Wednesday’s featured repair is Cylinder Head Gasket Replacement on a 1996 Subaru Outback.
Since the mid 1990s Subarus have become very reliable vehicles. One repair that you are almost guaranteed to have on any 4 cylinder boxer engined Subaru is head gasket replacement.
Symptoms of head gasket failure on Subarus usually involve external engine oil and/or coolant leaks. These leaks can often go for many kilometers as minor seeps before becoming severe enough to repair.
This 1996 Outback arrived at our shop overheating due to failed head gaskets. The coolant overflow bottle was filled with black engine oil, another sure sign of head gasket failure.
Outbacks have a 2.5 liter Dual overhead cam engine. This adds extra horsepower and performance but comes at a cost of a slightly more complex and expensive repair.
Because the Subaru is an opposed piston (boxer) engine it has 2 cylinder heads.
While this head gasket replacement is quite an expensive job to perform on a 17 year old car it is still very worthwhile as this vehicle has several good years of life remaining.
For more information about Subaru cars please view this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru
For more information on cylinder head gaskets click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_head_gasket
