1999 2.5 engine

Hi everyone!

I have just purchased a 1999 outback with the 2.5 engine.

After buying it all I keep reading is that the engines are bad. This car has 140000 miles on it and really seems to run good.

I had a 1995 Legacy with a 2.2 and it seemed like it would run for ever and was hoping the same for this one.

Is there anything I should be looking out for?

At what point do these engines go bad?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Mike Upstate NY

Reply to
Mike
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My understanding of the 99 2.5 is it is a one-year only design. This makes parts expensive. Also has a history of head gasket failures. Can't remember if the gasket develops an internal or external leak. Also been told the vast majority of this engine will run forever without problem. You only tend to read/hear about the ones that have the head gasket problem.

Reply to
johninky

If the head gasket has been done, you should be good.

If not, it will likely need doing sometime, circa $3K. If it overheats badly and cracks as well, it will cost even more (new head or engine).

If you want to postpone the time when this *will* happen, ensure that you find a serviceman who knows how to bleed the air when the coolant is drained, or google it up yourself, and ensure that it *always* happens when needed.

The problem with the EJ25 engine design is that the water pipe that takes coolant over the engine from one side to the other *traps air*. When the engine is run, the air moves to the head on one side and you get hot spots leading to HG failure.

It's possible if you're keen to tap a small nippple into the top of this crossover pipe, and run a tube back to the radiator, which will allow the air to bleed out properly. There's a guy who uses an EJ25 engine in a homebuilt aircraft who diagnosed the fault and used this fix; google for his page on it.

We still have our '98 Liberty (Legacy outside Australia), and the engine needs significant $$ spent to fix various oil leaks, but the HG was done 4 years ago and has been ok since.

Clifford Heath.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

I hear they usually go bad at about 140k miles.

Just kidding, but they've gone bad with less than half that mileage, and also lasted to 200k. It's a gamble.

Reply to
weelliott

My 1999 2.5 engine has gicen no trouble in 175,000 miles.

Uncle Ben Upstate NY

Reply to
Uncle Ben

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