So I've posted here before about my heads under the account soobfan but I lost my information and can't seem to reset my password. ANYWAY, I thought I'd try some BlueDevil sealer and it didn't work. Backstory, I bought a 2002 LL Bean about 2 months ago for $2800 and everything ran fine, now the head gaskets are blown (confirmed with a block test). 183k miles, no wrecks.
Other issues: CEL code P0174 ("system running lean, bank 2" AKA air is getting into fuel) that I've been trying to diagnose, along with the RPMs sticking when I let go of the gas at speed. This one is weird, it idles fine once it's warmed up but when I'm on the highway the RPMs like to coast down at the same rate as my speed, including when I brake.
Other than that, the engine is old (obviously) and has it's fair share of normal wear and tear with rust all over but nothing that concerns me too much. I have a guy that will do the repair with me for $500, he's a former army mechanic but he said he's never done HGs on a subaru. The mechanics around here either refuse to do the repair or are asking over $2000 and there's no way I do that on this old engine. I've been driving with the heads blown for about 3 weeks now. It's overheated about 5 times that I've kicked myself in the ass for but in the past 2 weeks I have been topping it off with coolant every time I drive it and had the temp has stuck perfectly. I go through roughly a gallon of coolant every 160 miles. I don't think I'm losing oil any more than I did before the HG issue, I got my oil change 2500 miles ago and just this week reached the low mark. Seems that I have the external leak.
So what are your thoughts? Should I go with the repair? From what I've read, the parts of the repair (heads, water pump, timing chain, head bolts) plus the $500 labor will put me around $800 to $900. Pretty sweet deal I know, but again it's with a guy that hasn't ever done this. I don't know what to think of the other issues that are going on, and it would suck if I did the repair just to lose the engine to old age, the MAF problem, or damage from the overheating. What do you guys think?
PS, I'm a poor college student so the $900 is a big deal. Hopefully that won't be true 14 months from now when I graduate. I honestly don't need the car that badly, I bought it for this summer where I'm living in a new city for an internship. Obviously I want to make it last now that I have it, but if it can run 2 more years just topping it off with coolant that's an option I have to consider.
Other issues: CEL code P0174 ("system running lean, bank 2" AKA air is getting into fuel) that I've been trying to diagnose, along with the RPMs sticking when I let go of the gas at speed. This one is weird, it idles fine once it's warmed up but when I'm on the highway the RPMs like to coast down at the same rate as my speed, including when I brake.
Other than that, the engine is old (obviously) and has it's fair share of normal wear and tear with rust all over but nothing that concerns me too much. I have a guy that will do the repair with me for $500, he's a former army mechanic but he said he's never done HGs on a subaru. The mechanics around here either refuse to do the repair or are asking over $2000 and there's no way I do that on this old engine. I've been driving with the heads blown for about 3 weeks now. It's overheated about 5 times that I've kicked myself in the ass for but in the past 2 weeks I have been topping it off with coolant every time I drive it and had the temp has stuck perfectly. I go through roughly a gallon of coolant every 160 miles. I don't think I'm losing oil any more than I did before the HG issue, I got my oil change 2500 miles ago and just this week reached the low mark. Seems that I have the external leak.
So what are your thoughts? Should I go with the repair? From what I've read, the parts of the repair (heads, water pump, timing chain, head bolts) plus the $500 labor will put me around $800 to $900. Pretty sweet deal I know, but again it's with a guy that hasn't ever done this. I don't know what to think of the other issues that are going on, and it would suck if I did the repair just to lose the engine to old age, the MAF problem, or damage from the overheating. What do you guys think?
PS, I'm a poor college student so the $900 is a big deal. Hopefully that won't be true 14 months from now when I graduate. I honestly don't need the car that badly, I bought it for this summer where I'm living in a new city for an internship. Obviously I want to make it last now that I have it, but if it can run 2 more years just topping it off with coolant that's an option I have to consider.