Get it fixed by an independent who specializes in subies. While it is open inspect the water pump, had the impeller come loose from the shaft. I do not advise doing it engine in car or yourself for the first time without a trained tech to watch. There are several things most don't do that a trained tech knows about. First time is a learning experience and I have yet to see a video of it done right.
Weird...I went to edit my original post w/a picture & the text went away?!?
SWMBO was traveling & fell in love a friend's 4th gen outback. When she got home she fell in love with the first one she looked at, a 2010 w/150k miles. It's a bit ugly (dents/scrapes), but it was cheap. Unfortunately, not quite cheap enough. It idled fine for +30 minutes while we inspected it & on a short test drive. Once we got plates on it SWMBO drove the car & had temp warning lights on the first +30 minute trip running errands. The lid on the expansion tank opened & emptied the coolant. The lower radiator hose was cool, the top hose was very hot.
I swapped the thermostat & bled the system. I went for a drive 15 minutes way & on the way home stopped for gas. I used my ODBII bluetooth reader to watch the temps & everythign was fine. After stopping for gas the temp spiked on the 2 mile drive home. The heat wasn't blowing hot. I bled the system again. From what I've read, the driver side gasket can have a slight breach. Because it's close to the thermostat, the exhaust gas can keep the thermostat from opening.
W/the front end elevated there aren't really bubbles in the easy-bleed funnel until + 20 minutes of idling...after 30 minutes of idling there's a steady stream of bubbles. W/the radiator cap on the expansion tank has a steady stream of bubbles.
1. I've read on Subaru Forums that using a exhaust gas tester on these cars usually shows a false negative. I can't seem to find any other things that could cause bubbles. Because the system is pressurized, any other breaches would cause a leak...not bubbles. Any other things I should check? I have a compression test gauge that I've never used. These spark plugs look like a pain to access though.
A used engine from a JDM import shop is $1,276 w/tax. They advertise as having 40k to 60k miles, but I'm guessing the timing belt may need to be changed for age reasons....so roughly $1500 all-in w/new timing.
I could theoretically try to do the head gasket myself. I haven't done much research, but an EJ25 reseal kit w/head bolts is $300+. Having the heads resurfaced is likely another $400. All of this is considerably more time consuming than just dropping an engine.
I haven't called any shops yet, other than the engine shop....but I'm guessing having a shop do a head gasket is at least $2500 to $3500.
My regular indie mechanic quoted ~$2200 + parts & head resurfacing...so roughly $3k if there are no issues w/the head or valves. After talking to a few more people I decided to pull the engine & attempt the head gasket myself. Apparently the JDM engines can somtimes be a pain with swapping intake/EGR/sensors, etc sometimes. Best-case, I learn something new & fix it for a reasonable amount of $$. There's always a chance I pull the old engine apart to find the heads are cracked or too warped to fix...and I'm buying a JDM engine. I was sent a copy of the detailed shop manual in PDF (it's a few thousand pages).
How it's going:
The thing that make me most nervous is the taking off the timing belt & removing the heads. I'd hate to damage the heads due to improper removal. I'll have to read the manual a few times, I do know everything has to be aligned w/the timing marks.
What's a little concerning, is the fact it looks like this car has been apart recently. The nuts on the exhaust studs look new. One of the nuts on the engine bolts is missing. One of the nuts on the the exhaust downpipe isn't tightened down. There's some writing on the transmission in red marker. If I'm lucky, the CVT has been replaced, I'll add a few pictures of the writing lon the transmission.
OK, no disrespect here but based on your description of initial work send it to the mechanic.
There's quite a range of long blocks you can use, depending on your exact willingness to swap parts over. However, I'd be really cautious, since the 2011s+ had some real issues with oil burning due to piston ring issues (pretty standard emissions related stuff, a lot of makes seemed to have problems with this in the late 2000s / early 2010s). Earlier blocks are a different revision IIRC, and I know there's even a split within them on oil provisions for the AVCS system.
The JDM engines have always rubbed me the wrong way, since they seem too good to be true, and I expect warrantying one would be a PITA as a DIYer. Some are also higher compression, but I don't think would be an issue here.
So I would lean towards taking the heads off, having them machined, and reassembling myself (make sure to use an MLS style gasket), especially if the rings have been doing a good job.
