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Advice Wanted (Head Gasket)


Akers_183
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Hi Guys!

Thought id introduce myself.
Sheffield lad, and ive recently just bought my first Impreza after probably the worst year of my life (Was supposed to be a nice treat after nearly dying lol)

2007 Impreza WRX Wagon 2.5

Sporting a VF34 turbo, STI Topmount, 560cc Injectors, Walbro Fuel Pump, Exedy Pink Clutch, ECUTek & Map.  Polybushed w/ BC Coilovers, Japspeed Exhaust & Decat. (Supposed 350hp).

As soon as i got the car home; within 2 miles of home, the car overheated. Engine killed immediately & towed home.

Replaced thermostat as it was showing the usual thermostat failure symptoms.
Replaced top rad hose as a leak had then occured on the test drive after replacing stat (I know; you couldn't write it).

After dragging the car home, replacing rad hose, filling up coolant system & burping, the car overheated again. Once i recovered the car i performed a Sniff test on the radiator. Test came back within minutes that there was exhaust gases in the coolant 😞

I paid nearly £4K for the car, 82k miles (Extensive service history with water pump & cambelt at 60K). Generally speaking its a very clean example.

My question is; is this the reason the previous owner was selling it in the first place?

I am weighing up my options & would love some input.

I heard i need to rebuild the whole engine rather than just doing the gaskets? ScoobyClinic Quoted a minimum of £2.5k to do this.

Is the car worth it?

I am also considering pulling the engine out myself, ive removed plenty of engines & done head gaskets on a few previous cars. Could i get away with stripping the heads off, replacing the gaskets & having the heads skimmed?

Any input will be greatly appreciated, i would love to hear your experiences in this situation, what you did & how it all went carrying out the work yourself.

I would also like to add im an Electrical Maintenance Engineer & have always performed my own vehicle work (Inc engine swaps). I guess im just wanting to know if the cars worth it lol!

Few added photos of it (someone may know it)!

 

Cheers

Nick

 

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I wouldn't just do the hedagaskets, bear in mind clinic have done hundreds if not thousands of them over the years. Friend of mine was told o no just do the HG by a highly respected tuner, less than 1000 miles later it dropped the crank and they paid out a few days before the court case.

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22 hours ago, Tidgy said:

I wouldn't just do the hedagaskets, bear in mind clinic have done hundreds if not thousands of them over the years. Friend of mine was told o no just do the HG by a highly respected tuner, less than 1000 miles later it dropped the crank and they paid out a few days before the court case.

I’ve heard about this, they seem to love dropping the bottom end after HG Failure.

i think I have no other option. Just weighing up how far to go (Forged or Standard) and whether to rebuild this engine or get hold of a 2nd hand forged lump...

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they tend to pinch the crank bearings, which is whatr fails rather thant he crank itself.

If your planing to keep the car and thinking of tuning it then may as well do the rods and pistons while your there, also maybe look at closed decking it as its not mega money i the grand cost of a build.

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Awesome!

Think I’m gonna take the forged route.

I would swap Swap the engine out myself but recovering from an operation at the mo.

thinking of taking it to my local Subaru specialist for the work.

Can anyone recommend any other Subaru engine builders localish to Sheffield? Don’t mind travelling for a good builder!

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