. Are there suggestions or recommendations about parts required Are new head bolts required? Lifters? Gasket brands? It is still a solid very original ticky 4wd wagon. Thank you. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 Oem or Fel Pro head gaskets Oem only intake gaskets and the o rings for the oil channel to the cam towers. I have always re used the head bolts. If any were really rusty, swapped them for better ones from a spare engine. Heads must be resurfaced to remove the marks from the fire rings. Search for post apocalyptic resurfacing. New water pump and thermostat. Verify that your radiator is in top shape. Fins still attached to the tubes, etc. Other most important thing.... Idle it up to normal operating temperature. Shut down and go to work carefully loosening the intake manifold bolts and head bolts. This deep heating really lowers the chances of breaking them off or stripping the threads. Use a space heater and heat gun to reheat it or keep it hot until you get to the head bolts. Work them back and forth gradually if any are sticky. If you are careful, you can feel the difference between springy and yeilding. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwan Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 Thank you for the reply Dave T. I have ordered the intake gaskets and o rings from Subaru. I have a gasket set coming from Lordco, an auto parts store chain in British Columbia. I am unsure of the brand at this point. As far as loosening the head bolts while the engine is still warm,. I will have to use a heat gun as I am a slow worker and the engine will cold by the time I have the engine out. Is it possible to loosen the head bolts with the engine still in the car? Thank you again for your help. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 It is difficult, as you have to pull the rocker covers and the towers first. Main idea is loosen the (any and all) bolts while it's hot. In reality, the head bolts and even the tower bolts, I'd wait to get it out first, the use the heater and heat gun. Near normal operating temp is what you want. And heat deep enough to get to the aluminum where the threads are. That's why long time with the electric heat vs torch. I have saved myself a lot of grief dissasembling these old ones with this trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwan Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 I think my Subaru is ok. I may a sticking thermostat. The temperature gauge did get up close to the red a few times. I was hearing water sloshing in the dash. Today I warmed the Subaru up with the radiator cap off a high idle and giving a few higher revs to purge air. The heater works radiator fan is operating. I should replace the thermostat and radiator cap before getting into the head gaskets. Does this sound reasonable? Does Subaru sell these parts. Thank you for the advice. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee2 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I would definitely recommend doing the simple things first. Pulling the engine essentially means a complete reseal is in order. Along with several other things while the engine is out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Be sure to watch the coolant level like a hawk. Like before every drive. Water sound in the dash means very low on coolant. My experience has been that after such an event as you describe, low coolant + over normal temperature, is that the head gaskets are damaged. It is a matter of time and cycles until the leak gets big enough to be noticable if you only check weekly. And each low coolant overheat accelerates the failing. Doesn't hurt to be certain before resealing, but be watchful to avoid worse overheat damage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Ask opinions and you ate likely to get different answers. I use genuine head gaskets because I have found they never need that initial retorque of head bolts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I would try it first without thermostat making only part to buy is new gasket. Others would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 11 hours ago, johnwan said: I should replace the thermostat and radiator cap before getting into the head gaskets. Does this sound reasonable? Does Subaru sell these parts. Yes, yes, and yes. Those are both best to get from Subaru. Like Dave said - check the radiator coolant level every day if you can and see if you're loosing coolant. You want to find out if it's consuming coolant or not. Waiting for it to run hot, then check after it's already been hot and boiled over and spilled some out doens't tell you anything meaningful. You want to find out if it's loosing coolant under normal conditions, not overheating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 ^^^^ what they said, just chiming in to discourage you from trusting the overflow bottle to accurately represent coolant volume. as said above, check the RADIATOR level vigilantly while this problem is on-going. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 To check the coolant in the radiator without opening the cap - squeeze the upper radiator hose sharply, and listen for the giggle pin and air gurgles. Once you do this a few times, you can begin to determine by the sounds the amount of air in the system. There should be very little to none. When you open the cap, it intruders a small amount of air, so it can make it difficult to determine if there is a problem developing when the leak or damage is very small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwan Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Update. So I have tried a new radiator cap and thermostat. Everything seemed good for a few days. It is acting like a sticking thermostat again. The temperature gauge goes up to hot then drops to normal and stays there for the remainder of the drive. It’s is possible to get a defective thermostat out of the box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Yes, but this is typical of air in the system. If all is well, the amount of air will diminish over a few drive cycles. Re read my previous posts, they cover how to monitor what is going on, and determine the earliest beginning of headgasket failure or something else. If the air does not reduce over a few drive cycles, headgaskets are suspect. A small leak can cause this also. I run a zero pressure radiator cap to eliminate that possibility. As the number of over temperature events increases, the headgasket leak from combustion chamber to cooling system will get worse. Eventually there will be no question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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