bubles in overflow? bad HG?

B

birdman2447

New member
Last fall I picked up a tired 97 legacy outback wagon with 285k on it from a friends mother. The car was only 300 bucks and just needed a radiator. I have noticed in the last few weeks that the vent line to the overflow is pressurized all the time and bubbles even after the car is up to temp. Is this a sure sign that the HG is bad? All I have is a compression tester and that came out decent. Is it time for a leakdown test then? The current HG has about 100k on it.

thanks

 
Bubbles after the engine has warmed up is a sure sign of a bad headgasket. Fix it now before you overheat your engine.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sometimes if you can take the radiator cap off and start it up.... If if looks like old faithful that's a good sign as well!!!!!

 
My 2000 RS did this. It was the head gaskets. On VERY rare occasions it can be the radiator cap. If you replace them, make sure you use OEM Subaru head gaskets, and follow the torque specs and sequence very carefully!!

 
thanks guys, I replaced it and still blow by. When I do replace it I will deff use the metal subaru one. I did my rs's HG 3 years back. But what a pain of a job. I just replaced the headgasket in my bmw e30. Took all of 3 focused hours. Is the only real way to yank the engine, that what I did on my rs but it needed a clutch also. Do any of the autoparts shops rent the cam alignment tools? or where is the best place to get them from.

thanks

 
It would be a real horrible pain to do a DOHC in car. Pull it. It doesn't take long. I had mine out in an hour and a half flat. No air tools. No engine hoist.

 
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