DOHC 2.5 head gaskets

Well it looks as though I'm getting my wife a 2000 Legacy Sedan with a 5spd. It comes with a 2.5 SOHC engine. I heard the pre 2000 2.5 DOHC engines are having head gasket issues.

Any other word on this because I like the Legacys and may want to pick up another one (perhaps older than 2000 and with the DOHC 2.5).

[sharky512345]

As far as I know all the older 96-99 leg gts have head gasket problems. I would imagine that they get better the later the models but that is just a guess. I don't think i really helped any lol. but I don't know if this page would have that sort of information but try www.cars101.com I hope this maybe helped a little bit

[NomadTW]

the problem w/ the DOHC head gaskets is that the originals are 2 piece
there is a revised gasket from subaru that is a single piece and apparently doesn't have the problems

also there are aftermarket gaskets out there
personaly i am going to replace mine w/ a set of cometic gaskets before they blow hopefully

I work at a Subaru dealership and I can tell you from experience that ALL 2.5's have headgasket issues. Just last year Subaru issued a Bulletin stating that some 99-02 2.5L engines need to have a "special" Coolant Conditioner added ASAP to prevent external coolant leaks at the headgaskets (known as campaign WWP-99). The 96-99's seem to fail the most, but we've done our fair share of the 00-04's too (the 96-99's are obviously older, so it's tough to tell if the design was not as good as the 00-04, or if its just age). It's not limited to the American built Subaru's either. Although it is rare, we've done headgaskets on newer Foresters and Imprezas. My personal opinion is that if you have more than 80,000 miles on the original 2.5L headgaskets you're doing well. In our shop I've seen 98's go 110,000 miles before they needed headgaskets and I've seen 02's go only 40,000 miles before needing headgaskets. It's a shame because I love the cars, but Subaru REALLY needs to do something about these 2.5's. Hopefully the 05's do much better......



Dave

EDIT: I just noticed that tomorrow we have a 03 Legacy coming in because the owner has to keep adding coolant......

Hi Dave,

In your view, does the coolant additive actually help? We just replaced my wife's car (Mitsubishi Diamante that perished) with a 2000 Legacy L (2.5) with a 5spd. It's had the coolant treatment done a year ago, and just yesterday, because we wanted new timing belts/waterpump, thermostat/coolant flush done before taking delivery...

The car's in beautiful shape at 99k miles. We picked it up for $5900. So, does this additive really work? I had one guy (who I didn't buy the car from, and who thinks all 2.5's have a tendency toward gasket problems) say that he thinks the additive really does fix the problem...

I'll be looking at a '98 Legacy GT (2.5 with a 5spd) next week as a potential biy for me...

It's tough to say. We don't do as many headgaskets as we used to, but here could be several reasons for that. When we first started adding the conditioner we had at least a dozen cars that came back within a week or two because of overheating problems (search the forums for my posts on conditioner problems). They all had radiator failure (surprise). There seems to be two major keys to putting the odds in your favor: 1) the conditioner has to have been added in a timely matter. We have people who are still coming in for this campaign, a whole year after they became eligible. The higher the mileage is when the conditioner is first added, the lower your chances are of it working. 2) It is VITAL to follow the directions on the conditioner. We suspect our radiator woes were caused by a tech who was rushing through the job and not following the directions to the letter. Since then, we haven't had any come back with radiator problems.......but some do come back with headgasket leaks. Within the last 3 weeks we have performed 3 headgasket jobs on cars that have had WWP-99 completed. And that's just the last 3 weeks.The good news is that after having WWP-99 performed Subaru will extend the warranty on headgaskets to 100,000 miles. The bad news is that Subaru will only authorize the replacement of the headgasket that is leaking. That means that if only one side is leaking you could very well have to come back within a few months to have the other side taken care of

As far as buying that 98 GT....great car, but check to see if its had headgaskets done.

I just noticed that your car has 99K......that means your headgasket warranty is only good for another 1k

Dave

Originally Posted by red95svx

2) It is VITAL do follow the directions on the conditioner. We suspect our radiator woes were caused by a tech who was rushing through the job and not following the directions to the letter. Since then, we haven't had any come back with radiator problems.......

Dave

Well, I can't say if the tech (non-Subaru) followed the directions to the letter. He apparently is a Subaru expert, but who knows. What should he have done, other than just pour it in? We just had it done yesterday. Should I have it redone by a dealer? If not, what should I be watching for on the radiator?

Thanks for the advise on the GT. Is there a way to access Subaru dealer records on this car once/if I get the VIN?

Thanks,

Bill

Originally Posted by billisa

Well, I can't say if the tech (non-Subaru) followed the directions to the letter. He apparently is a Subaru expert, but who knows. What should he have done, other than just pour it in? We just had it done yesterday. Should I have it redone by a dealer? If not, what should I be watching for on the radiator?

Thanks for the advise on the GT. Is there a way to access Subaru dealer records on this car once/if I get the VIN?

Thanks,

Bill

Subaru provided seperate instructions for adding the conditioner to hot or cold engines. The procedure is slightly different for each. You also have to give the bottle a real good shake. As far as your radiator goes, just keep an eye on the temp guage. All of the cars that had radiator problems developed the problem within two weeks of having the conditioner added. Like I mentioned before, as soon as everyone started following the directions exactly, the radiator problems went away.

As for the GT, Subaru dealerships are only required to tell SOA of any warranty repairs. Once the car is out of warranty the only people that would know about any repairs are the previous owners and the shop that did the repair. SOA is out of the loop at that point. I would ask the previous owner who their maintenance was provided by, and then ask that shop for a report on what they have done to that car.


Dave