Fearing the worst...
 

I recently bought a MY96 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

I put it through a full service last weekend at my local garage and they said there was nothing major wrong with the car although I could do with new front discs and 2 new tyres as they were getting close to the limit etc etc but all in all it was good to go.

I took the car out today, did around 100 miles mostly taking it easy but occasionally putting the foot down. Never even went above 90 mph. As soon as I pulled into my drive I noticed huge clouds of white smoke coming from the exhaust.

I immediately thought the head gasket has blown but I'm not sure how to tell. The car still drives although it was suffering a loss of power/misfiring for the last half mile.

Does anyone know how to tell what is wrong with it as I don't want to risk further damage by driving it again and what is the best/worst case scenario.

Thanks in advance

Check the coolant level in your header tank. If your loosing coolant it could be the headgasket, it could also be a fecked turbo though.

Cheers for the quick response. I'll check it out tomorrow. Any idea what the damage is if I need a new head gasket?

not much change out of a grand if any, did they change the coolant on the service?

you can get it done for less than a grand, i seem to remember someone saying about 600

was the car overheating at all?

They didn't change the coolant at the service. The car wasn't overheating, the temperature gauge was normal.
I called the garage but there was no answer so I had a quick look at the engine and there was no water in the radiator. I looked under the oil filler cap and there was no sign of any white residue which I'm told you need to look for if its gasket related. It took a few seconds to start and the exhaust emissions are higher than normal. Really not sounding healthy especially after a full service.
Oh and it's my birthday today haha

Hope you haven't cooked it.....

No water in the radiator and the gauge didn't show an overheathing engine?

The car is being diagnosed just now, should find out this afternoon what's wrong with it. Don't recall the temperature gauge showing an overheating engine last night, maybe the gauge was fecked too.
If its the head gasket, the garage reckon it could be £1500 based on the last one they did but might be cheaper cause my car is older than the last one

Dont get some Mickey Mouse back street garage do the work for you mate, make sure it's a specialist or this could come back and bite you in the ar$e again!

Cheers for the advice.
The garage that are diagnosing it are a respectable business who I've used for years but you're right I should be looking at specialists. Does anyone know any in the Dunfermline/Edinburgh area? I know AWD in Perth specialise in Subarus

The garage just called, its def the head gasket!!

I spoke to Steve Whitson who is highly recommended on this forum. He has quoted £700-750 to repair it.
If anyone else is experiencing similar problems, call Steve on 07956 119 962

Get it into SW, your car is safe with him ;)

I may be out of touch, but - assuming it's just a head gasket replacement - isn't it pretty simple and cheap?

How much is a head gasket itself? And the other gaskets? About £125'ish?
It's not an engine out job - is it? As that would explain it a bit ..... but upwards of £700? :eek:

Good luck anyway!

Its the fact you have 2 facing heads pete, so gaskets, skim on each head etc, so yes, 700 quid is average for this :)

Tony:)

Good luck trying to do it with the engine in Pete :)

Steve quote was based on about 15-16 hours labour (£450) 2 new gaskets (£130), skim on each head (£94) possibly a gasket for the inlet manifold (£7-8) and exhaust gaskets (£10-20) plus replacing the antifreeze. So total was £750 max.
He sounds like a decent bloke and I'm pretty sure this is a good price.

And he says he needs to strip the motor out hence why its 2 days work and not a quick fix, as much as I'd like it to be!

You will struggle to find anybody as good as Steve to do the job for a similar price ;)

I called the garage I bought it from and told them the problem and they have offered to have a look at it. They didn't even hesitate which I suppose is a good thing. Finally some positive news for today!

how about more positive news get a trailer take it to montrose u supply parts and it will be done in a day for half the price good mate of mine sorts all our local subarus and nos plenty about them and anything else for that matter hes just not long put a saph cossie engine into a mark 1 xr2 bloody rapido at 389 ragging ponies

I'll wait and see what Evolution say but cheers mate