[nipper]

Well since your going whole hog,

Replace the PCV valve.
Use Subaru head Gaskets only. Everything else you can get from other sources. Spark plug bucket seals should be from Subaru, as there is a huge difference between aftermarket and OE.

New Subaru Thermostat. the first thing you do after draining the cooling system is to flush the radiator This keeps all the old goo, coolant and who knows what else from becoming cement when exposed to air for several days.

The timing belt kit seems fine.

I would recomend a compression test first, both wet and dry. This will give us an idea of the health of the engine rings and valves on the other cylinders. From that we can gauge what would be best to do next.

I am a little nervous about doing a valve job or even a HG on an engine with this high a mileage. You may get some blow-by after all is said and done, so lets see where we are first.

 

[tmband25]

Thanks for the expert eye. I'll do the PCV valve and Thermostat, no need to be shy over another $20. I'll also make sure to get the (improved) OEM Head Gaskets, and probably round everything out with an appropriate Fel-Pro kit plus OEM spark plug well seals.

But first things first I'll run the compression test like you suggested, with crossed fingers and probably toes, and hopefully that will be no impediment.

For the ring health, the key here is the difference between wet and dry right? A vastly improved wet indicating that the rings are lame.

I'll report back (probably weekend time) with the compression test numbers! Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions.

 

[nipper]

Wet and dry shows ring wear. I am not concerned with balance as subarus tend to be fairly balanced in wear. The HG blows not cylinder to cylinder but cylinder to water jacket, so with three cylinders we should get a good feel for it.

 

[idosubaru]

I would do an EJ22 swap, they're plug and play, no different than removing/install the engine in the car. I wouldn't want to keep that unknown, overheated engine. They blow short blocks/bearings regularly - probably due to prior overheating episodes.

Buy an EJ22 for $300 and sell your Ej25 for $300 and you've got a more reliable engine for FREE. Cheaper timing belt kit too. I just did this for a friend a couple months ago - EJ22 was $350 and his EJ25 never overheated so it'll probably sell for $700 or so...he'll make money on his headgasket repair! Place I got mine from has a ton of 1996's right now, but no 95's.

The problem with that generation EJ25 is that you can not limp it home "I'll just pull over or refill the coolant"....doesn't work in that engine due to the failure mode and how it overheats randomly.

So they're often overheated to extraneous levels.

1995 Automatic EJ22:

Prices look steep out your way, but here's one for $600 in frederick:
1-800-288-6953
$450: 1-800-635-5330 (only 118,000 miles)

You can use 96-98 EJ22's as well if you get one with EGR and get the exhaust manifold with it.

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

 

[tmband25]

Hmmm an engine swap had a flavor to it that I was trying to avoid, but at this point keeping course won't really be saving myself any labor I suppose. The bigger concern for me is money, but certainly if my engine blows I'm not saving any of that either.

So I can mull this over as an option, in general do the EJ22's not need anything besides timing belt and friends? I haven't researched them much but they didn't share the head gasket issues with the EJ25 right? Obviously maintenance stuff would depend on the mileage and condition of the individual engine but what's the average you see?

Incidentally Frederick is actually where my family and best friend from high school live, so we could hop in his truck and knock the swap out in a weekend if we were super dedicated.

I guess I'll run the test this weekend and contemplate my options while waiting for my next paycheck.

 

[mikec]

+1 on putting in a 2.2 engine. You don't know if the 2.5 has been overheated. The 2.2 can have a HG leak into the coolant but its uncommen. I had one, for example. But I own two 2.2 subarus now, one with 195K and one with 210K and there arn't any problems.

 

[tmband25]

So it seems like the ej22 is where the safe money is, I'm definitely giving it serious thought and probably leaning towards it. I would be sad to take the horsepower hit though.

To update the plight of my current engine, I got everything needed for the compression test, then started having fun with the spark plugs. Once those were out I hemmed and hawed about whether I should disconnect the crank/cam shaft angle sensors or the fuel pump relay. By the time I decided to run back to my dorm and grab the service manual I'd forgotten, I had just enough twilight left to read the gauge. I pushed the pedal to WOT and go to crank the engine and... the battery was dead! As should have been expected really, at least by Murphy's law. So hopefully I'll have some time in a day or two to actually come back with the numbers I promised.

 

[tmband25]

Another update!

I walked my battery 3 blocks over to advanced auto and had it charged without issue. After getting back to the car I ran the dry compression test (there was no light left for wet, and also some cat rolled up and started meowing at me to hang out and wouldn't leave me alone). The tests were run on a cold engine, wide open throttle, consistent 5 cranks per cylinder

Also, as I understand it the cylinders are numbered like this:
Passenger side Closest to Front Bumper : 1
Driver side Closest to Bumper : 2
Passenger side Farthest : 3
Driver Side Farthest :4

Is that correct?

Dry Compression Test Results, Cold Engine:
Cylinder
1 => 197psi (pass side closest to bumper)
2 => 185psi (driver side closest)
3 => 200psi (pass side far)
4 => 188psi (driver side far)

3psi/1.5% difference on the passenger side cylinders
3psi/1.6% difference on the driver side cylinders
15psi/7.7% difference between highest and lowest psi cylinders
12psi/6.2% difference between passenger and driver side averages