Yes, a Subie with a blown head gasket! But why does it cost DOUBLE to fix?!? CAR WIZARD explains 

ill b honest 3500 is completely reasonable

I had the same situation in my 1996 Outback. I also declined the head gasket work, since my Outback had over 400,000 miles on the body and few parking lot dings in the body. I ended paying the mechanic for his services, plus $200 and gave him my 1996 Outback. I ended up buying a 80,000 mile base model Ford Focus with a 5 speed manual from neighbor for $1000. She was 90 years old and gave up driving. That was in 2016. Two months ago I gave the Focus (now with 125k miles) to my other neighbors teenager as a first car (I had him help me with some home DIY projects) and purchased a new Corolla hatchback manual to replace it.

Something I would like to mention about the driveshafts. I owned a 2004 Subaru Forester and the u-joint went out at about 200k miles. The shop I had it at recommended that I bring the driveshaft to some specialists about an hour away. They actually cut the ends off the driveshaft and welded in new u-joints and made it a serviceable part. It was quicker and cost about the same as getting a new driveshaft from Subaru. The nice thing is that if the u-joint goes out again, it can be simply replaced and it will cost a lot less than replacing the entire shaft and they warrantied the the driveshaft for 70k miles. The car is at 240k miles now and it is still holding up great!

Paid a lot of my college flipping these Subies. Pull heads, check for warpage, install updated set along with a timing kit, fix a few odds and ends and make a few grand over the weekend. Buyer gets an issue free Subaru and I get some change.

Whenever I do these jobs and the car is a manual I also always recommend putting a new clutch in at the same time since the motor is out and usually has to go on an engine stand the clutch has to come off anyways.

Price here in pa for head gaskets “triple layered” replacements , entire timing set is around $1800 total . Some places $2100 . These engines come out in 3 hours by any good tech . 18hrs is a crock . And these are top shelf shops .

I just did this on my wife's 06 outback with 288,000. My time was free and parts total was $1000 but I did more replacing than just the head gaskets. All seals, timing, oilpan, dipstick tube, valve covers,oil sensors, timing covers, heads machined, spark plugs, head bolts, exhaust studs and misc.

Absolutely love this year and model of the Impreza hatchback. Disclaimer though: I've anecdotally found a couple youtube videos where mechanics claim (Like Mr Subaru) that it IS possible to change the head gaskets without pulling the engine, but it's "easier" to just lift the engine, and because it's a "boxer engine" it's remarkably easy to pull. It's built to be taken in and out of the bay. It was intentionally designed that way, unlike other engines. They claimed it'd take 30-40 minutes to get the engine on a stand, and from there you have all the space you need to do any maintenance you need to do. This job absolutely should not take 12 hours to do and it absolutely does not require you to change your belts and pulleys. The claims of other youtuber mechanic shops on this exact topic state drastically different repair times than what Wizard is claiming. Bar's Head Gasket Sealant, if the broken seal is minimal, has a fairly good chance of sealing that leak on it's own. (Thoroughly tested and confirmed effective by ChrisFix) Spend $15 on that before you go to a mechanic to get quoted for a $3500 job. Viewers, don't fall for mechanics claiming they have to change x, y and z on top of the thing you went in there for. That's how they get all that money out of you. Preemptive and often unnecessary repairs (at that time). They just love to tack on the tasks that the car owner could easily do on their own.

Ah, Screwbaru. I've owned ONE Screwbaru, in college. It was a 1980s GL Wagon TURBO AWD. SO many things to break. Anyway, it wasn't the worst car I've owned, but it was expensive to fix. I had to replace one of the intercooler hoses to the turbo, and then being in NY state, the exhaust system rusted to the point where it needed replacing. Back in the day, that was a $1200 job. In today's money, that is $2500. For an exhaust system. I didn't know what I was going to do until one night after school, traffic was backed up onto the interstate around a blind corner. I had to stop fast, nothing I could do. I looked in my rearview and there was a car that obviously could not stop in time. I fist-pumped with joy, relaxed, and waited for the impact. She hit me hard enough to shove the bumper underneath the car, and I knew that would total out that POS. Moreover, the shop that did the estimate called me later and offered me cash for it. I actually made money on that car. And no, I will never own another Screwbaru.

