Ease of replacing 2001 Suburu Head Gaskets.........

Ben

that price is 3 times what I've been quoted for head gasket job here in SC. Thats gotta be from a dealership, right?

I am quoted about $200 for the set and $30 for just the head gasket. How easy is this job? Will I be able to do it? How long might it take me? Thanks! Ben

Hi Ben!

Hi Ben!

It's not too hard to do, but fairly cramped working between the head and strut tower. I'd allow most of a weekend to do it if you've never taken one apart before; probably about 4 or 5 hours to do both sides for an experienced mechanic assuming no "problem-child" fasteners or the like. If it was my project, I'd start off by pulling the motor and putting it on a stand; I simply _hate_ working in restricted areas (bloody knuckles), and having the engine out of the car for the job will also greatly reduce the likelihood of getting debris into the engine internals. The extra couple hours devoted to extracting/installing the engine don't bother me at all; I'm not on the clock. Saves wear and tear on the lower back too. Consider checking valve clearances, and installing a new water pump, timing belt, and front seal while you're in there. Good luck.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Would the hardest part be pulling the tranny off the engine? I have lots of experenic with Ford's but, imports scare me. Working on getting a good manual. There really hard to find. I can decide what to do yet, It drives fine and such, I may try pluging it and trading it in. I want a Ford Pick-up! :)

-Thanks alot! Ben

US$500 for both heads, or just one side?

Absolutely not! These all-aluminum engines are rather light...probably less than 200lb. Removing the radiator and fans will give some room to slide the engine forward before lifting it out. Two stout folks will be able to lift the engine by hand, IMO.

4 bolts hold the bell housing to the engine, all easily accessible. The starter should be removed as well. 2 nuts on the motor mounts, and 4 nuts holding the exhaust to the heads. Leave the transaxle in the car with a chunk of 2X4 stuffed between it and the lower cross member (or sitting on a floor jack). And as Verbs suggests, two reasonably healthy guys can pick it right out, altho a shop crane or the like is probably a safer choice. You may have to use a little "finesse" to get the input shaft to slide back into the clutch upon re-installation; I generally grab the engine by the heads (with it roughly in position, still hanging from the crane) and sorta wiggle it up/down, back and forth a bit til I feel the splines engage (you might have to rotate the crank or transmission a couple degrees to get it to happen), and then push it back into place. Rarely requires more than mild profanity ;-) And I have had reasonably good luck using that flakey radiator leak fix stuff (Bars-all ?) on "weepy" type leaks, might be worth a try before going to all of the effort of replacing the head gasket(s).

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Subaru has recently released a sealer solution which you dump into your cooling system for head gasket leaks. Might want to check with a dealer, one person tells me they give it away for free. Seems like a bandaid type fix to me but if it works the fix might be free.