2002 impreza sport head gasket

well, I think a head gasket cost between 1500-2000 at our shop. now with that the timing belt and seals are included. clutch is extra. at these miles count on the timing belt idler pulleys to be bad. Some secondary shops will do the job for about 500.

I was quoted $1,300 for the head gasket itself, but with the resurfacing of the cylinder heads (is that necessary?) the price came up to $2,000.

Also, the gasket looks intact, the leak seems to be mostly "external" (traces of coolant on engine block dripping down), and the pressure check did not find major leaks. I have decided to flush the coolant and to replace it with Subaru's one, and see what happens. Will replace the clutch only. If I can get 2 more years from this car by adding coolant every couple of weeks, I am fine with that. Now, the white smoke does come out of the tail pipe every now and then.

Shoot. I'll give you the $1500 for the car, get the gaskets, clutch and timing belt done and drive it for another 150,000.

Careful what you wish for. :) Actually, turns out I did the timing belt at 120,000.

I am getting the recommended additive and coolant from subaru and getting the clutch replaced, fingers crossed.

Some people say this stuff works. I don't have any experience with it but am considering it. Maybe others know?

I wonder, if there is an *internal* leak, and all those glass particles penetrate into the engine block - whether that would be equivalent to the method they used to kill old car in the cash for clunkers program.

Wow, that's a possibility. Might be why they are so adamant about not having it come in contact with coolant. It sounds risky.

BEFORE YOU DO THAT, if you look through this group, you'll see where I had leaky head gaskets on an '89 GL Coupe. I used some Bar's HG in a bottle stuff, FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS TO THE LETTER, and bye bye leaky gaskets!

It seems the gasket has to have a slight leak or a leak on the intake side. I tried again on a '97 Legacy wagon with a BHG on the exhaust side to no avail.

Yup! That's it! Worked on my '89 like a champ!

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!!! You cannot have a single DROP of coolant in the system. It took me about 3 hours to flush it all out.

It worked for me. I had a leaky gasket on an '89 Coupe and it is still not leaking 2 years later.

I also made up a bypass hose to get around the heater core. Since this is a winter car the last thing I wanted was a plugged heater core! ;)

It clogs passages if it mixes with coolant. Before I even touched the stuff I called Bar's and the girl on the phone told me to flush the cooling system until clear water came out.