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What begins with "H" and we all dread?


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If you answered "headgasket" you are correct.Or in my case two.

First my car seemed to use a bit of coolant so I added water in the radiator.First warning bell in my head,when I added water to the empty radiator steam came out in a RYTHMIC pattern,not a cloud.UH OH.So I drive it home after filling the radiator up with water.Then it starts kinda pauseing as I go down the road,sorta like a missfire.OH Sh*ts.Then it progesses to where every other bang my engine makes was a missfire sounding bang(no exhaust so easy to tell).Get home and I start pulling plugs cause the oil was still oil colored.1&2 are slightly dirty but ok seeing as they have been in the engine for about a month.then the kicker 3&4 are really Clean. F*CK!!!!!!So it would seem that both HG's on my EJ22 blew from coolant passage-cylinder.Yes the Engine was accidentaly overheated a couple time before-when your temp gauge only registers heat after your T stat opens(aftermarket gauge-in heater hose)You have some problems if coolant doesn't circulate(Air pockets) and you find out the engine is hot when steam/smoke comes out of the hood at a stop...Now I have to pull the motor to change the HG's cause I do not have the room to change them with the engine in the car(EJ22 into EA82 car)

Now I will weld a bung into the water pipe on the top of the engine and I will take my temp from there,with the temp sender at least touching the aluminum...

 

 

DAMN IT!!!!!

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OK lest start at the begiing, as i couldnt make head or tails out of your first post.

 

How many miles are on this car.

 

2.2L dont loose headgaskets, but it can happen as with any car with age.

 

If it is as bad as you say it is, you should see airbubbles in the radiator.

 

Taking the engine temp off the blcok wont tell you a thing. Aluminum or any metal reacts much slower then water. The best way to read actual temp is with a aftermarket temp gauge, and the more money you spend the more accurate they are. The second way (just an fyi) for an obdII is with a scan gauge, as it reads the ECU temp sensor wihich reacts much faster.

 

If you have heat while the car is over heating, then odds are its not a HG causing the problem. Best method to tell is to take a compression test.

 

There are many places you can loose fluids on a sooby and never see it due to the engine and exhaust layout.

 

Also replace the tstate with only an OE part, and replace the Radiator cap. A weak cap can cause over heating.

 

nipper

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200,XXX miles on my EJ22.I can't really tell if there bubbles in my coolant.If I open the cap it tries to steam/boil/shoot out.Indeed I can put water in there when the engine is off and then turn the engine on and you can kinda hear it hissing louder and louder then water comes shooting out of the radiator,if I dont have the cap on.Im not sure If my radiator cap might be bad.I know when theres a lot of pressure in the system my overflow tank lid either: A) blows off or B)water bypasses lid.

 

Ive never actaully seen the radiator cap release pressure.

But what would explain the missing?I'll see if I can locate a compression tester tommarow.God I hope its not headgaskets...

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200,XXX miles on my EJ22.

 

I know when theres a lot of pressure in the system my overflow tank lid either: A) blows off or B)water bypasses lid.

 

...

 

Ok ill say the dreaded word, Head gasket.

 

At 220XXX miles, thats a really really long run.

 

Now this puts me in a quandery. Normally i would say HG over 200,000 miles one should look at a lower mileage engine. But on subarus i havent really seen many HG's replaced that high so I dont know if the same issues apply.

 

As an engine ages the rings wear and get a bit weaker. Some pressure is lost through worn valve seals etc. Now normally when HG's are blown, the heads have to go to a machine shop to be checked out. A valve job is usually in order. In a really high mileage engine, restoring the seals back to factory spec can cause blowby at the rings.

 

Still do the compression test, I would like to see what the numbers are. If they are high on one side maybe you can get away with it. Maybe someone else can chime in that have done HG's on a 2.2 with over 200K on it.

 

nipper

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I am looking at about 120 just in gaskets-30 APIECE for HGX2=60

+40 for both Valve cover gaskets=100

+ 14 for Dealer Intake gaskets=14

+ whatever exhaust manifolds gaskets cost.

 

I could go to pull and save for a motor with lower miles(hopefully).But thats kinda hard because the engine is from 1990....

 

 

I will report back with a compression reading

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I am looking at about 120 just in gaskets-30 APIECE for HGX2=60

+40 for both Valve cover gaskets=100

+ 14 for Dealer Intake gaskets=14

+ whatever exhaust manifolds gaskets cost.

 

I could go to pull and save for a motor with lower miles(hopefully).But thats kinda hard because the engine is from 1990....

 

 

I will report back with a compression reading

Any engine from a non-turbo Legacy 1989-1995 will fit. You don't have to have one from 1990.
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When I first saw this thread title- "What begins with "H" and we all dread?" I thought for SURE that it was going to be some sort of Honda joke. Alas...

 

Sorry to hear about your head gaskets.

 

Nathan

 

i was thinking about making a horque bind joke .....

 

 

nipper

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Any engine from a non-turbo Legacy 1989-1995 will fit. You don't have to have one from 1990.

 

 

yea but it needs to be 90 so it just wires in with the same connectors.Although I suppose I could strip the "new" engine of the intake manifold and a few other bits while I am there.Then just use old bits from my engine..What would be the best year engine to get powerwise,And Phase one EJ22?(not messing with interference motors)

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yea but it needs to be 90 so it just wires in with the same connectors.Although I suppose I could strip the "new" engine of the intake manifold and a few other bits while I am there.Then just use old bits from my engine..What would be the best year engine to get powerwise,And Phase one EJ22?(not messing with interference motors)
Actually, for the wiring to be the same, it needs to come from a car from 1989-1994. And some 1995's will fit too. We're talking all OBDI here so it doesn't really matter. The wiring on the 1989-1994 Legacies is all the same.

 

All the phase one (pre-1997) EJ22's have 130hp so you're stuck either way.

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Really? And what prompted such a change?

 

Yup, really. What prompted it? Probably marketing--"new body styling, increased horsepower!"

 

As far as how they did it, you'd have to get inside the inscrutable minds of FHI executives and engineers to find out. J/k! I'm sure someone here knows what they did.

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