ive not had the car for very long, driven it a handful of times and last night when out for dinner, the car decided to blow hot and cold air through the heater.
When i arrived home onto the drive the temp was just over half which is odd as it never went over half way.
I left it to cool, and this morning i checked the expansion tank to find it bone dry!!!
So filled it up and bled the system, for atelast 15/20 mins.
Took the car out, fine on and off boost. No missfiring etc, no smoke but can smell antifreeze when i open the bonnet.

Again left to cool and checked resivoir again,
now have a film of white foamy crap in the tank,
i did top up with tap water not de-ionised so not sure what to make of it tbh.
Im thinking everything is pointing towards head gasket but need other symptoms to confirm......

any help guys??

dave

oh its a 1996 v2 sti jdm

 

a non-expert reply.....!

head gasket gone

 

mmmmmmmmmmm
maybe will do compression test again over xmas, last one i did cazme back perfect!!!!
any idea on approx fix for garage to do this??

 

Does sound like head gasket, a compression test won't always find a head gasket, depends where its gone on the gasket

 

So what's next on my list to 100% confirm head gasket?
Any idea on approx cost to get these done?
Gutted tbh, had te car 2 maybe 3 months driven it literally few hundred miles as its weekend car!!

 

sniff test will confirm 100% if HG or NOT

 

As above

Could get a sniff test done, that may well help determine if it is or not

Head gasket isn't cheap on an Impreza, engine out job, also I'd always get the heads checked/skimmed before putting them back on.
Mate of mine runs Surrey Subaru Specialists in Camberley, he's away at the mo but the other bloke is still there working, can find out when they are open if needed

 

The white filmy stuff is almost certainly an oil water mix, so h/g would be my guess too.

DO NOT drive it if it's gone.

IF it's gone, and you are getting it repaired, engine is out so...
check clutch and renew if necessary and...
have block split and bearings replaced, they have a nast habit of going just AFTER h/g repair.

Refilling: please don't fall into the trap. There is NO KNOWN way of properly bleeding the coolant system. the only way to do it is to fill SLOWLY and avoid airlocking it. A search on here will bring up a how to.

 

Rebuild time, IMO.

Only change the head gaskets and wait for it to knock the bottom end out.

 

Are you serious Micky? And pay twice for engine out?

Or were you warning him?

 

The bottom end doesn't always go after a HG failure. Depends when you catch it, amongst other sorcery...

 

Cheers guys, was thinking refresh whilst out anyway tbh, I did read though filmy white foam could sometimes be the tap water mixing with anti-freeze?
Is there a DIY sniff test I can buy?
Just gotta weigh up if its worth keeping or not tbh!! Gutted as I have literally driven it a handful of times
Chrispy if you could forward contact details of your mates garage in camberley that would be much appreciated, get an idea of total cost then go from there I guess.

Thing is how far do I go with this... Car was written off in 2009 anyway is it worth repairing?
And if I do, what's worth spending the money on to keep reliable for 350/400 hp??

It will def need clutch also, then thinking may aswell throw in flywheel etc, just don't want to fall into the trap and dig myself this huge hole lol

 

First off don`t rush into it get as much info a possible, Ask the likes of enginetuner and scoobyclinic for advice it will save you money and time in the long run

 

On the positive side, it could be an airlock and if you drive the car over short distances it has been known for emulsification to appear in the filler neck. Did the 'mayo' just appear or have you not really looked under the filler cap before?
Sniff test and good advice from a reputable builder like the ones listed above.

 

There's no mayo anywhere, all I have is a white foam in expansion bottle, I'm not entirely convinced it is headgasket yet tbh, as the car runs perfectly.
The foam (not a lot of it perhaps fingertip full) only appeared after I topped the resivoir up with tap water (all I had at the time)
I'm going to use the car a bit today, last time I took it out no overheating no running issues and fan cuts in as it should.
I just can't work out where I have lost the water!!!
Just need to borrow sniffer test or get one sorted to finalise the problem.
The car didn't over heat as such either, just went 3/4 way up before I switched it off

Mmmmmmm
Just not entirely convinced yet,

 

A warning, Jeff. Lost count of the number of times I've heard of older classics knock the bottom ends out after a head gasket swap.

I know neither Alyn @ ASP, nor David @ API will advise only doing the gaskets.