I see you're concerned about getting the heads off safely, just make sure the pistons are halfway down the bores and you'll be okay. If you take the timing belt off with all the timing marks aligned, the cams can rotate due to the pressure from the valve springs, causing the valves to knock into the pistons. Which wouldn't be world ending either, since it would really only damage the valves, and having them checked out at a machine shop isn't the worst idea anyway. With cam locks (lots of options available for these engines), then the whole situation is avoided, since the lock will prevent the cam / valves from moving when the timing belt is disconnected.
I have never seen a Subaru need to have the heads decked. OTOH I have also never seen a Subaru with a combustion gases leak.
If it was apart recently, I wonder if they forgot the extra 90 degrees on the center head bolts.
One of the nice things about Subarus is that the cam timing marks are at 90 degrees from TDC/BDC, if the crank sprocket has its timing mark lined up there is no way to touch a valve even if you spin the cams around a lot.
I've always resurfaced my Subaru heads on a nice flat piece of float glass with some 400 grit sandpaper glued to it and they always come out nice. They're little heads and the valves are all closed so no need to disassemble them. WD40 for lube and brake cleaner to clean the paper with a figure 8 motion moving the head, once your arms are burning you're a 1/4 way there lol.
I recently had to pull my motor in my 07 Legacy back in the summer as I also had a steady stream of bubbles. For me it turned out to be some cracks in the drivers side head between the valve seats and the spark plug. Very carefully inspect this area as the cracks are not obvious, if the motor was recently apart they may have just done head gaskets not realizing what the actual issue was. I just went to our local u-pull and popped another head off an Imprezza for $75 and was good to go. At the yard I just kept pulling bolts (subframe, strut towers, finally the rear engine mount) and the motor flopped down giving me easy access to pop the head off.
Headers can remain in place under the car so don't worry about trying to pull the exhaust apart.
These cars are easy to work on including the motors, keep at it and you'll get it back together and save a pile of money.
The engine came out without objection once I lowered the exhaust. It's now on an engine stand.
I've put together a list of things to order. The timing belt does look new, but I don't see a brand on any of the pulleys, so I'll probably just replace the tensioners & water pump with the OE stuff I ordered.
I'm going to pull the heads tonight, but I want to watch a few more videos & compare to the factory instructions.
The body on this car is pretty rough...the car is mechanically totaled. I'd be better off selling it for scrap, than putting $3k or more into a repair. I'm doing my best to make a bad situation less bad.
SWMBO feels terrible about the impulse purchase. Hopefully my triumphant picture standing in the empty engine bay will make her feel a little better.
The writing on the trans & diff: the torque converter has the same mark in green
In reply to Hoondavan :
Is that writing showing it's from a scrap yard?
I'm guessing the writing on the trans means it was replaced w/used parts at some point. I'll post a few better pictures.
I took the heads off this week. The rear driver side cyl was full of coolant when I pulled the heads. W/the heads off the motor, the intake valves on that cyl aren't opening, looks like a broken rocker. I'm guessing they were hydrolocked. The timing belt did slip a few teeth when I loosened the cam sprocket, but the crank was centered, so I don't think anything could have made contact. Either way, I learned there's a better way to remove the cam sprocket.
I started pulling the cam to investigate further, but decided anything more than a valve isn't going to get fixed this weekend. The machine shop I called never called back with a quote for resurface. A local shop said to expect $400 for skimming the heads...more if the valves need lapped, etc.
I decided to pull the trigger on the JDM motor from JDM Orlando. $1,280. I'm hoping to put on a new timing belt and water pump, swap the intake, & have it installed by Saturday night. 
My buddy Round Greg used to say "if I can't fix it, I can berkeley it up so bad nobody else can fix it!" I think that was his version of "it's already broken, what's the worst that can happen?"
either way, you're taking a swing at it and you're gonna learn something along the way. Good on you.
If the engine came out without a fight, it's been out before. The first time usually involves sharp chisels to open a gap between the engine and trans, and then progressive prying to separate the two.
I lurked on this forum for several years before I pulled the trigger on a project car (E30 back in 2018 or so). Reading posts & participating in this forum helped me decide to tackle things that were outside of my comfort zone. I also received a lot of helpful tips and encouragement. I'm regularly impressed with the projects here. My stuff simple in comparison, but I do find myself learning & attacking more agressive repairs/projects over time. Thanks again for the tips & advice. I'll continue to update this thread in case others here run into simliar problems. This took a lot of time & hard work. This car reinforces the old mantra to buy the best one you can afford. For the money spent on the engine, fluids, & parts, we could have bought a much nicer car w/a lower probability of having issues.