Had the same thing happen with my 2007 Impreza with 100K miles. I went to and authorized Subaru shop and they did the head gaskets, timing belt kit, thermostat, water pump, and I needed a rear wheel bearing. entire cost was $2100. The dealer wanted over $2500 just for the head gaskets. Car was fixed in less than 2 days!

Love your videos. I just bought a 2008 Subaru legacy with 60,000 miles. One owner. After I bought it I took it to a Subaru dealership for a 60,000 mile service for them to tell me my head gaskets are leaking just like this one in the video. They quoted me $2800. I will get it done. It’s just sad to spend $10,000 on a low mileage car for the head gaskets to be bad. I will be going after the used car dealership to get some money back. Thanks for this video

Exact same thing happened to my 09 Subaru. At 79,000 miles I started noticing oil spots in my driveway, and sure enough upon further inspection it was the head gaskets. I honestly had a hard time finding someone who was willing to even work on it, a few shops flat out said "No. We don't do that here."

I have a neighbor who works in a garage part time and he used to live just down the road from me and did work on cars at his home..... About 7 years ago the engine on my 2008 Subaru Forester started overheating..... He determined it was the head gasket...about 85,000 miles on the engine...he took the engine out and put new head gaskets in and charged me about $500...I now have 125,000 miles and it's never bothered for 1 second during that time.... He moved away and I really miss taking my car to him and just walking the 10 minutes back home.....thanks for the video

You really had me scared right up to the end when you said $3500.00. That sounds very fair to me for an engine out head gasket and timing service. I'd write that check with a smile (maybe a sideways grin) and enjoy my little Subaru for another 100K in that situation.

While my mechanic dropped the engine, Eric O. From South Main Auto didn't. So it can be done. Its a big job, no doubt, but done right with MLS gaskets torqued properly, it will never have to be redone, and properly maintained these cars can last a very long time.

Your videos always remind me why I don't go to a shop anymore. My water pump went out a week ago (2006 Outback) and I spent 2 days in my driveway doing the drive belts, timing belt, hydraulic tensioner, thermostat, water pump, and harmonic balancer. It sucked in 40 degree rainy weather, but now everything on the front of my engine is OEM brand new for $600. I can't imagine how much it would have been to get it all done at a shop, it was $1k a decade ago for just the timing belt and some Chinese pump...

That is a very reasonable price with such a professional and knowable person.

most shops around here way overcharge for Subaru headgaskets. you can pull a N/A Subaru engine and have it on the stand in 45 minutes. unless it is the 1st time your doing one or are not a good mechanic it doesn't take 12-18 hours and it is only about $500 in parts. i do them all the time for around $1500 including all this: labor machine shop cost to resurface heads head gaskets - OEM or Fel-pro intake gaskets - Fel-pro exhaust head pipe gaskets - OEM valve cover gaskets - Fel-pro cam seals - OEM crank seal - OEM rear main seal - OEM water crossover o-rings timing set with water pump - AISIN spark plugs - NGK air filter oil filter fluids cleaning of leaked oil residue from engine and engine bay

Thanks for the video Car Wizard, that's not a bad price actually these days. We did an '09 Forester before we sold it to our kids - for less than we payed to have the head gasket issue fixed of course. The first shop that quoted did not include a new water pump, machining the heads or new head studs. If anyone is getting it done, it pays to do it right, but no, it's not free.

For a while a guy who's boat I was working on loaned me a Daewoo Matiz. It had a leaking head gasket. So I decided I'd change it one weekend. Went to a nearby Korean car parts supplier to get a head gasket kit. They told me the head gasket wasn't available on its own. You had to buy a complete engine overhaul set, with valve stem seals, crankshaft seals, sump gasket- the works. I thought oh yeah, typical rip off. "What's that cost?" "$37"

the head gaskets on my 2005 Outback 2.5 5MT EJ259 have been leaking oil since I bought it 5 years and 90,000 miles ago. 258,000 on the odometer, and the coolant is still good. I check the oil level every time I fill it up. With Snow Tires, this thing is unbeatable for North-East Winters. "It still runs!" lol

Thank you for being honest with these folks. Not many mechanics would do that these days. Thank you for looking out for that family.

