Headgasket Failure Prevention?

Hey all. My parents went out and bought an 01 Outback Limited with a 2.5. Perfect leather, 6 disc, auto dimming rear view mirror, heated seats, heated mirrors, sunroof, new Michelins and only 66,000 miles for $11,000. I went home and checked some sites and found an alarming amount of head gasket failures. All around 80k miles. Some even had multiple failures. Is there some way to prevent this impending doom? Aftermarket temp gauge and Waterwetter to keep temps low? Performance radiator? I'm pretty worried.

Chris

Ok, I don't have an answer for sure but this guy is a new reader and I think it's a darn good question.
I'd say keep the coolant clean and topped off for starters. Subie folks, do these blow due to overheating or some other cause?

DrBoost wrote: Ok, I don't have an answer for sure but this guy is a new reader and I think it's a darn good question. I'd say keep the coolant clean and topped off for starters. Subie folks, do these blow due to overheating or some other cause?

I believe model years 99-01 (could be off a year or two either way) Subarus with the 2.5 were ( slightly) more prone to head gasket failure at higher mileage than other years. This was fixed by Subaru in later models. I have had four Subies, one was a 99 and have never had it happen. All the things mentioned by the OP would certainly be smart to minimize this happening. I think I would check with a Subaru dealership (yes I said dealership and I normally would not) to see what they would recommend. Depending on the cost of replacement I might just consider getting it replaced at the interval recommended by Subaru.

Bottom line. Get it checked for peace of mind.

Better to budget a headgasket replacement than to have it thrust upon you unexpectedly

There is a Subaru additive that is about $2.00 at the dealership. It's in a little blue bottle. Suck some coolant out of the radiator and put this in (don't put it into the plastic expansion tank). I add this every time I do a coolant exchange on my Subie.

I've done 3 head gasket jobs in the past year and I'm going to say its a time consuming but straight forward repair. I picked up my Outback Wagon daily driver with 190,000 miles on the original head gaskets. They just started to go bad.

The gaskets have some sort of graphite coating on them that appears to break down if you don't change the coolant as scheduled. Make sure you use the GREEN Subaru coolant or just have it done at the dealer. Last time I checked it was about $32 per container and you only need one to do the car.

Here's what else I've learned:

The 2.5L '97-'99 DOHC cars leaked internally

Your motor, the 2.5L '99 - '01 SOHC cars (phase II motor) leaked externally. Take a look from under the car and see where the head meets the block. See any green liquid?

I've also done a compression check to find a leaking HG on two of the three motors I've worked on. They should be about 170-175 psi on all 4 cylinders.

Some sites for more information: www.subaruforester.org and www.subaruoutback.org

Here's a picture that might help explain things:

Those two lower rectangular areas on the left and right are the oil return passages from the head. The two lower valley's next to that center hole (that hole is where the head bolt goes) is where the leak starts and it runs to the back of the head. That's what happened with the motors I've worked on.
You can see from the cylinder head picture that coolant doesn't exactly flow in that area. It tends to pool more than anything (this is TOTALLY my opinion).

That blue attitive is all that I would do besides looking at the heads to check for leaks during routine oil changes.

My parents owned a 97 Legacy GT. A friend owned a 97 Legacy GT. My parents car lost the first engine at around 60,000 miles IIRC due to internal oil problems. My friend lost his first engine right around the same due to some problem with the oil passages. The replacement engine went almost immediately afterwards. As far as I know, the third engine is working well. My parent's car lost a head gasket in a slow and methodical method at around 150,000 miles. No overheating, just a gradual loss in compression. It became obvious when compared against the other car.

Thanks for all the information guys. Thanks for the pictures fornetti14, I see what you mean about the pooling idea and can imagine opening up those coolant passages, if possible, could do some good. So regular flushes with dealer coolant and blue additive. I got under the car today and no leaks of any kind spotted yet. I have to keep my eye on this one due to the car being my moms daily driver. On a side note, I need to petition the opening of a government program that chauffeurs old asian ladies around. They should not be aloud to drive (my mom included). If the HG does go then it'll be a learning experience. Having owned nothing but dead reliable sr20s (FWD NA) my whole life, major engine maintenance is not my expertise. Now, transmissions on the other hand....

skullsroad wrote: On a side note, I need to petition the opening of a government program that chauffeurs old asian ladies around. They should not be aloud to drive (my mom included).

Amen Brother! Although, I think most every race fits into that catagory!

Leave it be! Never flush it just drain and refill. If it pops a rad leak replace it right then and there. Again don't flush the system but drain and refill every two years or so.

It's working for me. I even had the motor out this past new years for a clutch, T belt, seals, and water pump but stoped there slid it back in. 185,000 we've owned it since 83,000