Thread: Please let it not be the HG, Please let it not be the Head gasket!

Recently acquired an 04 Subi Forester XT. Two days ago noticed steam/coolant burning smell coming from the passenger side of the motor. Today got under it and saw definite coolant drips on the exhaust. Looks like it's coming from the timing belt cover. Doesn't look like the headgasket is leaking from the bottom, but could be leaking from the timing belt side. I'm hoping it's just the water pump giving out at 150k miles and leaking onto the belt cover thus appearing that it's coming from the passenger side.

This caused me to read up on Subaru's and the infamous head gasket issues:
Subaru Head Gasket Problems Explained.
Subaru Head Gasket Problems Explained Part 2

Why couldn't Nissan bring any Turbo AWD, heck just AWD vehicles to the US? I would kill for the ugly X-Trail with an SR20VET right about now...

lol let me know how it goes ive been interested in those cars for a while now

N/A > Turbo ?

I hope nothing is wrong, on a more serious note. You did, literally, just get the thing........

On the plus side, subarus are assembled like legos... not a hard fix and the motor fits on a small work bench lol

Will do, I'm really hoping the previous owner got lazy when they replaced the serpentine belt at 100k miles and didn't replace the water pump. Not at 155k it's finally done.



Nope turbo's head gaskets are actually less likely to leak then NA ones.

Which engine models blow head gaskets? - Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Skip's Subaru Repair Page



Problem is, it's like a z32 where you have to pull the whole engine out to just replace the spark plugs

Yep, they are riddled with headgasket problems. My brothers 03 forester does the same thing except his seeps from the back near #3 cylinder. Its a very slow leak. Its not pressurizing the cooling system yet or getting into the cylinders. The gaskets just leak from that bottom edge and are notorious for it. Just keep it topped off if you dont want to do the gaskets. But im sure you will eventually have to. If you want to prolong the life of it and possibly stop the leak you could use the pills that GM actually states to put in their NorthStar powered Cadis that help prevent and also block leaks from happening as they are notorious for headgasket failures and leaks as well. You put the pill in the lower radiator hose so it disolves and goes through the motor without clogging the radiator up. Basically what it does is when the coolant hits dry air it hardens the coolant sealing the leak.

Thats why you see all that crusty crap that builds up on the Cadis. Toyota coolant actually uses a similar additive in the coolant that does that as well. If youve seen a 2000 or new toyota that uses the Red coolant, it will actually form crusty shit all around where it was leaking and quickly builds and seals the leak. Or older vehicles that have had the new coolant put in.

Give it a shot. Or maybe put some toyota oem red coolant in there and see if it helps stop the leak instead of putting the GM pills in there.

I just had to do the valve cover gaskets and plugs on my brothers forester. Wasnt too bad, took about an hour and a half taking my time. Oil was getting down into the spark plug tubes and caused a huge misfire not to mention his original 120k miles plugs were shot. Had a gap of over .110" lol pretty rediculous that it was even running as good as it was prior to that. Surprised it had any power over half throttle warmed up. Strong coil ill tell you that much. I did a civic with a D series with 180k miles on its original plugs that had a gap similar and it would just sound like the motor shut off when warmed up and given over 1/4 throttle.

And vadim, your over exagerating the forresters work room. Once you have the intake box and pipe off everything is pretty easy to get to on those cars. Again the valve covers came off easy and you could easily do the head gasket change with the motor in the car. Intake manifold and exhaust manifolds are simple to get to with nothing in the way. Remove the radiator to take off the timing belt covers and so on. Its actually a pretty small motor in a big bay.

I am exaggerating the pulling the engine out to do spark plugs, but replacing 4 plugs is as bad as doing 1 water pump on an FWD SR20 imo.

Honestly, at 155k on a turbo boxer it might not be the worst idea to pop the motor out and go through it/mild upgrades...

Nah, like i said, remove the intake box and your pretty much all clear to get to the plugs on a forrester. On a wrx though the bay seems a bit smaller and harder to get to things. That and all the turbo stuff in the way. On the n/a forester though it was a cakewalk to do the valve cover gaskets and plugs. An SR water pump definitely would take longer than plugs on the forester.