I have the worse damn luck..... (headgasket woes)

[IronMonkeyL255]

So i have been suspecting having a very slight leak in my headgasket for some time now. The other night, it finally let go. Whenever i would try to get on boost, it would become a dead miss in cylinder 3, and at idle and light load it was an intermittent miss.

Less than a week before I have to drive out to Colorado.

So i order up the gasket set (about $200, plus new timing belt and various other stuff for another $100) and plan for getting it knocked out on my day off.

I don't have a hoist, so I am doing it with the engine in the vehicle. I pull the manifold, drain the coolant, etc, etc. I get the driver's side head off and move onto the passenger side head.

Snap!

The rearmost upper head bolt broke off 1 3/4" inside the block. So now I gotta get the shortblock out without a hoist and attempt to use bolt extractors to remove what's left of the bolt. I already have ARP head studs on order ($230 i can't afford to spend, but I will be DAMNED if this happens again). Hopefully I can remove it myself, otherwise I am gonna have to wait until monday to get it to a machine shop to have them remove it. All while still planning on leaving on wednesday morning.........


The reason it broke was that some moisture had managed to get in with the bolt and corrode it so it was seized up and weakened. It was gonna break no matter what I did at that point.

[ericem]

That really sucks I was thinking about replacing the headgasket in place as I do get a miss fire as well yet no signs of headgasket like exhaust gases in coolant or mixing oil/coolant.

[IronMonkeyL255]

Mine would only push a little coolant out over a few weeks before, then when it finally went, it was just exhaust in the coolant.

It wouldn't be bad doing it with everything still in the car if that damn bolt hadn't broken.

[race_to_live]

Ah man. That is something else. I feel your pain, but it is all for a good cause...the sub

[DLC]

I'm parting out my 00 GT because I am sick and tired of headgaskets. Well, that and the poor respray.

It just sucks when you can't rely on the engine.

[IronMonkeyL255]

Well, my engine has been dead reliable until this, so I guess I can't complain......


And i was looking at my ARP studs, and they are a bit shorter than the stock bolts. I contacted them, and they told me that the studs do NOT have to be bottomed out in the holes in the block. I will have full thread engagement, so that is a huge load off my mind.

[IronMonkeyL255]

I gotta wait until monday. That bolt is not coming out without the aid of a machine shop.

Just got done bleeding the HLAs and putting new seals in the heads. Had a slight leak from the back of the block, and it looks like the rear main i replaced when swapping trannies is holding strong. The leak looks to be coming from the oil separator plate instead. Luckily I have the aluminum version already so I just need to take it off and reseal it.

[IronMonkeyL255]

:sigh:

Waiting on getting the block back from the machine shop still......

I wish I had the extra cash around to do a full rebuild on it, but this is straining what I have available right now anyway.....

[IronMonkeyL255]

Well, three weeks at the machine shop, and all the guy managed to do was screw it up so bad no other shops will touch it around here, and lose the little sleeve/stud around the hole that locates the head where it needs to be.


Luckily, my friend still had the motor from the donor car from when I swapped to a 5-speed. So i picked that up on the cheap and just got finishing swapping my water pump and oil pump over, putting the pistons back in (he had started to break it down for a total rebuild, but the bottom end is still good) resealing the oil pan and the service hole and oil separator plate on the back of the block, and putting in a new rear main.

Finally should have my car running again tomorrow evening.

[IronMonkeyL255]

Hah!

My luck really is the worst.

Got the driver's side head on all right. Get to the passenger's side, not so much. Got to the last step in the torque sequence, second to last nut and SNAP! It pulled the damn threads out of the block.

Now I gotta take the other head off and take the block out again, and try to find a machine shop that won't keep it for 3 weeks to accomplish nothing again.

[asc_up]

Oh my God, I feel for you man. That's what you get for having such a reliable motor all of these years I guess. Haha.

[IronMonkeyL255]

What really pisses me off is one of my coworkers holding this string of bad luck up as proof that subarus are unreliable......

They are damn reliable, but i have shitty luck.

[IronMonkeyL255]

Speaking of shitty luck, the lower end in the motor i swapped in let go yesterday.

Sounds about like a rod bearing, but i gotta get it towed home and torn down to confirm.

:furious:

[oldcrow]

Whenever I start taking apart an engine I always gently tighten the nut/bolt and break the bond.
Then reverse and it usually comes apart without stripping or snapping in half.
Not sure if that helps.
Lance

[IronMonkeyL255]

Well, my string of bad luck continues. Got the motor rebuilt and it seems to be running fine, until the other day.

I noticed a smell of something petroleum-based burning. At first i figured that a plastic bag or something had blown against the header and was burning there, until it was still doing it several miles down the road. I stop and look under the car, and i have an oil leak from the front crank seal........ So i get a new crank seal and install it yesterday. Now, the leak has grown exponentially. I think the oil pump the rebuilder used wasn't quite right, because this is ridiculous.