A fatal error occurred in my engine today

[huck369]

My Legacy didn't smoke(steam) with the blown gasket, thought they usally do, the gasket was blown between an oil passage and the coolant passage, not into the combustion chamber.
So it doesn't have to smoke to be a blown head gasket.

Any time an all aluminum engine gets hot, there's sure to be problems, as aluminum is softer than steel, and more prone to warpping.

[SVX10]

Well, Todd, soo sorry to hear about your troubles. You know I'll come down for a weekend and help with repairs if you'd like, but I won't be able to do it before the meet. You still have to go to the meet, though. I'll give you a ride If you want any help, lemme know. Again, sorry to hear, but I say keep it! Maybe go ahead and do the all out rebuild. I'd love to do that with you. Maybe with some of my automotive engineering classes coming up, I could give you some tips on how to tweak the internals for more power?

Mat

[svxistentialist]

Todd,

Real sorry to hear the problems. Sounds like a head gasket to me, but I am no expert. Go with Beav's advice, check out the less obvious cheap fixes first. Then FIX the car. You know you want to.

One word of advice. If getting the head gasket done, use a good shop. I had the head done on the Camry I had before the SVX. Garage did a good job enough on the repair, but on running the car afterwards, I had great difficulty getting it to run properly, and it chucked strongly on the over-run on the motorway. Brought it to a main dealer, who talked about tight valves[on a car with hydraulic lifters!], and they charged me serious money to up the tickover to an intolerable level in traffic.

What was wrong was, the timing belt was one tooth out, the ECU was trying valiantly to keep the tickover even, but the timing mistake was outside it's range of control.

Randy is right. Tell yourself before letting them at your car that they know NOTHING, you can't be disappointed.

Hope it's cheaper than you expect, keep your pecker up,

Joe

[wawazat??]

I appreciate all your support. My wife and I have decided to get her another vehicle which is our focus right now. Once that task has been completed, I will tear down the engine and see whats wrong. I needed to replace the valve cover gaskets anyway, so since I in there I'll just keep going.

Since Wendy is getting a new car, I can now twist the SVX into my somewhat warped vision of what it could be and start mounting/welding/modifying all my collection of parts onto it. Once I have done that (and stripped down the wrecked SVX I recently purchased), I will put in a five speed as well. Though this car is not my preferred combination of model/year (I wanted a Laguna blue 95 L/LS AWD for its lighter weight and fewer options), there is something somehow right about keeping a vehicle that has served us well for all these years and lovingly massage it into something else.

Now all I need is a bigger garage!

Todd

Originally posted by wawazat??

Now all I need is a bigger garage!

Todd

<Makes sawing and hammering noises.>

-Mike

[Aredubjay]

Originally posted by svxistentialist
I had the head done on the Camry I had before the SVX.

What? Is this, like, a natural progression for you Irish blokes? (Shades of James )

[svxistentialist]

Originally posted by Aredubjay


What? Is this, like, a natural progression for you Irish blokes? (Shades of James )

I hasten to point out, James is still driving a Camry. It can't be "natural" progression, because people here buy Camrys for their reputation of being bullet-proof and faultless. They are treasured here by high mileage people and taxi men.

So why would James and I hanker after a car with too much torque and traction and too little gearbox to handle it??

Answers on a postcard to. Just for the sake of asking, what cars did other owners have immediately before changing to an SVX? The answers here might be revealing. The Irish have revealed all, Camry, Camry.

Who's next to confess?

Joe

[lee]

while not a Camry, was a Toyota - a 91 MR2 (still in the family, moved down to my teenage daughter).

[SVXPILOT]

My previous rides were twelve awd subarus. The first being a 81 gl hacthback, than 11 other awd wagons from an 82 up through the 86 that I retired after getting the SVX. I use old blue( 84 gl awd wagon as my mobile woodshed,Fill her up and park next to garage and refill when it runs out.)Unbelivable what that car can hold.Also have 97 Grandcherokee,89 Chevy silverado shortbox, 4wd. And 81 lifted dodge RAMGARGER with 35 swampers.My first car was a German built Ford Feista( lightwiegt tin can with big motor)I've always had a Subaru in the stable.

[Aredubjay]

Just before the SVX, I was driving a 1989 Suzuki Sidekick, Convertible 4x4. A very FUN little ride.

[Earthworm]

My 88 Justy (still going) came before my SVX and introduced me to the wonderful world of Subaru's. Before the Justy I drove a 77 Nova ($400) for a year.

[Bwana]

'96 GMC Jimmy. 4-door, front wheel drive.

'86 Saab 900 Turbo for 285,000 mi.

[Ron Mummert]

'87 Chrysler GTS Turbo 237K - all original including tranny fluid.

Ron.

[huck369]

To many to list, but a couple of the last before the SVX was a 91 Legacy AWD 5-Speed sedan, and a 1988 XT-6 AWD Auto, I think I'm up to about 51 total since I started driving.