Job done! Well...kind of. The engine went back in w/out issue by Saturday night. It had definitely been apart before, becasue it separated with only a light screwdriver tap. It was also missing a nut from the bellhousing. Likely to put in a used CVT. I spent pretty much two solid weekends start-to-finish buying parts, a hoist, engine stand, & removing/reinstalling the engine.
Friday night after work I drove to Orlando to pick up an engine from JDM Orlando. Traffic was pretty light for a Friday night in Orlando. The pickup process was pretty smooth. $1,278 w/tax, a slight discount from their online price. Friday night I got the engine out of the minivan & on the engine stand.
Saturday morning I changed out the timing equipment and water pump. I bled the tensioner, per the instructions & everything went together as expected. I did it slowly & carefully, but it was pretty straightforward. The Felpro head gasket set came with valve cover gaskets, intake gaskets & exhast gaskets. It was easier & essentially the same cost to just use them (but not the head gasket. I changed the oil (yes, the engine was full of oil!). The valve cover gaskets were leaking, so I'm glad I had the parts onhand. I also put in new spark plugs. Swapping intakes was pretty simple, but there are blockoff screws on on the JDM motor's heads that have to be removed so the US sensors can be moved over. It was kind of time consuming, but not difficult. Most bolts are either 12mm or 14mm. I'm very glad I bought a big set of wrenches on my last project for the sensors. By Saturday evning I had the engine back in the car.
One of the videos I watched w/engine removal the guy had a swivel-head wratchet from harbor freight to reach the bolts on the back of the bellhousing. After the engine was out I went & bought one...I wish I had done this years ago. It was awkward at first, but getting the bellhousing bolts back in place w/the swivel head ratchet was immeasurably easier. Probably risky when removing things...but what a great tool.
Sunday AM I put the remaining engine bolts in place, attached sensors, & exhaust, filled with coolant & burped the cooling system. I made several trips around town & everything worked as it should. I had it running by mid-day.
Next: One of the three nuts on the flange from the headers to the mid-pipe was finger tight when I took everything apart. It seems like the threads are buggered, or the stud is spinning...tough to say. I wish I had remembered to take a closer look while downpipe/headers were out of the car. There's a slight leak, so I'll have to order a new nut & stud and take it all apart again. The middle mount on the exhaust is also missing near the transmission. I'll have to order that part.
The driver side window switch is sticking.
It sounds like the rear tires are badly cupped. Because it's a Subaru I'm assuming at least one wheel bearing is bad...but I haven't checked.
One of the front axle seals is leaking. I ordered the new OEM seal & fluid. I'll get to that next.
The headlights are terrible. The driver-side low beam is aimed way left. The passenger side was blown, so I replaced both. I haven't looked into aiming them. They're a major pain to access...so I'm not looking forward to that.
I posted the old shortblock/heads on marketplace freeish. I'm tempted to finish taking apart the heads & try and rebuild them. I think it'd be cool to fix them & put everything back together & then start looking for another outback with a blown head gasket (rinse, repeat). In reality, if anyone here needs it for their own Subaru hell...send me a PM.
Congrats. As someone who cautioned about this project you took the best path with buying a JDM motor. Still just pulling and swapping over the stuff to make a JDM run is not trivial. And you learned the joy of having a better wrench when needed. MR2s made me buy short speedwrenches, subies made me buy a ton of stuff and fabricate a couple neat bits for making the work easier. Keep an eye on coolant level, the motors do have a tendency to keep and hold an air pocket. Did you try the heater yet?
porschenut said:Congrats. As someone who cautioned about this project you took the best path with buying a JDM motor. Still just pulling and swapping over the stuff to make a JDM run is not trivial. And you learned the joy of having a better wrench when needed. MR2s made me buy short speedwrenches, subies made me buy a ton of stuff and fabricate a couple neat bits for making the work easier. Keep an eye on coolant level, the motors do have a tendency to keep and hold an air pocket. Did you try the heater yet?
Yes, I did. I used a speedbleeder...a big funnel that attaches to the radiator cap & elevated the front end while bleeding. I cycled heat on/off throughout the bleeding cycle. After the first drive after everything cooled down I also topped off the coolant through the rad cap. I read somewhere to add coollant, rather than looking at the overflow.
Man, awesome job getting that thing back on the road. I'm impressed.
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