My gf's clean 2002 Forester had the same oil leak issue for over 100k miles. At 200k it suddenly started blowing coolant overboard. She had an eye on it and took it to the shop without overheating. Gaskets, rear brakes, timing components, head resurface came to about $4500 in San Mateo, Calif. Altho the car is barely worth half that, she didn't have to fork over $35000 for a new one.

Mr Subaru 1387 has a video on YT about Subaru head gaskets. Subaru makes a replacement gasket that corrects the head gasket problem.

EJ251/253 have the headgasket issue due to the graphite coating used on those headgaskets. Using a turbo MLS gasket will solve the problem. MrSubaru1387 has a great series of videos on thr subject.

I learned about this way back in the 80s with my 78 Subaru wagon. In those days it was possible to buy cheap - low mileage engines from Japan. It was easier and cheaper to replace the engine than fix the head gaskets. and I learned a lot.

Earlier this year I bought a used 2008 Impreza 5 door hatchback from a Subie mechanic. On the side, he'll buy Subies with blown head gaskets , fix them & then re-sell 'em. Mine had 142,000 miles on it and I paid $4,500. He replaced the head gaskets & had the heads machined, timing belt, water pump & also put new brake pads, rotors & tires all the way around on it. He literally fixed *anything that was wrong with it before selling it to me. In this economy, I'm happy with it. *There was a (low pressure) tire sensor that was bad and when he told me what it would cost if I wanted to get the light to go out on the dash, I said "no, that's o.k. I'll manually check the tire pressure IF it appears low."

You can rebuild a Subaru propshaft.

One Subaru is all I want for this lifetime. I had a 2003 Subaru outback. It was a great car except everything needed to be replaced at the same time. I had the water pump, spark plugs, head gaskets, timing belt, tensioners, spark plug wires replaced at the same time. It was a big bill and it needed to be done around 115,000 miles. I needed to do it again at 245,000 miles and decided to sell it. It was a great car, very reliable, and never broke down on the road. My issue with the Subaru was that everything needed to be replaced at the same time making it expensive but after the repairs were made it was trouble free for another 100,000 miles.

Great videos! The EJ25 engines all did this over time, Subaru apparently fixed the coolant leaking issues from the previous engine generation, but created a new issue with oil leaks. I did a set of these on an '07 Outback we used to own when the small leak was right over the passenger side exhaust manifold such that the car constantly smelled of burning oil while driving. The recommended fix at the time was upgrading to the multilayered metal WRX head gaskets, which did the trick. In the Outbacks and Legacys there is actually just enough room to do this without pulling the engine, which is how I did it, but there are several points where the clearances are less than a half an inch to clear the frame rails, especially when getting the heads off the studs. It was a bear and not recommended if you have the equipment to pull the engine. I would bet that the Impreza engine bay is even tighter thus making engine out the only option. This was the main reason why we switched to a Honda after that.

It does my heart good to see a good and honest assessment of a major repair. Keep up the great work, Wizard!

The problem with this engine series head gasket is the coating that comes on it. Overtime, right around 100 thousand miles, the coating degrades and oil or coolant starts to leak over the gap leaved by the degraded coating. If the service is done with a new same model head gasket, it will start to leak all over again after another 100 thousand miles. The better way to fix it for good is using the head gasket of the 2.5 turbo, that doesn't come with the same coating.

My 1999 Outback blew both head gaskets and was overheating. The car had 193,000 miles. Other than that the car was in fine shape and everything worked. I tried to find a J-dam motor, but during the Covid lockdown and the chip shortage everyone else was buying them up. Finally the business that sold j-dam motors told me they also rebuilt engines, but they were already 2 months behind. I opted for the rebuilt motor and left my Outback with them. I bought a set of multi-layer steel head gaskets and gave them to the business. I wanted the best head gaskets, not the ones that came with the rebuild kits they would buy. Surprisingly they got to it in 30 days and I paid $2,000 dollars, tax included out the door. That's the exact amount that I paid for the car with 174,000 miles just 3 years prior. I'm retired, so I don't drive much. So, I think this car with it's "new" engine should last me the rest of my days.

