Subaru woes

OK, so I bought a used WRX from a friend, intending to drive it a while then turn it into the new Factory Five creation.

Long, sad story short, I've now overheated it and white clouds of smoke suggest head gasket failure.

Rather than wading through all the drivel on the multiple WRX forums, can you all distill for me (cooling pun intended) advice on what to do?

What are the chances of fixing this right without rebuilding the engine?

Is the "right" solution to just find a rebuilt motor? (where?)

Completely frustrated!

You could have, hopefully, just blown a head gasket, and no need to rebuild the motor. Or, you could have just slightly warped a head, and need to have it shaved or replaced, or, (getting worse as we go), you fried the block a bit and the block needs to be decked flat. OR, you fried the engine good, threw out all the tolerances, and you have a lump that needs to be replaced. (How long did it run hot?)

So, let's look at the options. Do you need to drive this vehicle now? If you have time, pop off the heads, check for flatness, gasket deterioration/destruction, and take it from there. If you need to drive it now, time to shop for a junk yard engine, or get a rebuilt rebuilt long block and plug it in.

The right solution is time and money dependant. Also, were you going to modify the engine for the forthcoming FF kit? If so, you're simply replacing/beefing up internals you were going to do at some point anyway..

In the meantime, do a compression check to get an idea before you take your next step. The readings will give you an idea to go. Also, is there water in the oil? Yoo-hoo looking oil and white foam under the oil filller cap? Calm down, take a good look at it, do the tests, and take it from there. Others will chime in on where to get a competently rebuilt engine, if you don't want to do it yourself. Have fun.

I've seen them overheated to the point of smoke billowing out of the engine compartment they got so hot. Head gaskets changed, everything fine. Personally, that's what I'd do..

How long have you had it?

What were you doing to overheat it?

When you do the HG's I'll assume that you'll have them resurfaced. At my local machine shop it's only $30/set to have them pressure tested for cracks. Money well spent if you overheated it.

Go with the Comtec head gaskets. In a pinch I've used the Fel-Pro Perma Torque (they're multi layered HG's now).

The compression test is the first order of business.

Long version of story:

I knew the car was weeping a little coolant, it just needed a top-off every couple of weeks according to my friend. I then drove it five hours from MD to CT. And didn't think to check the coolant level. (mistake #1)

When I took the car for inspection, they noticed the leaking coolant, I wrote it off as just the weeping. I didn't think to check the coolant level. (mistake #2)

Driving it back from inspection, I notice a CEL, then notice the temp is pegged. Could I have missed the high temp earlier? Possible. Can't say for sure how long the temp was high before the CEL knocked sense into me. Drove it across the intersection, parked it.

The lower radiator hose had popped off, as I discovered when I tried adding water to it. Bad clamp. Filled with distilled, nursed it home, temp never budged above normal, but on getting home the hose was off again.

Reattached hose, filled, test drove, got a couple of blips towards hot, but nothing major. Hose held fine.

Drove to shop, hose popped off early, but again, no temp gauge movement. Replaced hose and drove the rest of the way to shop without radiator cap on, the hose stayed attached. Temp crept up at the end of the run, but I shut it down fast, never got above 3/4.

No clouds of white smoke, ever, to this point. I was running straight distilled from the moment it dropped the hose the first time. No water in oil. No oil in coolant.

I replaced the thermostat, thinking it might have stuck, burped the system, added coolant/water mix, changed the oil, and warmed it up. 100% normal, maybe some odd idle sounds, but I haven't had the flat-four long enough to know what is odd. After warming up for a while, exhaust started steaming a bit, I thought it was just because it was cold and damp out. Drove it a few hundred feet for a test and the temp starting climbing and the smoke became billowy and white. Shut it down and it wouldn't restart when I went to move it a couple hours later.

I bought this donor because my friend owned it from new and has always been a responsible fellow. I liked the idea of knowing the guts had been treated with respect. I want that "certainty" back again.

If I just pull the heads and check for warpage (and pressure test), how can I be sure I didn't screw up the rest of the engine?

What am I looking for in this compression test?

If anyone can chime in with great sources for rebuilt engines, I'd like to have that list for reference.

Never heard of the lower hose popping off (several times?). I've had a leaky lower hose too and you really have to snug that SOB. My N/A EJ25 motors usually have 170 psi across all 4 cylinders. Not sure on the turbo motors.

I've royally overheated several EJ25 motors and all they needed was head resurface and HG's.

Last time I checked, new short blocks from the dealer don't cost much more than rebuilt ones. In fact they were only about $600 more so I'd go that route. Several on-line OEM Subaru sites (Subaru dealers) had really good prices which my local dealer was happy to match and not charge me shipping.

The only decent rebuild place around me is www.subieguys.com.

I think what happened with the lower hose is that it was the weak link in the system. Cooling system pressure popped that off instead of pushing into cylinder. Once I tightened that berkeleyer down, it couldn't escape out that way so it went into the cylinder...

That's one lame theory though.

If I go short block, I have to assume that my heads are good. As you said, I can get them pressure tested when I get them machined. And new seals for everything. Anything else that would get damaged on the head due to overheating?