Blown head gasket :(

So I was driving down the highway at about 70mph when the radiator hose popped. All the coolant drained out over the motor, and by the time I noticed the steam coming out from under the hood the car was overheating (close to the red). 2006 Legacy GT limited (50k miles, bone stock). I pulled over, but it appears it was too late. Coolant was found in my oil and oil in the coolant. The car was towed to the stealership who wants $3500 to replace the head gasket and machine the heads. I had them fix the radiator hose and nursed the car home (2 miles away).

 

It's going to take a while to put the money away to redo the heads and head gasket. I do have another vehicle so for now it's going to sit. I realize I should probably drain the oil while it sits as there's coolant in it and obviously water is corrosive. Is there anything else I should do while it sits. Also since the motor has to be pulled is there anything else I should consider doing? I would like to in the future put down about 300whp on e-85. Inspect/replace the clutch? Forged pistons/rods? Port and polish heads? Also I'm going to have an independent Subaru shop in my area do the work as obviously the stealership is out of its mind charging that much. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

When you drain the oil check it to see how much coolant is in there. You may want to do a couple of oil changes and may be flush it, if you don't plan on a full rebuild.

 

IMO you replace the clutch when the engine is out.

 

$3500 is a ball park figure, there is a lot of work.

 

FWIW, here's my new short block thread from last year, It may give you a idea on what's involed.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/got-some-new-stuff-engine-r-r-184106.html

Thank you! I'll flush it a couple times I was planning on dropping the oil pan anyway to clean it out, but it will be awhile before I can do that. I was planning on picking up the tsk3 kit. And I think a new clutch is a good idea considering how much of a pain they are.

 

Assuming the current short block was undamaged by this event is there any reason to put in forged internals on a stock block? I see you replaced your block instead of upgrading the internals and I guess I'm just confused by that.

Just curious, how did the coolant get into the engine and mixed with the oil?

Just curious, how did the coolant get into the engine and mixed with the oil?

 

Read the thread title, you must.

Ah~ N00b, I am.

 

So, gasket broke, coolant seeped into engine. Got it.

GT's are not known for HG problems, but yours got hot.

 

My thread explains that my machine shop buddyand Tuner said, if your not looking for big HP just go with a EJ257. The shop can't rebuild my block with forged pistons for $1800.

 

You need to deside if your going to keep the car or sell it. I put a lot of extra things in my rebuild because I plan the keep the car.

 

It goes to VT every winter weekend is reliable and fun to drive. It get's about 20,000 miles a year, gets decent mpg.

I definitely do plan on keeping it for five years or so. I'll talk with my mechanic then about rebuild vs. putting a new shortblock. Are ej255s prone to failure in some way that makes a ej257 better?

No the ej257 is cheaper.

 

Make sure you have a great tune for the ej257. Some seem to have piston issues.

I think jarred from Pdx comes to my area occasionally to tune so ill probably end up using him. If anyone knows any St. Louis based tuners that are good let me know.

Check the local forum link/thread below.

 

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/north-central-25.html

So after tons of reading I'm going to pull the motor myself in the next week or two. I will give the motor to a local subaru shop for them to do the head gaskets as well as inspect/machine the heads. Assuming the short block is still ok I will be leaving it alone.

 

Due to financial restrictions I will just be upgrading some parts for longevity along with installing parts for a stage 2 build. The clutch only has 50k on it so I'm going to wait until I have the motor out and inspect the clutch before I commit to replacing it. Parts I'm considering:

 

GS up

Invidia catted dp

Ip&t filtered oil supply lines

Banjo bolt removal

Killer b oil pickup/windage tray

Walbro fuel pump

Bulletproof tmic

If clutch is needed I will do a clutch master fx350.

Tuning will be done open source hopefully by infamous performance, I've pmd msprank for more details on that. Is there anything I'm missing or should be considering. Thanks again for your help.