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Post head gasket repair anxiety

Hello

I have a 99 DOHC Subaru Outback. It's been a great car for us. It's got about 120K on it. Not a lick of trouble until about 3 weeks ago. When it began to overheat. Took it in to the shop. They said it was low on coolant. Refilled coolant and sent us on our way. About 5 days later, the symptoms reappeared. I had coolant spilling everywhere. Brought it in to our regular shop and this time they said it was the head gasket. The heads were slightly warped too. The repair bill came to about $1800.

Just got the car back on Friday. About an hour later, the car's heat gauge started to climb the 3/4 mark, I brought it back into the shop. This time they figured it was a bad, new thermostat. Some hoses were hot, the bottom ones I think. Replacing the thermostat, has brought the Sube back to normal it seems. Except for really loud belt noise in the morning when we first start the car.

One of the things I had heard was that you had to take the engine out or remove some panels to replace the head gaskets. My mechanic said he could just put it on a lift and replace them from below. That and the post repair overheating makes me wonder if the job was done right.

These guys are great - but I'm wondering if lack of experience with Subarus here in Nashville maybe a factor. Does anybody know if any of this sounds strange?

Please don't ask me to take it to the local Subaru dealer - they are absolutely incompetent - from my previous experience.

How can I ensure that my car is now OK?

I should also add that the car was in a minor front end (mostly cosmetic) collision last fall. We got it fixed at a premium auto body collision place with help from our insurance. Could that have started our woes?

Thanks much.

Charles

Reply to
denovo
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What do you mean about "loud belt noise"? I hope you mean assoriey belts that just need adjusting or replacing. There is some experience needed to purge the cooling system of air. That and maybe the stat was causing the overheating after the HG replacement.

Reply to
Edward Hayes

I guess they had to do work on the mating surfaces. This precludes doing the job on the lift [proposition below] - even if you could get to the pats.

If the problem goes away after replacing the thermostat, that may have been it. They _could_ have replaced the part when they had it apart, but there is also some logic to leaving known-good parts alone.

If the problem comes back yet again, check the recent archives for my own troubles (and make sure the radiator fans are working....).

That really doesnt have anything to do with the gaskets, but could be the result of a belt pulley being hit (bent) as the engine was pulled out.

Reply to
Florian Feuser

Sounds like the fan belt - though I can't be sure....Could be humidity I suppose - but that sucker is loud...

Thanks

Charles

Reply to
denovo

Hmm...I'm not really sure what this means. Does this mean that if they had to have the heads resurfaced, they couldn't have done it without taking the engine out?

As far as I know, they replaced the thermostat at time of repair. Just a bum stat...

That's really interesting - I know when they had the car back together, they couldn't get it to start cause a sensor or connector wasn't plugged back in.

Thanks for all the insight...This is really very helpful...

Charles

Reply to
denovo

No idea if they could have done it. Resurfacing the heads is one thing, resurfacing/prepping the mating surfaces on the block is another. Doing that with the engine in place sounds like a job for a dentist - not a mechanic.

I don't think the fans are belt driven in your Outback. Besides the timing belt, there is another that drives the alternator and one for the AC compressor. You should be able to see if the pulleys are turning okay at idle speed.

florian

Reply to
Florian Feuser

Ah, got it - will look...

Thanks

Charles

Reply to
denovo

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