Need advice on a 94 SVX with oil in the rad.
 

Before I continue on let me just strt off by saying Hi. My name is Ryan and well I need some advice on an SVX I looked at today.

94 nice green shiny paint, AWD, leather and sued, and also a CD player just to name a few things.

The small lot that it is at, the guy says he thinks the head gaskets are toast. He said it ticks alo.

Checked the oil and none at all, add three quarts and its at a ok levle but could use a half a quart. Start it up and it quiets down and has a normal soft click like injectors .

Now its not smokeing like antifreeze out the exhaust
Its not missing and its running smooth and didn't run hot.

There is oil in the rad so does this radiator have an oil cooler built in it that could be leaking and broke or is it the HG. I hope not its sad if it is because its a really clean car and I can get if for 1500 bucks. So let me know what you think, thanks.

The fact that it was 3 quarts short is scary. Chances are head gasket. Did you check the trans fluid? If the cooler inside the radiator was leaking, trans fluid should be low.

I'm guessing that the oil in the rad is brownish and not pinkish. Brown = engine oil/probably head gaskets. Pink = ATF cooler in rad blown.

Subarus have open decks so white tailpipe smoke usually doesn't occur. Normally combustion gases push into the cooling sys and blow the coolant out the de-gas bottle (overflow/reservoir/expansion.)

Ditto on the low oil level. Obviously it's going into the rad (brown?) but how long did it take to happen? I'd try driving it and listen closely for knocking, especially try easing your foot off the gas pedal around 30mph or so, that will usually make rods knock. No funky noises? Head gaskets alone aren't all that bad to replace.

well, the first thing I checked was atf, it was of a very light transparent cross between red and light brown, smelled good still could use a change though, and level was fine

Oil in rad was of dark brown towards black color and well now that I think of it the coolent level was not at the neck of the rad and of oil somewhat.

How hard is it to fix the HG, the car was from the city and has 146,XXX miles on it but is very clean.

About how long would it take and is there a precidure to go about doing this that there is a link to, I was looking at the car to put on the road right away but I don't think I will be buying it now.

I was hopeing it was as easy as haveing a oil cooler in the rad that could have broke.

I would have a mechanic look at it. Thing is, it sounds like it wasn't taken care of very well and it has high mileage. It may be nice and clean, but you could wind up spending a lot of time and money to make it nice when you could fly to Utah I think and get a similar car with less miles that's good to go. Check the for sale stuff on this site.

Buy my car for $4500 :)

Belive me noob on demand, if I had $4500 I would buy your car, this is sorta the mechanics special to me though.

You see my father has a towing and garage buisness, so natrually towing is free and well repairs will only cost me in parts.

Thing is I am worried about the tranny also as I have read that "ahim" they have a tendencey to take a crap while driveing the car home. Know I have had the tranny go in my 93 Caddy Seville and replaced it with a junkyard rebuilt for $275 but the SVX trannny cost's about how much to get if I culd find one.

Its just that the car is soooo nice and I have alwaysed loved the look of these cars since I copuld remember.

I was going to ask if he would trade straight up for my 93 Caddy Seville, It books for about $2200-$2500 in poor condition so I figured with the little quirks it has that would bring it to about $1800-$1900 at least and it is a car that can be driven in tommorow to florida if you wanted to.

I will have to see and check out more on it the other thing is the windshield, I hear there costly to but I would get coverage on glass for that. I am 17 but dont beat on my cars not my style so I wouldn't abuse it.

I just wonder how hard it is to do the gaskets on it, is there a link on here someone can hook me up with. I do appreciate all your guy's help.

The thing with the tranny is really a crap shoot. None of us know when they are going to crap out. Where is your dads garage? Maybe he can do some work for me when my car needs it! Not sure on the difficulty on the head gasket. I dont think its too difficult...probably really time consuming though.

Ah, hey there. I also made the switch from a caddy to an svx. Used to drive an 89 fleetwood. I must say I find the svx easier to work on. Just something about it...mabey the fact that the nuts and bolts are all metric instead of mixed metrics and standards (As well as more than one size that doesnt seem to exist)

As far as the head gaskets, have you taken a look through the how-to documents? Theres alot alot alot alot of good information there. Everything from cleaning your seats to rebuilding the engine
Which Im sure at some point or another the head gasket is involved ...
http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/user.php?How-To|34902
In either case, welcome to the boards and best of luck getting an svx together. Youll find that this is a much tighter knit forum board than any caddy forum (I know for fact)

well then I will keep looking I think I might pass on this, Im still decideing on a car yet but the SVX is in mind, thnaks everyone for the help.

It could be a cracked block at the level of the gaskets. This car must have overheated and either the Gaskets were burned or the block was cracked. Prepare yourself for the possibility of a damaged engine and make your calculations based on Labor for swapping the engine and its cost...

Personally I would just hold off until a cleaner one comes along. You should be able to find a nice SVX for around $3k. You never know what you may find once you get into it. Offer the guy $500.:D

Yea I offered him $500, but he said "oh I cant I have $1400-$1500 into it". Crock of **** if you ask me, he just won't budge at the price but he dosen't know what the hell he is talking about when it comes to cars anyway.

Thanks though everyone.Till next time.