Long ago I had a VW Rabbit. In the worst of winter, the head gasket started leaking coolant. Yipes Too cold in the garage to do that job. So I tried a hillbilly fix. I looked up the head bolt torque and tightened up the bolts to 120% of that value. The car worked perfectly until I sold it 2 years later. Maybe only feasible when you have an iron block. Just sayin'

A friend of mine use to be a Subaru mechanic. He was telling me they use to charge $5000 Canadian to do the head gasket because it was an engine out situation. Mr Subaru on his RU-vid channel backs up the engine out repair. And he also says to get the triple layer metal gasket and not the graphite coated one.

Not to mention that any time you pull heads, it's always strongly suggested to have the heads machined. If not you could still have the same problem as soon as you put it back together. I've actually already been through this process. This one is a slightly different model of engine than the one you see. It's the FB25. An N/A 2.5 DOHC. Which is the successor to the EJ series of engine. And had a different failure. The connecting rod bearing on cylinder 1 was trashed because of the 2 tubes of RTV they used from the factory to seal every surface that could be sealed. A piece of it had came loose and fell into the pil pan, which then got sucked up into the oil pickup and liquified due to heat. Then it distributed itself into the engine bearings. This engine also has an aluminum front timing cover with the oil pump built in to it. Which also had to be replaced because of the damage that was already caused from the bearing material. It got the works. New bearings, fresh pistons/rings, new timing chains/tensioners, and all new seals. I used significantly less RTV than the factory did to hopefully not have the same issue as it did from the factory. It also had significant valve guide wear and valve seat damage due to carbon buildup. It has slightly more miles than this one has with a different kind of failure. But it's still been quite expensive. The front cover alone was several hundred dollars, plus everything else. It's taken me a lot longer than it should've because of having to wait for all these parts ordered offline and the machine work. So know what you're getting yourself into before buying a subaru. I'd say that 90% of the ones you'd see when trying to buy a used one has already had some kind of engine failure that the owner doesn't want to sink money into. They're really nice cars. But do require a bit more care and maintenance to get the same kind of longevity as other brands. It's imperative you keep up on your services or you'll end up as another subaru statistic

With moderate mechanical skills, the engine out head gasket /timing belt repair is entirely possible for the home mechanic with some study and patience. I just yesterday finished an engine out head gasket replacement on my 2007 forester. It is possible on that car to do it with the engine in frame, but a more accurate and thorough job is achieved by pulling the motor.

With what cars are still selling for, very expensive repairs are still worth it for a lot of situations. I just put $1200 into my ‘08 police interceptor - new gas tank, fuel pump, some fuel lines etc. it’s well worth it.

Did my wife's forester... pulled engine in garage, tore down, machined 1 head flat, put the turbo head gaskets on (made different/good) put it back in. What a pain just because on some years they used a bad head gasket. At least I only had material cost.

Quick note: the replacement headgaskets we would use at my old Subaru shop were the same headgaskets that were on the WRX'S of whichever generation the Subaru that came in was. They WRX headgaskets are double-finned, as opposed to the single-finned headgaskets on the N/A boxer engines. They mount exactly the same, and many other tech swore the WRX headgaskets were a life-long fix.

