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A good friend got a great deal on a 98 forester witha blown HG yesterday. The car is in excellent condition except for the engine and he got it for 900.00. Now we have to put new gaskets in the engine. He won't go for the 2.2 swap so don't mention it.

 

When I got the car started it was blowing coolant out of the overflow immediately and white smoke out the tailpipe. I only ran it long enought to get it up on the trailer and it sounded fine. No bearing noises.

 

My question is how bad this motor could be? I have done several of these, but I have never had one that was spewing coolant like this one. Anyone think the heads might be cracked. The previous owner said he had it towed as soon as it overheated. Is this much of a HG failure common?

 

I will be checking the heads for flatness and having them machined if necessary. That is not an issue.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

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If the timing belt covers are melted, that is also a sign of a badly overheated engine - per a Subaru mechanic (not me) who has done 'hundreds' of HG repairs.

 

good luck

 

 

p.s. Have your friend spend some time on this forum reading about the 2.5 and the 2.2 swap....he might change his mind....esp. after seeing the cost of a replacement 2.5 vs. a 2.2.

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he meant, he had it towed the LAST time it over heated.

 

that's always the risk on an unknown engine, is it worth the parts?

 

Yep.

 

I'd rather "chance" an unknown 2.2 than a known 2.5 with issues. You can bet it wasn't the first time overheated.

 

Now you need to worry about heads, block, rod knock(not like they have bulletproof bearings to begin with).

 

You should really try to "smarten them up a bit" about the 2.2. I think you'd be doing them and yourself a favor rather than going down the road with this 2.5.

 

To say nothing of the quality of life going forward.

 

I fix some 2.5's and swap in 2.2's. In this case I'd never even consider saving this engine.

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the good thing is you're actually hearing from a number of folks that have actually done a bunch of EJ swaps and motor work. i agree, it's risky chancing it with this motor. EJ25's loose their bottom ends more often even without head gasket problems, with them makes it even worse.

 

i doubt the heads are cracked, that would be the least of my worries, it's not hard to find heads anyway.

 

but of course there's a chance the engine is fine, so it all comes down to how much your/his time is worth. chances of it being bad...no matter what it's just a number - 70/30? 80/20? 10/90? who knows, it just depends how much money and time is a concern for you and your friend and the time/cost/resources for finding another engine.

 

good luck mike.

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I think the latest owner only had it long enough to have this one incident. The title shows less than 1500 miles since he bought it. It looks like someone tried a "quick fix" and unloaded it on him.

 

We'll see how it goes.

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The good news is that every time you remove the engine from the same car it seems to go quicker.

 

I did a 99 Forester last year - needed to pull the engine(s) 4 times!

 

So after all the time and $ in parts, getting heads checked, maintenance items(TB, Idlers, etc) if it doesn't work out it'll be easier to pull next time.

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Got the engine out today and tore it down to the block. The HG had been changed once before and the mechanic used non subaru HG's. They looked just like the ones I tried before that blew within 400 miles. The heads didn't look bad, but we sent them to the machine shop to be resurfaced. The block itself looks very good. I had my mechanic look at the heads and he agreed that the gaskets didn't hold. I have to wonder if the last job was done by a mechanic that knows subaru's. We should have the car back together next week. I'll let you guys know how she runs once the vehicle is back together.

 

For right now it looks like my friend is benefiting from a mechanic's mistake. I feel sorry for the owner who only had it for a short while. I really think he was sold a car that had a known problem.

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when doing the head gaskets on a 2.5 that has over heated, i have concerns about possible damage to the rod and crank bearings causing them to let go soon after the repair.

 

other than just changing the oil, is there a treatment, additive or flush that could be used to help prevent bearing failure?

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I had one motor that had bad bearings following an overheat. The rad hose went and the lady continued to drive it for a little while. Once I got the engine back together I heard the rod knock. Oops, time for a replacement engine.

 

This engine started and ran fine, with absolute no noises from the bottom end. That is why I decided to go ahead with the rebuild. I'll let ou all know haw she is once back together.

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I had one motor that had bad bearings following an overheat. The rad hose went and the lady continued to drive it for a little while. Once I got the engine back together I heard the rod knock. Oops, time for a replacement engine.

 

This engine started and ran fine, with absolute no noises from the bottom end. That is why I decided to go ahead with the rebuild. I'll let ou all know haw she is once back together.

 

Good for you for doing an actual *repair*, rather than throwing money and a junkyard motor at it.

 

I feel it is almost always best to repair what you've got than take a risk on a unknown junkyard motor just plopped in.

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I had one motor that had bad bearings following an overheat. The rad hose went and the lady continued to drive it for a little while. Once I got the engine back together I heard the rod knock. Oops, time for a replacement engine.

 

This engine started and ran fine, with absolute no noises from the bottom end. That is why I decided to go ahead with the rebuild. I'll let ou all know haw she is once back together.

 

My first time doing HG was about a year ago...car was in nice shape (96 OB wagon)...130K...but clean

Seemed to run fine but got hot fairly soon after driving a few miles

 

Did the gasket job...head/valve job ...replaced everything (pulleys/TB/WP/wires etc)

After all said an done...it had a lower end noise/knock...aarrgghh!

Bought a rebuilt block from CCR

All is well...but put more into it that planned....

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My first time doing HG was about a year ago...car was in nice shape (96 OB wagon)...130K...but clean

Seemed to run fine but got hot fairly soon after driving a few miles

 

Did the gasket job...head/valve job ...replaced everything (pulleys/TB/WP/wires etc)

After all said an done...it had a lower end noise/knock...aarrgghh!

Bought a rebuilt block from CCR

All is well...but put more into it that planned....

 

 

 

could have been fairly harmless piston slap.

 

It's not a good idea to do a full valve job on a worn bottom end. I would have just done the headgaskets and left the valves alone unless damaged.

 

Or gone ahead and put rings and bearing in the bottom end too.

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The motor is out and the heads have come back from the shop. The machinist liked the looks of the heads. We will probably get the motor back in the car over the next few days. I'm looking forward to seeing how she runs with the proper gaskets in her. my buddy is excited to be getting her on the road in short order and has plans on taking her on a road after a short break in period. We will test her out close to home first.

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Nice. Please keep us posted. I really hope the engine will hold up without any problem.

Good luck

 

 

 

The motor is out and the heads have come back from the shop. The machinist liked the looks of the heads. We will probably get the motor back in the car over the next few days. I'm looking forward to seeing how she runs with the proper gaskets in her. my buddy is excited to be getting her on the road in short order and has plans on taking her on a road after a short break in period. We will test her out close to home first.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, here's the update. We got the motor back together and in the car last Thursday. She started up like a champ and ran nice and quiet. ost of power and no smoke or evidence of HG failure. My buddy loves the vehicle, but now we realize that it has torque bind. We sill be pulling the tail section and working on that problem this Thursday. He is very anxious to drive the car so he is pulling the rear drive shaft so he can drive until we can get to the tranny work. Wish us some luck

 

Mike

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