A full step-by-step DIY guide to replacing valve cover gaskets in a 1995 Subaru Legacy with EJ22 engine. This video should apply to multiple Subarus of similar vintage. A nice, easy DIY job. Check out my blog: mercedesdieselg...
changed mine today, took me about 2.5 hours, im a beginner mechanic, id never have tried if it wasnt for this video, THANK YOU for saving me lots of money ......
I got a 97 legacy tha has don 400.000km, no problem on very bad roads in norway, and -52*c in winter. Its an asom car, and now i have to do this job. Thanks to you, now i konw this is going to bee easy :)
I gotta say that your videos are the first of their kind that have truly helped me with my minor car repairs. Your speech is clearly understandable, you speak at a comfortable speed (not too slow, not too fast) just like Goldilocks would like lol. You talk in terns that I can understand and your camera work is incredibly easy to follow. Thank you so much. Keep up the good work. Because of your video, I am heading outside to replace my valve cover gaskets.
sup man. I have just started servicing a few of my wife's friends cars because they keep getting ripped off. And one of her friends asked me to do her subaru outback. I noticed the oil down the side of the spark plug rubbers and I swear a little bit of poo came out. And got on here and found this vid. This video is great. looks very similar but the outback is a 4 cylinder and there are a few extra bolts but your going to save her a fare bit of cash down under :D cheers from australia
I replaced my valve Cover gaskets today, not a hard job at all!!! I did not do it during a oil change, just made sure I was careful not to let anything fall in once I took the covers off. Thanks to your video, it really helped out a lot!!! Just a tip.. before I did anything, first I went to the car wash and sprayed off any gunk build up on or around the valve cover made things a little easier!!! Thanks again!!!
I did this today, it was pretty easy! I would have done it without your video but I appreciated your video, before I started I had it set in my mind how to do it. My valve covers were a mess, baked on road grime, old oil, dirt, it took me some time to clean those up. I just removed the oil filler tube right away, no trace of a gasket so the way it seats in there must keep it from leaking. Then I Seafoamed the oil, the gas and the vacuum line from the PCV valve, then I will change the oil.
Thank you for making this video. tomorrow, I'm about to bring my 1993 Subaru Impreza LS AWD to the shop to have the Valve cover gasket replace due to oil leak. Just by watching this video i can actually do it myself. thanks again for you time and effort for doing this video.
You're welcome. These are easy cars to work on. I did mine in the "new" car this past weekend. Took a while, but I cleaned the valve covers while I was in there, so that took a while in the freezing weather.
Thanks for the walk thru. Another tutorial shows taking everything (alternator, coolant hoses, fuel, etc) off the engine and dropping the engine. No wonder mechanics want to charge a ton for the job. This is way easier looking and I can do it myself. Thanks again.
This video should cover valve cover gaskets. For basic repair/maintenance, I recommend the Haynes manual, which is available at most Advance Auto and Autozone locations.
This guide is great, much easier job than I thought it would be. Doing this tomorrow, my first thing I'll be doing on the car besides an oil change. Thanks!
Thank you! I figured I could do this and sure enough, it looks like a piece of cake! My son and I finished much nastier projects. 282,000 miles and going strong!!!
Hey man, thanks for the video. This is extremely helpful...just getting into doing my own work for simpler repairs like this on my 02 impreza. Your step by step is very easy to follow. I'll let you know when it's done and if I had any trouble....you could save me $800!
I found your video very very helpful. Ill be removing the valve covers to get to the hydrolic lifters to clean them (remove ticking). This looks easier than I had originally thought. Thanks you.
I do have one, and do try to use it when it's practical. When I do videos, it's because I actually need to fix my car and get to work. I rarely do a video without actually needing to do a repair. That kind of rush and pressure sometimes leads me to skip the tripod. But, I'll try and be better about using it.
@jakburger I'm not familiar with the EJ20, but if it's single cam, then I'll cautiously say yes. Pull the airbox and see if you have enough clearance. Keep in mind that it's fairly tight between the valve cover and the frame rail, but still very do-able (at least in my case - EJ22)
The sensor would be a good place to start. If it's cheap enough, you may just want to replace it and see what happens. If not, try and locate wiring diagrams and see what else might be affecting that circuit.
Sorry - I have no experience with the EJ20. I couldn't tell you if the procedure is similar or not. It certainly couldn't hurt to talk to your local parts store. Best of luck.
@gr0ver135 I haven't seen one of those up close yet. Or, more accurately, I haven't worked on one of those yet. The valve cover gaskets are very easy to do on these earlier cars.
They don't seem to go bad all that often, at least not that I've seen, but I suppose that could be the culprit. Does the temperature gauge give any indication of an overheat? I suppose it could be the sensor, but offhand, I'm not sure how you'd diagnose it. Check the coolant level first and go from there.
Good info to have. I don't have a torque wrench that goes that low, but I've had good luck ballparking it by hand. Not scientific, but it's worked for me so far. Are your numbers in ft-lb or Nm?
You're welcome. I don't always do this job in conjunction with an oil change. Cleaning the engine is a good idea. If that's impractical, I at least clean the valve covers while they're off. Thanks for watching.
@Pookatube I haven't done head gaskets, so I can't offer any advice on that. I have used Bars Leaks in other engines with varying degrees of success. No guarantees with that kind of product.
Thanks so much for posting this. I just did the passenger side on my 95 legacy. I found that getting the valve cover out was really tricky there wasn't enough room between that and the frame rail for a socket, so I'm not sure how you're supposed to get a torque wrench on these. Also, it was pretty difficult for me to remove the hose at the back of the cover. My car has 200K+ miles on it, so that could be why. The only other thing I ran into was I had a semi-rounded bolt. I also ended up removing the bottom half of the air intake box which made it easier to remove the cover. I hope the driver's side isn't more difficult.
