My 97 2.5 Legacy collapsed the top radiator hose and switched to three cylinder running.Swapped rad cap and have located cylinder not running. Has a spark going to bad cylinder and will be changing plug tomorrow.If old plug sparking, sounds bad!
Someone currently selling a similar car on ebay with similar symptoms saying thinks head gasket gone.
Is he likely to be right?

 

Quite possible the 2 faults you have are linked to head gasket issues - when you take the plugs out, crank the engine over on the key and see if there is any coolant coming out of the plug holes.
If you have a compression tester, do a comp test.

Mick

 

Yes thats a good suggestion , thanks. Other things related are gurgling sound under load particularly and heavy oil consumption but no blue smoke, Secretly hoping its oiled a plug

 

Fingers crossed for an oiled up plug then.
Gurgling/sloshing sound points to an air lock in the cooling system, so worth bleeding the system to see if it improves.
Heavy oil consumption can be a number of things but a common one would be the oil control rings stuck/tarnished up in the ring lands of the piston.

 

Thanks for your help-will see what happens, If bad news will probably weigh the car in.