Hello Good Peoples,
I have a 2005 Subaru Outback Xt Limited Wagon (2.5L Turbo Automatic). It has 176,000 miles and like all other Subarus, it also has a head gasket leak. I have made the combustion leak detector test and it generates green color.
As I do not have sufficient money to repair this, I was thinking to try with a sealer. However, I am not sure what will be the best seal for my car.
In Scotty's video, we have seen two different sealers: Steal Seal and Bar's Leaks Head Gasket. Which one would be the most suitable one for my Subaru?
Also, I am not sure how should I apply this. Scotty showed two different ways to fix this:
1) With radiator fluid: Where Scotty mixed it into the radiator fluid.
2) Inside engine ignition system: Where Scotty removed a spark plug and placed it into it.
Probably you all know Subaru engines spark plugs are placed at a different position (two sides of the engine) than the Toyota cars shown in the videos. Therefore, I want to know an expert opinion about the most optimum approach for my car.
Please also let me know if someone have bad experiences with using these sealers.
Thanks all in advance.
2) Inside engine ignition system: Where Scotty removed a spark plug and placed it into it.
Scotty does not place sealer in the spark plug hole at any point in the video.
Yes. It's my bad. I misunderstood.
However, which approach do you think will be feasible?
Follow the instructions that come with it, it goes in the cooling system, NOT the spark plug holes.
Thanks for your suggestions Chuck.
Most recently Scotty has been recommending the Bar's Leak sealer. Best way to use is it to follow the manufacturer's instructions precisely. It's not really a repair but a temporary band-aid to attempt getting a little more life out of the engine. There's a chance it could plug up your radiator or heater core. It's going to be a crap shoot no matter how you cut it but if it's try the sealer or off to the junkyard there's nothing to lose but the cost of the sealer itself.
BTW, the head gasket problem with Subarus was fixed about 10 years ago when the engine was redesigned for timing chains instead of belts. Today the CVT is the car's weak point. Also their turbo and 6-cylinder engines used a different gasket design that was not prone to leaking.
Alright. Then my turbo engine is an exception and I have bad luck definitely.
Btw, is there anything else that causes that fluid green instead of head gasket leak?
No, you have a head gasket leak. From all I've read Subaru did not use the problematical head gasket design in their turbocharged engines but they can still blow like any other car. (If you read through the board you'll see other makes of cars with blown head gaskets even though they may not be particularly known for that.) It can be due to overheating, coolant not maintained, or other reasons.
Thanks for your comment. I have learned a lot from your comments in the last couple of days.
Glad if I've been able to help a bit, all the folks that are active here try to help out as much as possible and it helps to have different perspectives on a problem.
As I recall from your original post the stealership quoted you nearly $8000 to repair this. I can't imagine the amount of gall it takes to give an estimate like that to someone with a 17-year-old car and do it with a straight face.
As Chuck said, all sealers are a temporary fix at best. The only correct way to fix the problem is a new head gasket.
The best way to use a headgasket sealant is by making sure that sealant doesn't get anywhere that can clog up and cost you a lot of extra money and headache. Two places it can enter into and clog and one is way more expensive than the other: 1) Thermostat and 2) heater core. So ideally, you 1) remove the thermostat housing, remove the thermostat, put it back together without a thermostat. 2) Find inlet and outlet hoses running into firewall for your heater core. Get the kit based on your hose diameter size to do a heater core bypass, pulling the hoses off the firewall and splicing them together.