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Self- Punishment aka Doing the headgaskets on my 2001 H6

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  quazar 
#1 ·
Earlier this Spring, I decided to get back into the 2G Outback family by purchasing a 2001 LL Bean.

Listed on craigslist at $1900, it was several thousand cheaper than any other LL Bean. I had looked at many and under the pretense that not that many H6's have headgasket issues; my buddy and I drove 2 hours north to N. Carolina to check this car out.

Upon the test drive the car seemed fine so I told the seller that I wanted to let it idle for 15-20 minutes before I made my decision.

After about 10 minutes of idling, I noticed that the temp gauge was at 3/4 and turned the car off to check the coolant.

Seeing that the radiator hoses and the radiator were new, I added some about 3/4 gallon of water to the car and saw small bubbles coming out of the radiator intermittently as the car was running.

Possible bad headgasket! I explained that to the seller and he then said to make an offer.
Against my best judgement, I made a stupid low offer and drove the car 2 hours home with no issues.

I continued to drive the car and added coolant every other day.. enough was enough. I called a the dealer and a few shops to get estimates. $4500 on the high side... $2800 on the low side.

Most recommended I get a junkyard motor and swap it in. I decided against that and figured I could do the headgasket job on my own and save a bunch of money.

Little did I know!!


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#2 ·
I work as a manager at an automotive shop and decided to do the headgasket job after hours. Reading all the threads on here about H6 headgaskets.. I knew it was going to be a helluva job.

After about 2 hours of work... the car was at this state.




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#3 ·
A couple evenings later, my buddy and I had the motor torn down to the short block.



The car has 170k on it and the cylinders looked amazing... some carbon on the pistons but the cylinder walls still had cross-hatching.




This week, I sent the heads off to the machine shop to get decked to ensure a good surface. Since the cams had to be removed... it was not much work to removed the buckets. Total cost was $60 to machine both heads.




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#4 ·
Today.. all my parts came in from the dealer (gasket set, hoses, vacuum lines, and head bolts $7.38/ea). $145 total.
The gasket set was the Victor Reinz kit and it cost about $200.
NGK Platinum Laser spark plugs are kinda expensive. Haha.

This evening, we spent several hours reassembling the motor and tomorrow we will install the timing chains and front timing cover.

This is it's current state:




Stat tuned for more updates as we get the motor back together and into the car.


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#5 ·
Good job so far.
 
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#7 ·
Savage.

I saw the "2 hours to get the motor out" bit and was thinking "lol yep now the real fun begins".

$60 to resurface 2 heads is hella cheap. . . brother in law discount?
 
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#8 ·
Haha no brother in law discount on the heads. The machine shop said $60/ea if the head was complete or $30/ea if the heads were stripped down to the valves, springs, and retainers. I chose the $30/ea route since the cams were already out and I just had to remove the buckets.

Okie Dokie... Update:

The car is running and driving again.. headgasket issues have been fixed. No more bubbling coolant!!

Also the new spark plugs have made the car drive totally different. Much more responsive. I've put about 200 miles on it in the past two days.

Only issue is that I have a slight oil leak on the front timing cover. Going to pull the serpentine belt off tomorrow and possibly the crank pulley to see if it is coming from the front main seal. It's possible that the seal I put in may be defective or somehow I did not get enough sealant on the front timing cover when I put it back together.

Here's a quick snap of the whole motor back together and ready to go into the car.



So in conclusion... would I do this job again?

Probably would if it were my own car but it was not an enjoyable job by any means. I think the next go around I will buy a SOHC 2.2 or 2.5 that needs an HG. Haha.

I have ordered new shocks, King Springs, and Anderson Fab lift spacers to celebrate.




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#9 ·
Ok.. took the radiator out and the crank pulley off. The front main seal was defective and was leaking. Oil leak resolved!

Since the radiator was out and the transmission lines were loose. I added a transmission cooler to help keep the temps in check.



Effective way of bleeding the cooling system if you have access to a lift.




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