1st snow/slippery day here in Wi.& guess what my SUS doe

[Bluto]

Well, today was a great day :roll: I just filled up my tank (under $2 a gal-getting 26mpg-life is good,right?) Im at the bank drive thru & car starts running real bad-im in park. Next, eng. lt. comes on, car will barely run,zero power-this is great. I have a 10min drive to get home & decide to limp it home. Its 29degrees out, I notice I have no heat, car is having a hell of a time getting going, 40mph is all shes got. Still no heat, and the temp gauge is climbing big time. No smoke-so Im thinking Ill luck out & have a bad T-stat. I make it home :neutral: pop the hood, and jump in a decent car & go get a new t-stat & gasket.
Up on ramps, swap t-stat :-( coolant smells funny. Refill- run,run,run, no heat,fans on steam like crazy out of bleeder,,, :shock: smoke, still no heat, very wet exh. pipe. F-in HEAD GASKET!

So Ive had this car for only 3 months and it pukes on me :-(

So what is the easiest way to go about this, engine out, eng&trans outl, pull from top or drop from bottom? Oh yeah, my little jem is a 99SUS Outback sedan-2.5auto.

And, should I get the gaskets from Napa or dealer?

Finally, which shop manual do you guys recomend?

[decke48]

you can be like me and do HG in car its a real tricky but save time. as for gasket go with dealer(latest version) and all new head bolts cams seal and valve cover gaskets. as far as manual they mostly are the same. dealers factory service manaul are the best but a hanes or chilton will do you good

[Huffer]

^^ what he said.

[99SUS SFD]

Sorry to hear that man. That's the exact car I have. How many miles do you have?

[Bluto]

Sorry to hear that man. That's the exact car I have. How many miles do you have?

only 104,xxx miles,,, previous-original female owner had everything done at the dealer too :-( This engine looks easy to pull-suprised that the heads can come off w/engine in. Car threw an IAC code too- I still cant locate that sensor :?:

[Perdue]

I'll disagree with doing it in the car. The subie engine is pretty damned easy to pull if you've got a engine hoist/crane thingy. We've pulled'em in 30 minutes with labelling everything (I always number the vacuum hoses and their outlets with tape so I know exactly where to put'em). Just gotta be careful with the AC and it's hard lines.

[decke48]

i wouldnt do it in car unless you know what your doing. so pulling the motor would be the best for most people

[Bluto]

I thought pulling the engine looked pretty easy. Whats faster-pull just motor or both motor/trans togather? Out the top? I have an auto.

[decke48]

pulling just the motor. the worst part on the auto is getting the TC/Flex plate bolts out