99 DOHC head gasket preventive replacement?

[luv2lean]

I'm looking for some advice on head gasket replacment or not. Here's the scenario------

My 99 obw with 125,000 miles on the 2.5L dohc motor has an oil leak from the valve cover and to my knowledge has not had a valve adjustment. I have not seen any evidence of a head gasket problem, overheating coolant loss, bubbles, etc. I purchased the car at 70,000, at which time I had the front seal and timing belt replaced. I just called 2 subaru mechanics for advice and one said nearly all 2.5L engines have head gasket problems so I should have the $1800 motor removal - head gasket - tranny plate - timing belt service. The other recommended just doing the valve adjustment with cover gaskets for $350.

 

I sure dont want to spend $1500 more if I can get another 50,000 out of this car, but also dont want to waste $350 if the head gasket is likely to fail soon. After doing some searching on this site, it looks like the head gasket failure rate may not be that high and I'm leaning towards just adjusting the valves. Should I look further at replacing the head gaskets? Is there any other diagnosis procedure I should consider? - combustion chamber scope?

Thanks,

Chris

[a97obw]

Having just finished replacing the head gaskets and clutch in my 97 Legacy Outback at 91k miles I'll tell you this:

 

It happened to mine at 91k miles. The parts ALONE to do both head gaskets, all the seals, timing belt, 1 timing belt pulley, the clutch pressure plate, clutch plate and throw out bearing....everything required to do it and do it right came to right at $800---from a discount Subaru dealership (OK, Jason at 1stSubaru parts!) then add another $100 for parts that I didn't count on needing that I got from my local dealership......lets see, $155 for the shop crane from Harbor Freight that now takes up space in my storage building where I did all the work (had to put it together as well), $55 to have a machine shop surface the cylinder heads, $35 to have the flywheel surfaced at another machine shop (did I mention both were all the way across town?), about 15 cans of O'Reillys carb cleaner @ $2.50 or whatever a pop, paper towels out the ying yang, don't forget the $42 worth of NGK "Unobtanium" spark plugs.....

 

BAND AIDS! cause the engine had all kinds of sharp edges on it and little aluminum burrs that work like splinters in your fingers.....OUCH!!

 

Cost of my labor: Priceless!

 

@ $1800 to do all of that and all you have to do is hand a mechanic a check or a credit card.....IF you are going to plan on keeping the car another 50k miles......JUMP on it! (you're due for a water pump anyways!)

[luv2lean]

..........@ $1800 to do all of that and all you have to do is hand a mechanic a check or a credit card.....IF you are going to plan on keeping the car another 50k miles......JUMP on it! (you're due for a water pump anyways!)

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm not disagreeing with the cost of the service but not sure if it is really needed for my car that has no symptoms of head gasket failure. BTW I did replace the water pump with the timing belt at 70K.

[stevecd]

I heard it from some where not sure if this is true but, anyways to keep headgaskets from going out i heard just letting your engine warm up before you accelerate hard or at all will keep you safe, again not sure if this is true but it sounds good.

[a97obw]

Ok, let me put it this way....

 

To do the head gaskets, the clutch and everything else (they are figuring the parts into that $1800 figure, correct?) is really only going to cost you $1450 because you were going to spend $350 anyways to have the valves adjusted and new valve cover gaskets installed. Correct?

 

(Ahhh, just spend the $350, if the rest happens further down the line so be it!)

[idosubaru]

are you sure the valves need adjusted? valve cover gasket replacement would be well under $350.

 

i would not replace the head gaskets now if there is absolutely no sign of failure. they could very well last much longer. but i would check your coolant level frequently and keep a gallon or two of coolant in the car or at least at home. keep an eye out for any amount of coolant loss.

another reason i wouldn't replace them is that they don't necessarily BLOW all at once to the point you'll be stranded. annoying, yes and it might take some time letting the car cool off, not driving it while it's hot but you shouldn't get stranded if you keep an eye on the coolant level and temp gauge from time to time.

 

if it does happen down the road, $1,100 is the going rate for head gasket replacement at a dealership as quoted by members on the board here.

 

if you have the $ and plan on keeping the car awhile and want sure reliability then replacement is not a bad idea though (the new head gasket solves the problem and won't leak like the original). if you have the car another 5 years and 100,000 miles that averages out to $30 a month or less. big deal, beats another car payment!

 

personally if the gaskets started to show signs of failure, i'd get a 2.2 liter motor install new timing belt and water pump and be done with it for $500. you'd be a happy subaru owner 150,000 miles later.