We did the ones in our '07 when we first purchased it. Picked it up dirt cheap knowing it needed head gaskets. Seller was honest and stated the dealership he got the car from did replace the gaskets, but the job failed. Found the dealership used the incorrect sequence head bolts. (The center bolts and outer bolts are DIFFERENT!) The job costs this much due to machine shop work that can cost about $300+ per cylinder head. Good call on the timing belt service, we did ours as well. Ours had several hairline cracks on the head gasket that failed. So that was a charge from the machine shop to ID the cracks-and then sourcing another head...etc.... By the time we finished the entire job we went down the rabbit hole about $1200 plus the cost of the car. We sourced used heads and had a local machine shop resurface, etc... It took several weeks of on/off time on the car (I'm a hobbyist shade tree type and work a full time job already) Car ran like a dream afterwards! Drove it around for several years before the NYS (or PRNY as Eric O calls it) road salt killed the undercarriage. Would I buy another one? IF it was dirt cheap and zero rust under it. For the ones saying do the job with the engine in the car- All it takes is a few rusted up bolts in the valve cover-And you'll wish you had pulled it out. This car had the easiest engine to remove that I've ever done. The time spent pulling it, was time not wasted beating my knuckles apart.

The gaskets were a "known issue" that I didn't know about then, My Forester is newer than that era, though. WHEW! Also, my local Sube dealer routinely undercuts book prices on bigger ticket maintenance like the timing belt-water pump-idler deal. I remember being pleasantly surprised when the time came to do it.

just a heads up u can do that job with the engine in the car but its still every bit of 15 hours. when if you unbolt the exhaust u also remove the bolts on the motor mounts and then start on the top half. After removing the intake and timing belt, u can jack up the engine about 1 inch so u can tilt the block side to side ever so slightly, and once u loosen the bolts for the heads completely, u can then slide them out till they almost contact the frame and the head will lift right out. valve covers off slide the bolts to the frame and then lift :)

Because it has two head gaskets on opposite sides of the engine. They are so easy to work on. I’ve rebuilt several.

Yes, being upfront with the work involved. Report issues involved 'Duty of Care'. End of the day, customer's call.

I've seen this scenario all too many times. My Aunt blew the head gaskets on her former 2010 Outback and she was also quoted $3500 to fix her car. It wasn't worth it, if she got into a wreck they'd give her the value of the car and the rest is lit on fire. You burned all that money. I told her no don't do it! So she upgraded to a new Rav-4. My mom has been driving subarus since 1994 and so I'm very familiar with the head gaskets. Thankfully it has not happened to my mom and she actually bought her current 2013 Outback off lease and that was the year that subaru upgraded their head gasket materials and that problem went away by the time she got her current car.

I had a 2001 Forester and at 81,000 the head gaskets were leaking coolant. There was a specialty shop near the Subaru dealer that had some former dealer employees working at the independent shop. They changed the head gaskets on both sides for $1,000, without removing the engine. They had an improved part, but at 160,000 it was leaking again. The car had some rust issues so I sold it for $1000.00. BUT, I told the new owner the car was free but he was buying two sets of wheels and tires with less than 1,000 miles on each set, summer and winter tires, plus a $300 set of service manuals. I disclosed everything that was wrong with the car and he drove it until the rear suspension let go and poked up through the body on one side at 225,000 miles. I was poking around under the car before I sold it and found I could stick my finger through the cross member over the rear axle. I found the new owner the last new replacement part in the country for around $300, but he never changed it. Some people will drive them until the wheels literally fall off. (Like on the "Just Rolled" In channel.)

The one saving grace is that the Subaru engines are fairly easy to pull. All the wiring for the motor is on one connector, for example. All the accessories are right on top too. I put the motor back in my wife's Rav4 yesterday (2azfe oil burn fix...) and that was actually more difficult than putting my EJ255 back in my Legacy GT. Engine assembly though? That's a different story.

My 05 Legacy lasted to 221000 miles - She is finally showing signs of a Head Gasket failure - No worries, Time to yank the engine out, pull off the heads and send them off to the machine shop - While I am at it, i'll be replacing the clutch, pressure plate and flywheel as well as a new Timing Belt kit... Fun Project...

I bought a beater '97 Outback a few years back to play with. I knew it was already mechanically totalled, shot clutch pack and no history on the head gaskets, but it was a remarkably nice car. I even upgraded the stereo. It fit the stereotype of a Subaru, a neat engine and trick AWD driveline with the rest of the car thrown in for free. I shook my head when I looked under the hood and thought WTF?! when I bought the Haynes manual...

