Adventures in HeadGasketville and my Trip to the Dragon...

[Hocrest]

So for about the past year, I've been losing coolant. Gradually at first, recently I've been having to fill the reservoir after about an hour of driving. It would only overheat if it ran low on coolant, as long as I kept water in the reservoir the gauge would stay nice and even. Even though last summer Young Tom told me it was a bad HG, I didn't believe him and believed it to be almost anything else

I checked all the hoses, replaced the radiator cap, changed the thermostat and gasket, added a clamp to the hose where it attaches to the tank, plus just constantly looking for leaks and drips...

Eventually I found the water pump leaking out the weep hole, so I replaced the waterpump, gasket and another thermostat while I was in there. Although that helped, I was still slowly losing coolant.

I had the coolant tested for exhaust gasses... none. I pressure checked it... nothing. I tried one of the stop leak bottle with "Nano-technology"... Didn't work. The oil was clean and the coolant was too. Very frustrating...

Eventually I was losing almost a gallon an hour IF i kept it below 3000rpm and cruised below 2500. If I pushed it beyond 3000, I would lose it much faster. I thought that I would finally be able to find a leak, so I got a bottle of the UV dye that gets added to the coolant. Ran that through the system and couldn't find a glow anywhere with the blacklight. I took some hard driving runs one night and immediately pulled onto some ramps so I could look all over. Still no glowing anywhere I can see.


Now the trip to the Dragon and more importantly Connie's wedding at the Dragon ( I was Best Man and Melis was Best Bish) was quickly approaching and I wasn't going to stop every hour to keep fluid in it and then baby it on the Dragon. I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do the HG's. Talked it over with the Tom's and started to assemble all that was needed. I ordered the stuff from Liberty Subaru and took a set of heads from a bad block to get cleaned and tested for flat, this way I would have a set of heads to put right on, if the set in there had problems. I had planned to pull the engine and take it to Young Tom to do the job, but due to some other issues, I ran out of time before the Dragon and decided that I would have to do it all at my place. I asked a friend that is a very experienced mechanic with Subaru's but hasn't done much at all with SVX's.

Two weeks ago, Melis was driving the SVX while I was replacing the engine in the Legacy and she Noticed that the 4" hose under the intake manifold that leads into the water manifold right by the CTS's was leaking. I thought GREAT we finally found the problem and it was an easy fix, Last Monday (Dr Day -3) I went to replace that tube and it crumbled as soon as I got the pliers on it. I took it for a spirited drive and was still losing coolant. I decided that night to go ahead with the HG job. Tuesday morning (Dr Day -2) I pulled the engine and got it into my basement. Tuesday night in the basement, I pulled the intake and stripped everything else down to the cam caps.

Wednesday afternoon (Dr Day -1) Ed got here to help do the HG's. After pulling the drivers side head and finding no issues, we did that side while Ed educated me on all the details that need to be followed to do the job. We then pulled the passenger side head and found where it was blowing out. There was residue on the head and block on the bottom. It would have been shooting out on the passenger side behind the exhaust manifold almost above the engine mount. No wonder I could never find it...

Ed had to go, and left me to finish the reassembly of the engine on Wednesday night.

Thursday morning (Dr Day) I planned to get a start at 8:00 but overslept till 10:00 I start to put the engine back in and finish it up about 1:00. I started it up and it sounded like a tractor. After running for a bit, then leaving it set and cool for a while, I started it back up and the tapping stopped after about 5 minutes. I took it for a mild drive to test it out. Brought it home, checked all the fluids and took it out for a "beat the balls out of it" drive to get anything to fail then, instead of on the 800 mile trek that night. Everyhting was GREAT and at about 4:00 the decision was made to trust the car and fresh engine on the trip, packed up, showered up and left for the Dragon at 5:00....


tbc...

[Hocrest]

...About two hours into the trip, just south of Hagerstown, MD Melis is driving and starts to notice a slight stumbling when she tries to accelerate. We pull into a gas station and it is idling rough. I take it for a quick drive and it is definately missing I open the hood and start on the passenger side, pulling the injector plugs to isolate the missing cylinder. When I go to pull the drivers side center one, I notice fuel shooting out of the supply hose where it connects to the intake manifold. I yell for Melis to shut it off and run to the trunk, ripping things out onto the parking lot to get a jug of water to dump on the engine and dilute the gas.

I pull the clamp, cut 1/2" off the end of the tube and reclamp it. Start it back up, the gas is staying inside where it belongs and it is idling right??? I think that's odd, but yeah, I guess I fixed the miss

We get about another 1/2 hour down the road and we drive into a light rain. It starts missing again. As we're driving towards the next exit, I call OT for some tips. He suggests to check the coils and the ground on the intake manifold. We pull into another gas station when I lift the hood and can hear the stumble as well as what sounds like wires arcing. I slowly remember last night... the one coil had the wires insulation pulled away where it goes into the coil. I fixed it with tape After again starting to pull the injectors plugs I slowly move towards the drivers side rear... Yeah that's the one

Luckily I thought enough to pack a spare coil, but still come on.... it HAD to be that one... After numerous burns and curses I get it swapped out and it runs great the rest of the way down.

Thanks to the Tom's for their advice, Ed for coming up to help with the gaskets and to Melis for putting up with my craziness and crankiness over the last couple weeks, while I tried to get Elle and Princess running again.

[JaySVX]

Wow, sounds like a wild ride...

You thought to bring a spare coil? that's some planning. Are the different coils interchangable, or is the only difference the wire length? When i was seeking replacements, it says front, mid, and rear coil packs, and i figured it was just the wire length, but wasn't sure if there was some sort of connector that was different as well.

[SUBBYRU89]

Originally Posted by Hocrest

...Thanks to the Tom's for their advice, Ed for coming up to help with the gaskets and to Melis for putting up with my craziness and crankiness over the last couple weeks, while I tried to get Elle and Princess running again.

That's what friends are for. Thank goodness Princess stumbled or we would've been in a worse pickle then before.

Originally Posted by SVXfiles

Ask me what I'm wearing

[SVXRide]

Dave/Melis,

Sounds like you ran the entire gamut of things that can happen and the various fixes that are possible. Nice to have "family" around to call when things get puzzling

-Bill (now with full time power steering due to a steering computer from OT!)

[TomsSVX]

Nah... can't be the head gasket.... (****ing kids never know what they are talking about). LOL... Glad to hear you got the job done and she is runnign well again... Now if you could only have the fuel leak and the coil arcing at the same time... that would have been interesting Glad you got it patched up and that the old girl is running again... did you ever replace that resonator??

Tom

[Hocrest]

No the resonator still buzzes. I've decided to keep it just to annoy you

The funny thing is the fuel was leaking while the coil was arcing, but if there wasn't a problem with the coil I probably wouldn't have noticed the fuel leak until everyone else on the highway also noticed my fuel leak

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by JaySVX

Wow, sounds like a wild ride...

You thought to bring a spare coil? that's some planning. Are the different coils interchangable, or is the only difference the wire length? When i was seeking replacements, it says front, mid, and rear coil packs, and i figured it was just the wire length, but wasn't sure if there was some sort of connector that was different as well.

I also had a spare starter, maf, tps, timimg belt and tensioner, plus a bunch of various hoses and clamps...

And yeah, the coils are all the same except for the wire length and the color of the connector, so I took a spare 1/2 coil that can fit anywhere.

After we got to the Dragon, I ended up using some non-conductive epoxy puddy to pack around the bare wires on the coil. I then reinstalled that coil so that I could again feel safe that I had a spare.