Any tips on headgaskets? Engine is out of car.

[Dickensheets]

Ready to pull heads tomorrow. I have the new style headgasket ready to go. Any tips on preparing the surfaces other than clean and dry?

 

Ryan

[Dickensheets]

You MUST get the heads to a machine shop to be milled. They need a specific finish that you cant do in your garage, but a miller can. Otherwise don't come back here balming subaru when the HG's fail in a month

 

How many miles on the car?

 

nipper

 

130,000 miles. Not overheated because I caught it when it happened I think. I will use a machine shop if necessary, that's no prob. Just wondering if anyone has had good results with just cleaning and replacing.

[davebugs]

I just check them quick to see if they are re-surfacable. Then off to the machine shop to be checked for cracks, surface machined, and steam cleaned. While it's apart might as well. It's not that much - depending on your shop 100-150 to have them both done. Why skimp at this point is my thought? It does require breaking down the heads though. Remember to mark everything well, or place in a marked container. When they come back from cleaning any marking you put on the heads may no longer be visible.

 

I use one box per head, put the cams, camshaft keepers, bolts, valve buckets all that stuff in there labeled. Then I hope no-one accidentally kicks the box. An egg crate or two is excellent but I never seem to have any.

 

An old personal trick is that I letter rather than number things. This started back in the day labeling computer wiring. If you number things folks tend to read too much into the number. If you letter things they just match up the letters and don't look for a deeper meaning. Works for me.

 

Dave

[hankosolder2]

You MUST get the heads to a machine shop to be milled. They need a specific finish that you cant do in your garage, but a miller can. Otherwise don't come back here balming subaru when the HG's fail in a month

 

How many miles on the car?

 

nipper

 

Nipper,

 

Isn't the weak spot in the Head/HG/Block interface more on the Block/HG side?

Nobody refinishes the block sealing surfaces during a regular HG replacement. I just wonder if refinishing a (true) head offers that much benefit. (Of course, if the head's not true, it HAS to be refinished.)

 

I'm just posing a question here, not questioning the validity of your advice. I just wonder why the surface finish on the head would matter more than the surface finish on the block.

 

Nathan

[idosubaru]

it's really, really good practice to resurface the heads. i almost always do. for such a huge and important job, that no one cares to deal with again, it's not worth the $100-$150 savings.

 

that being said, i'm not going to ignore that i've gasket-slapped a few in my day. none have had issues (yet, i know, i know!!). and i know lots of other people have gasket slapped quite a few. not ideal and i'm not recommending it, but it can work. if you like reliability though and risk isn't your game, it's not $150 worth deciding over.

 

i've had people/friends not want to pay any more than the gasket costs to fix one and i'm not going to force or make them pay. now...i might refuse to do it the second time if it ever comes to that!!!!

[alsevi]

I did this to a 96 Outback 2.5 at 105,000 miles, now at 135,000 and OK without being milled. You can not beat a shop, but in lieu of that, look real close for any surface cracks with a magnifier. Clean it up and keep track of the stuff to get all in the same positions. Use only Subaru parts that you buy now and have the parts guy print the installation latest version. Anything old will be at risk for incorrect. As you know, this was a learning process for them. Get a big guy to hold the motor while you torque. Replace the oil leaker plate behind the fly wheel disc. The parts guy knows what to give you.