I'm pulling the engine on mine to do all this work myself, I learned pretty early on that Subarus are excellent cars, so long as you're going to do the work yourself

Good info overall but I do want to point out that it's pretty easy to remove the head bolts/heads on an NA 2.5L without getting the engine out, done it on a few cars. Having the engine out can be nice, but not at all required for the sohc 2.5s and the timing belt service is easily done as you put everything back together.

I had this curse hit my 2008 Subaru Impreza a few years back when I was getting the timing belt replaced. Cost me about $3500, so that's pretty accurate. I couldn't afford to avoid this fix and get a new car, so I had to just suck it up and pay the price. I had no idea about the head gasket curse until that happened lol.

The price you quoted I think is completely reasonable I had to do this on an old WRX I had , cuz there was so much work involved just to do the head gaskets replaced all the spark plugs water pump things like that.

I was able to do my 05 legacy and 07 outback with the engine in the car but took my heads to a machine shop to check for flatness. They were flat so they cleaned them and checked the valve seals

Interestingly, just now I'm doing the head and cylinder block on my STI. In our country, work with spare parts costs $ 2,000, including crankshaft bearings, cylinder rings and milling of all planes of heads and the block itself. Which, by the way, must be done, otherwise all the work is useless. It all makes sense if you have STI or WRX at least. On NA motors, I would find a block in a junkyard and put it in...

My friend keeps talking about buying a Subie and for this exact reason, I keep discouraging her. Thank you for your compassion and honesty in letting them know that sometimes (like in some of your other videos) it's not worth dumping money into a vehicle.

I been a Senior Master for Subaru for many years and honestly i do head gaskets very often and the reality is that you don't need to pull the engine to do the repair, it can be done on the vehicle. All you need is a set of turbo head gaskets and the leak would be fix for good, normally takes around 6 hours to do the job,very straight forward, now it is expensive,no doubt. You're going to be on the 3 thousands dollar mark but the majority is labor the parts are not that expensive.

When I graduated from high school in the early 1980s, a good friend of mine had a 1973 D/L 2-door coupe with headgasket issues. His mother had a D/L 4-door and his dad had a 4-wd wagon, all with headgasket issues. Their fix was to fabricate headgaskets out of used beer cans. I think Ivan Temnykh with Pine Hollow Diagnostics said it best at the end of one of his videos. He asked his wife what she would replace her Nissan Rogue with and she said a Subaru Forrester. He reminded her of the leaky headgaskets. Of course, it was the video in which he had just replaced the CVT; of which Nissan has had a bad run of lately. With 454,000 miles, it looks like the ol' Marquis will need to run forever. Great video!

Thank you Wizard and Mrs. From Minnestota, 6 months of winter (getting 1/2 foot today), Subaru's are common. Headgasket issues w/ Subaru's, more common on 6cy vs 4cy, certain years? Oil leak near exhaust 🔥zoinks. Difficult for the customer to comprehend, costs are 10% parts and 90% service time.

I've seen a subaru tech recommend using the turbo head gasket set in all 2.5 liter engines due to a better design. Local subaru shops quote 2500 for the job.

I'm shocked...Shocked! ...well...not shocked at all....the head gasket is the Subaru's Achilles heal. Not to worry its a regular maintenance item.

These are fun to drive for their class, easy to work on, low cost to insure bc of non turbo. Headgasket issues plagued the 2.5 SOHC nonturbos from early 2000s-2010s be mindful when looking at one.

A Subaru with 120k miles that's already had the head gaskets and timing belt done is a better buy than one with 80k and the original head gaskets.

My buddy who is a Subaru tech does all my Subaru head gaskets, I supply the 200 dollar fel pro kit and he charges me 500 bucks to do them. Pays to know someone who only does Subaru. However. If the vehicle over heats, then the heads need to be resurfaced. But it’s straight forward if it never over heated.

That's about the right mileage! I had the head gaskets replaced in my '07 Legacy at around 93k miles. The second set of gaskets are leaking now at 173k. Not planning on replacing 'em again - I think the 'ol Legacy is in its twilight years. (or months!)

