head gasket troubles

[David C]

My trusty 88 wagon just started blowing the antifreeze out the tail pipe. It ran well before this,is it worth fixing the head of should I find a new engine?The car is near perfect, but at 177,000 I am not sure if I should put the money into this engine or find a new used one. Any ideas? Thanks

[jimkup]

I just did a HG & Valve job rebuild on my '88. Has 240K on it & now has more power & better mileage than it has in many years. I only did passenger side though & did not have a coolant leak. Mine had low compression on one cylinder & had a bad tick from that side of the engine too. If you don't have any other issues with it & it did not overheat &/or crack the block, it's prolly worth it to do it.

[WJM]

Fix it. Its always worth it.

[BobBrumby]

Yeh subarus are just like big mechano or lego, but remember to use the reverse sequence of the tightening sequence when taking off the heads off. And clean all gasket surfaces really spiney before bolting them back down.

[MilesFox]

you migt as well fix it, and catch up on all the engine seals too

 

it would suck to find another motor just to have it be leaking too. what is with the fear of head gaskets anyway?

 

pull the motor and set it in a 5 gallon bucket and bust out the torque wrench. thats all there to it

[Hank Roberts]

Are there any better-than-stock seals and gaskets recommended, for these old 1800-engine Subarus?

 

I have always figured a head gasket now and then is the cost of really taking good care of a vehicle. Worth doing. But it's always a big gulp.

 

This'd cost $1500 at Berkeley SOS Subaru, as I learned this morning; my 1988 GL had a swapped-in used Japanese engine, 60k miles ago. I got it a few weeks ago.

 

The more I learn about the previous work done on it, the less I trust it. Like the plugged EGR channels in the engine, finally detected and fixed last week. Since I got it a few weeks ago, the engine's lost a couple of quarts of oil in 500 miles of half freeway, half steep gravel forest-road driving. Not sustainable over even the short term. That's with 10W-30 oil. No smoke, just dribbling and drooling.

 

Head gasket service, I gather, goes through (so also replaces) the front engine seal, back cover of timing belt, cam towers, front engine seal.

 

Anything else in there that can leak?

 

Anything else worth adding (extra oil cooling, for example?) while it's pulled apart?

[[HTi]Johnson]

Are you saying that you are going to have mechanic do this work?

I'd say that you could do it yourself. Just follow the instructions in the USRM Repair and Mod

$1500 is steep for a reseal...I think. Considering how you could get a crate motor for what $750?

[All_talk]

Hey David

 

First off, confirm it’s a head gasket, a bad intake gasket can cause “coolant out the tailpipe”, but wont show the other blown head gasket symptoms like: over heating, pressure/bubbles in the radiator, coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant. A compression check should confirm a bad HG.

 

As far as to repair or not, I always look at it this way… The car is paid for (assuming) and costing me nothing, so figure the cost of fixing it (you or the mechanic). Now look at what kind of replacement car you could by with that amount of money. Unless its much newer with far less miles you just going to buying a somebody else’s potential problems (or a “pig-in-a-poke” as my dad would say). At least with your car you know what you have and what’s wrong.

 

I do (almost) all my own work, so I’d fix it. But if you’re going to have to pay the mechanic $1500 for the job maybe you should sell it as is (if its as nice as you say it should bring at least $500), and put you $2000ish into something else.

 

Gary

[Hank Roberts]

Good advice for David C. there ('do it yourself') I hope.

 

For me, I have to have the manual shift low-range 4wd, and buying another would be as much of a risk as fixing this one up. With oil leaks, I figure I can watch and track oil use and decide. I drive maybe 1500 miles a _year_.

 

With water leaks, though, it's an emergency for David C, I guess?

[idosubaru]

like mentioned, verify it's a head gasket. could be intake related.

[David C]

Which way to go?????? The motor has 177,000 on it. I have looked at the different options with the head and just don't know what is best. I do all my own work. Replacing the head cost 150 bucks or more if I do the work. Head gasket, pressure check, resurface or remanufactured head. Some say don't put a new head on one side and not do the bottom end and the other side to. So maybee a create motor is the way to go. I don't Know. Who is the best create motor seller? The time to do all this is worth somthing. With a create motor its just pull and swap. HELP!

[MilesFox]

the head should be fine. just a gasket is all it will need. pull the motor and do both. get your parts on ebay its cheaper

[jeffroid]

In my opinion you should do a compression test or preferably a leak down test before you decide anything. Any advice prior to knowing the results of those tests is guesswork.