New Member - 99 GT

[Strykr]

Hello everyone,

I recently picked up a 99 Legacy GT Wagon. The car is 100% stock and in near mint condition, I bought it for a whopping $500 with only 108000km on it. The reason I bought it for $500 was because the car has an overheating issue and the previous owner assumed the head gaskets were going. It has a 4EAT, fully loaded with all options minus the underseat subwoofer and trailer hitch (which I'll be removing). The only issues with it is there is a 1" section of surface rust on the driver rear wheel arch, very small spot of surface rust above the passenger headlight on the hood, shot rear trailing arm bushing, loose steering (probably tierod), brakes need changing and other than that the car is in mint condition.

I just did a compression test yesterday to check the condition, to my surprise all 4 cylinders read 176psi. I already have a Gates Thermostat and rad cap, so I will be changing those tonight to see if it fixes the overheating issue.

I will upload some pictures of the car when I get a chance.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/DSC_0024-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/DSC_0021-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/DSC_0084-1.jpg
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2015/09/DSC_0025-1.jpg

[peugoby]

Very cool - $500 CAD is an absolute steal! Hope your overheating issue is easily resolved. Post a picture of your new ride when you can.

[Strykr]

Very cool - $500 CAD is an absolute steal! Hope your overheating issue is easily resolved. Post a picture of your new ride when you can.

Thanks! I honestly wasn't expecting the overall condition to be good, let alone to be in a near mint condition w/ low km amazed me. It was so hard to keep a straight face when I was test driving and buying it. Plus to know that I'm the second owner makes me even happier.

[Strykr]

Well I replaced the thermostat, forgot to change the rad cap though and it overheated 10km down the road. The previous owner used a stop leak to try to fix the overheating issue and I have a feeling it may have screwed more than it helped. Have a good feeling it's a clog, waterpump or air leak/bubbles.

[Alphius]

It's a headgasket.

I've seen so many of these cars where somebody wastes a bunch of time and money replacing a bunch of cooling system parts just to eventually realize it needs a headgasket.
Based on the age of the vehicle, regardless of the low mileage, it's due for a HG change. Use only OEM gaskets from a Subaru dealer, they aren't that expensive and will last the longest.
Usually compression will be perfect, there won't be any leakdown and it will still be leaky headgaskets. A sure sign is if you get bubbles in the overflow tank when the engine is running, but even no bubbles doesn't rule out the headgaskets. I've even seen several EJ25Ds pass a coolant hydrocarbon test with flying colors and still have leaky headgaskets.

It's a headgasket.

You should post some pictures, even with the work needing to be done it sounds like a nice car for a really great price!

[Strykr]

Well I found the issue, off to the dealership after work to pick up the parts.

The issue is leaking water pipe o-rings, that's the only piece I didnt give any attention. I feel like an idiot because its clearly noticable the seal is gone and there's even a nice little pool of coolant sitting on the block. So tonight I will start pullling everything apart and hopefully have it all replaced before it gets dark out.

Still need to replace the cam seals, valve cover/plug tube gaskets and flush the transmission and rear diff.

** Pictures have been uploaded on first post **

[Strykr]

I'm currently in the process of pulling the intake manifold off to get to the crossover pipe, stuck at trying to remove the lower part of the EGR tube so that i can pull the manifold off. Also managed to properly wire up Powermode using a TCU pin and a rear defroster (pulled from a wrecked car to use for Powermode) I still need to make a custom logo for the switch to look factory.

[foohfooh]

Rad car. Methinks you scored bigtyme for 500. Curious to see where this goes! Also make a member's ride threaD!

[Strykr]

Thanks! I definitely feel like this was the best deal of my life, currently the plan is to fix all the cosmetic issues so that the base platform will be good to work with. I'm currently saving to rebuild my Genesis Coupe's motor after a body shop in town blew my motor. But after that is done, the game plan is to have a fun daily that looks stock but will be plenty fast to surprise most cars.

Although it will be a little less sleeper looking with the hood scoop for the Gt model lol

[Strykr]

So I just changed the orings for the crossover tube, they fit a little too big but yet I got oem rings. Has anyone else noticed that? Im kind of worried they wont seal properly as they were circular and not flat like the ones in there plus they also stuck out and I had to push them into the slot a little bit. I understand theres a chance they may have expanded from sitting and temp, but I feel like they aren't the right ones even though I got them from the dealership eith matching numbers to the parts catalogue.

[Alphius]

That's how they are. You got the right ones. The squareness of the old ones is from being compressed and heat cycled over and over. New ones always feel a little too big.

[Strykr]

Thanks! That's what I had thought so I started putting everything back together, I just wanted someone to confirm that it wasnt a mess up just incase:)

Hopefully I'll have her back up within an hour or so

Update: Finished putting everything back together, bled the system and fans never turned on after 30+min of bleeding. After I felt like it was close enough I went down the road about 2km to get a coffee, on the way back I heard the fans kick on. Letting the car cool down before I top it off more.

Not sure why but everytime ive bled the car the fans never cycle, im not sure why ive yet to see them turn on when bleeding but I know thats not normal. Im wondering if something is wrong in the fan circuit and thats why it overheats? :s

[Merc6]

How is the radiator after the use of stop leak products?

[Strykr]

I'm not sure internally but externally its good. Now that you mention it I definitely should take a look at flushing it out at the very least with something strong because theres a good chance that it could be part of the issue.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate "maintenance in a can"? Lol

[Merc6]

Yeah was never a fan of additives outside of the Subaru coolant ones.


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[LeggoMyLeggy]

I had this same model and color GT. I have long sold it but miss it a lot. Every so often I think about it. Running a Hawkeye now but would love to get back to a leggy in the future.

[Strykr]

Definitely love this car so far!:) but if I were to get another subaru it would either be a 2nd gen sedan or a 4th gen.

So I think I'll be changing the headgaskets, flushing helped a lot but still didnt fix the issue. So now everything easy has been covered and now I'll just change the headgaskets and everything else I can while I have the motor stripped down.

Trying to decide if im pulling the whole motor out of the car or just the heads.

[Alphius]

On a DOHC, it's much easier to pull the whole engine. I'm well equipped tool/garage wise for that though, so my viewpoint may be skewed. It takes me about 45 minutes to pull an engine usually.

[Strykr]

I have a shop but only after 6pm daily so makes it a pain after a long day to want to start pulling a motor. But if it is that easy on this car than it might not be an issue