I fixed one last year .. but we get 1500 and 2000 cc engine ... timing belt popped ... bent all the valves ... back on the road like nothing happened. Love your channel . Mrs Wizard is topnotch on the interior .

I agree to fix it RIGHT is best however we had a similar leak in an old Civic and we did what Scotty suggested the ATP reseal. It worked as he promised HOWEVER you have to add a $15 bottle every time you do oil change or else the leak will return. Again this is for SMALL leaks and not to take the place of a head gasket job but it will keep oil in your engine and not hurt or gum up anything as far as I know until you’re better prepared to address what has got to be done as far as fixing it right! There are no mechanics in a bottle but this Will relatively harmlessly get you by.

I've had a battery in my 1991 Toyota corolla Alltrac since 2017, and I've been driving it with a small head gasket leak, with oil seeping into the coolant for 2 years. Car is still running fine, no overheating.

I picked up my 2013 Taurus. And at the first oil change they told me it needed a battery. It was still rocking a working 2013 motorcraft factory battery somehow. An 8 year old battery at the time

I have a 2011 same car heads were leaking top of engine way worse of a leak about 1/2 quart per gas fill up. Dealership 1 year ago told me 6,200 to 7,000 dollars. Me and my fiend did a rebuild on it for about 1,200 all together with milled/resurfaced heads from another shop. Getting the motor out with help took about 2 1/2 hours taking it apart and cleaning it and rebuild was a whole other story. Did it about a year ago no leaks yet did upgrade to the MLS head gaskets used in the WRX. Changed oil, coolant, timing belt and every other seal/gasket we could do. So far so good!

I've sealed a transfer case leak on a 4x4 Ranger with gear oil silicone and it's not leaked in years. Just make sure you drain the fluid, clean and let it dry for a 2-3 days before applying the silicone, then let the silicone dry for another couple days before filling. Worked like a champ

There is a guy named Subaru Mike who has a number of videos doing these gaskets and rebuilds. He is a wealth of knowledge.

You can also remove the heads in the car especially on the timing belt ones you just have to leave the bolts in the head while you pull the head you have enough room to loosen the bolts so they're not in the block but leave them in the head

I live in New England and was looking for a awd for wife, checked a few Subarus and heard about the head gasket problem, man I’m so happy that we bought a crv instead

My winter beater is a 2007 Forester N/A. With just over 200,000kms I’m shocked it runs as good as it does. I’ve had it for years and drove it halfway across Canada and back. No head gasket issues (yet) but there is an incredible amount of blow by. If it wasn’t for that and the rust…so much rust, it might be worth saving. It’s an absolute beast in the snow, I definitely will be considering getting another one in the near future.

I had my head gasket replaced on my 2007 Subaru Forester with 120K miles on it, and I am glad that I did. It was worth it to me to pay for the fix relative to buying another used one which would be at least $5000 with a fixed headgasket and replaced timing belt etc., but somedays it does feel like a money pit as I had to replace the exhaust, starter, and rad as well in the last year, but I really like the way it handles, so I will probably keep fixing it for a good while yet, hoping to hit 300K on it before it goes to the scrap yard.

The thing is these engines run like new after this job because the valves are adjusted back to spec. I had it done on my '01 Forester at 130K miles. Same symptom, oil leaking on one side.

I've been able to replace them without pulling the engine, but there isn't really much more work before the engine is out. The biggest issue is the valve cover bolts being seized. The rest of the SOHC head gasket job isn't too bad at all. The new chain driven engines are a pain to reseal.

In my experience most Subaru head gasket issues are caused by overheating. Blown hoses, busted radiator, cooling fan issues, thermostat , water pump or rad cap.🤷‍♂️

I have a 2001 Forester. Had a small head gasket leak (coolant leaking to the outside, air leaking in and collecting around the thermostat, causing overheating). I drilled 3 tiny holes in the thermostat flange to allow the air to escape. Worked like a charm. Temp fix but it lasted for many thousands of miles.

A Subaru specialist did the head gaskets on my 2005 Forester for $2500, 7 years ago.