 

Right. I thought it was a bit odd for another old hand to be saying the exact opposite of me, but I had had a few by then.

 

Any reason why they tend to knock shortly after hg swap??

 

Check the top and bottom rad hoses, see if there is any residue on either end of both, I lost a little coolant this way, caused the heating to be intermittent.

 

Update:
Managed to borrow a sniff tester from fellow scooby owner (cheers dan legend)
It initially didn't change colour,
Got it hot and unfortunately turned green almost instantly
Just got to weigh up what to do now unfortunately.

I'm after a good reputable company to sort the headgasket a out etc local to me in Surrey
Farnham
So any ideas??
Failing that I sell the car on and cut my losses.
Had a go in a newage today, and very impressed!! So unsure wether to repair mine and carry on with my original plan, or fix and sell mine and buy a newage??

Any idea what a classic sti would fetch for spares as a whole??

 

There's my mate in Camberley that I'll send the number over for shortly, its not an overly cheap fix though, what's the spec of the car? My thoughts would be that if its already a car with accident history you may well be best breaking, other than this is the car good? If everything else is spot on it may be worth fixing as at least you'll know it'll be sorted. Difficult one really

 

Or get the engine out and get it somewhere like API, (Near Cheltenham)

 

The big ends don't always go when you simply replace the head gaskets. But no proper re-builder will allow you to do just the gaskets without the precise warning that they might blow and will not be held responsible if they do. So whilst it is out, the smart money is just to freshen up the crank bearings and possibly the piston rings. There is an extra cost, sure, but it won't be anything like as much as doing it all over again INCLUDING more head gaskets if the prediction proves to be accurate.

It is likely that the car will need a new clutch too once it is out and staring you in the face.

Doing the work at APi [ with a warranty ] is going to cost something like:

£750.00 + VAT [ £900.00 inc ] for just head gaskets and all labour.
£1200.00 + VAT [ £1440.00 inc ] for head gaskets and crank bearings and all gaskets & labour.

Options then are pistons rings at extra cost of @ £165.00 + VAT [ £188.00 inc ] No extra labour cost on the above.

Then clutch; with options for one worth fitting from £195.00 + VAT [ £239.00 inc ]

There is no long lasting cheap fix and your decision is whether to spend that much on a car worth a similar amount to the cost of the repair.

APi is closed until January 2nd - if you want to hold off deciding what to do until after you can talk to us on the phone, we'd be happy to advise.

Good luck, forget about the car and have a good Xmas, David APi
01926 614333

 

hi david, appreciate your advice and approx costings,
can you explain why the headgasket going has an effect on the bearings after the repair has been carried out??
or is it just down to the fact that these engines are getting pretty tired now, and it just seems to be a trend that this happens?
Its a tough choice as i genuinly enjoy the car, just a shame its going to cost in excess of 1500 pounds just to get the car rolling again.

as for just a general refresh of the engine as in gaskets, rings, etc would you recomend oil pump etc also as matter of course??

Ill sit on this over xmas, im a little reluctant to spend basically what i paid for the car, but at the same time, once its done its done and as long as i look after it regularly with servicing etc, it should last a good while.

crispy, could you pm me details for camberley matey, will have to do some shopping around, get some feelers out and see what i shall do next

 

Simple; Oil contamination

Bearings prefer to run on clean oil, not a oil+water mix. The water contamination can cause a number of issues, the main ones being Corrosion (water/antifreeze etches the bearing and journal surfaces) and Oil starvation from the oil being degraded by the water intermixed with it causing increased wear.

Also if the engine has been overheating (ignore the temp guage - if its air locked it doesn't work properly), that "can" cause further issues. In addition piston ring /cylinder damage can occur leading to excessive oil consumption after the gaskets are replaced. Excessive oil consumption is usually another common complaint after a HG repair. Hence the need for new piston rings.

 

Munnsy, you not on SurreyScoobies??

You have SurreyScoobySpecialists, TFS Racing and Greenwood Racing Developments local to you.

 

Yes mate, havnt been on for a while though,
Have emailed all of the above buddy so thanks for that
Really don't know what to do,
Is it worth upgrading bottom end at this stage or getting later model block??
Change rods for later model etc etc

 

If it were me, I'd go with David O'Brien's advice all day long. He is one of the most honest people I know.