For what it's worth, I've never actually used a torque wrench on these bolts. It would be a good idea, but yeah, I'm not sure what torque wrench would fit in there. I had what I thought were rounded bolts, but it turned out they were just covered in crud. I cleaned them off and they went back in easier. The driver's side is different. I'd say it's a bit more difficult, but still very doable.
Michael Sackstein For the valve cover bolts? I don't know the spec offhand, but 44 ft-lb is WAY too much. Possibly 44 in-lb, but I'd need to look it up.
That, or maybe electronic parts cleaner. Wouldn't hurt to wipe them down with a clean rag or paper towel first so that you don't have to soak them. Then, just be sure they're dry before reinstallation. I think if your plugs were fairly new, you should be able to get away with cleaning them. If not, then take the plunge and get new ones.
This motor has not got centrally located sparkplugs: the plugs stick out towards the top. Most models now seem to have the plug in the middle of the rocker cover, making life a bit more tricky.
Thanks. At the time, I was unable to locate that info. I've since been able to find it. That being said, I've never had an issue just ballparking it by feel. Never hurts to be exact, though.
I am going to school to become an airplane mechanic...( I have done 1 year, and have 1 more year to go). I need to replace the Gaskets on my 1993 Subaru. Did you need any maintenance manual to do yours? If so..what do you recommend? Thank you SOOOO very much for posting this!
Have a 2000 Subaru legacy wagon with 268,000 miles with a head gasket problem. Had the procedure done twice before, first under extended warranty, second out of pocket. I do intend to have the procedure again, but do you recommend BARR'S LEAK?
You didn't mention, but, is there a gasket for the oil filler tube where it attaches to the valve cover? If so, that should be replaced as well, right?
I just replaced my spark plugs on my 99' Impreza L 2.2l and found oil on the plugs, tried cleaning the oil the best I could, and ended up with white smoke out the exhaust. I know I need to change my valve cover gasket and maybe my tube seals, would I have to change the spark plugs again because the smoke means there is oil on the electrode or just replace the seals? Thanks for your help
No indication of overheating, I flushed out the radiator and everything looked fine, coolant level is ok. I replaced the fuel filter , oxygen sensor, I just hate to take in to the shop if its for something I could do...
wrote on 8-5-2018.. if you still have this subaru could you make a video to show how each vacuum hose goes on the intake hose where each end connects to?
i went to the authorized dealer of Subaru yesterday , the worker gave me 10 washers , it only needs 6 washers ( 3 for each cover ) , i don't know how , he was checking at the catalog of this engine . anyway , they are about 30 km away from my house , i hope i can return the extra parts tomorrow .
I have a question, I have a 1993 Subaru impreza, and the radiator fans stay on even, even when the motor is off, also the check engine light comes on now... Could it be a temperature sensor gone bad?? Ive never replaced it.. or what else could it be??
Mine is leaking oil through those too, but whats the worst that could happen if I just let it leak. Leaks about a 1qt between oil changes. Car has shitload of miles so never really bothered with it. Its $20 in parts, however it loses about $15 worth of oil per year or so. I just hope water and dirt don't come in through the bad gasket...
I'd say the worst that could happen would be a fire. The exhaust is right below the cylinder heads.I wouldn't be too concerned about contamination getting into the engine through that gasket. If it was THAT bad, you'd be puking oil all over the place.
Hi, I saw you said it would possibly be similar to a single cam ej20 in an earlier comment. I have a quad cam ej20, do you think there would be much difference? also, how do I know what kit to buy? would the local auto store help me out? thanks (from NZ)
I have just done this job on my EJ22, replaced everything including washers. But it is still leaking. I'm pretty confident the cover isn't cracked or anything. Do you know why this might be happening?
cambo196 It could be any number of things. It might be that the new parts are substandard. It might be that the valve covers weren't 100% properly seated upon reintstallation. It could be that the mating surfaces weren't clean enough. I would clean the engine, wait for it to leak again, and try to determine where exactly it's coming from.
MercedesDieselGuy Thanks! I will take it off again this weekend and try again. The parts should be ok as i invested in genuine subaru gaskets. Given the washers are new, they won't need to be replaced again when i pull it back off will they? it's just age and heat that damages them? Thanks again for your response
I've always done this job with the car sitting on all 4 wheels. Plenty of access from up top on the Legacy and Impreza, at least for the phase 1 EJ18 and EJ22 engines. I can't say how the job would differ for the EJ25 engines.
I have to replace my head gaskets in my 1999 lagecy would this video help with that or should I look for another one if so please please put in a link
This video only shows valve cover gasket replacement, not head gasket replacement. Although I did a multi-part video blog on replacing a cylinder head and head gasket a number of years ago, it wasn't a full DIY video by any means, and it was on a 1995 EJ22 2.2L SOHC engine. If I'm not mistaken, your car would most likely have an EJ25 2.5L DOHC engine. The procedure would likely have big, notable differences. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any info that would help you.
No videos that I recall. Gasket replacement is easy, though I recall manifold removal being a bit of a bear (I did it as part of replacing a cylinder head. Best of luck. Just a lot of stuff to disconnect. Gasket replacement itself is pretty much a no brainer once you have the manifold unbolted and lifted.
Best of luck. If you have any questions along the way, let me know. It's been years since I did the job, but if my fuzzy memory can answer any questions, I will.