8:00 my shop pivoted mine with it still in the car i paid 2500 back in 2018 - all in all it fixes your headgaskets probably near the car's life, and its kinda a checkpoint mid-life to the car like this guy has 100k miles, he now doesn't have to worry about a waterpump, timing belt ect all in all if you buy a mid 00s subaru you better ask for the paperwork of the HG job or factor that into your negotiation. because its not IF its WHEN that HG goes 3500 is probably right with inflation. regardless compared to one of his Dash adventures alot of work and preventive maintenance does go into this and is worth every penny.

My father replaced the headgaskets on his impreza without removing the engine, and he's not a mechanic. Hmmm...

100% agreed. I would also consider the rear main seal too.

The timing belt is going to grenade the engine before that leak gets bad enough.

At Valvoline we call those engines ring-0-fire because the oil filter is right in the middle of the exhaust and it can be easy to burn yourself!!

$3500 vs paying $45,000 is a no brainer. Also I'd just apply silicone every 30 days to the bottom since it isn't that hard to do.

I had the exact same issue with my 2003 Liberty (Aussie Legacy). It was leaking for a about 5 years until I got sick of the oil dripping onto the exhaust and causing a smoke show on the freeway. I pulled the trigger earlier this year to the tune of $3,900 aussie bucks. If I can get the oil sump gasket fixed, she will be leak free with 263,000km.

My mom had head gaskets done on her 2002 Outback back in 2015, I think. It was $2,500 for engine out, heads resurfaced, gaskets, timing belt, water pump, all associated components, and valve covers. She basically went for a full engine reseal. Sadly, the car was totaled by a drunk driver only 30k miles later. It was just shy of 200k when totaled. Work was done by a smaller Subaru shop.

I have the Outback Sport version of this exact car. Mine has the same leak since 130,000mi. I put a pan in my driveway and let it leak. I top the oil up every couple weeks. Maybe a qt every 3 weeks. It's now at 202,000mi. I don't rev the motor over 4500rpm. I'm going to drive this car till it finally lets go, but for 6yrs, its been the best little car I've ever owned. And as a commenter below said, $3500 is more than reasonable factoring in all the work/parts/extraction/insertion. Keep up the good fight Car Wizard!

Wizard!! For $3500 investment, you would have another car to put over 100k on the clock! You cant buy anything for that price that will last as long!

Thanks to all of your videos, I've decided to find my daughter a car that has a timing CHAIN

That's actually not a bad price. The car is in good shape, have it pulled and have everything replaced like you said. Get another 100k+ miles out of it. Sure beats trading it in, getting nothing for it and then having to make new car payments.

I was lucky (yes, really!) to have the head gasket fail on my 2007 Legacy wagon *just inside* the extended warranty period I had, at about 85k miles, so that one was free. Since I was still 20k+ away from the timing belt EOL, I offered to pay for the new belt "kit" which they sold to me at cost, and just used the new parts when they reassembled it again. That wasn't such a bad deal! A couple of years after that the transmission went out (oddly, because those 4spd ones seemed bulletproof?), and I bit the bullet to put in another one (more expensive than your quote above, sadly) because I knew I'd get a solid 5+ more years out of the car. Since then it's gotten two kids through learning how to drive, and their Jr-Sr years in HS, and the is still chugging (and occasionally clunking) along at 160k, so I suppose that investment was worth it, even though writing that check really, really sucked.

If you change your coolant every other year then the head gasket issue basically disappears. Great video!

When I had my 2003 Forester head gasket done, I had the water pump replaced, spark plugs, heads cleaned and valves ground done in a private shop. The total was half the dealer cost just for the head gaskets. The work done by the private shop lasted until I trade the car after many years.

What is the tune when he raises car on ramp?

This is one of those videos where I actually would donate to a go-fund me for them. Timing, kids, family, good condition car seem worth it.

I can’t be the only one who thinks 3500 is practically a reasonable price for the job , also with the extra piece of mind from the timing belt etc etc.. not to mention the brakes were done too. Maybe if my hemi 5.7 goes I’ll drive it down to you for work