My 2007 Outback 134K miles (2.5 SOHC manual) had dead cylinder with dropped valve guides. So it was either donate or try to fix myself. Everything went pretty smoothly more or less. Had heads machined, valves cleaned up and new valve guides installed. Bought Fel-Pro MLS Gaskets. After putting all back together, the engine runs nicely but coolant is leaking out of drivers side around the exhaust manifold gasket. Pretty clear that there must be an interior leak of coolant into the cylinder. This has been a big undertaking and I'm very discouraged. Spoke to Fel-Pro tech support and the guy said the surfaces need to look like glass for MLS gaskets. It may be that I didn't clean the block side well enough. (Also saw something about not using scotch-brite pads which I did). He also said I will need to purchase another set of head bolts as once the bolts are stretched, they're done. Seems I've heard lots of people reusing bolts but OK. Any advise here would be much appreciated. I assume I need to pull the head and see whats up. It's possible I damaged the gasket as it's not easy putting the heads back on with the engine in the car. I'll check the block surface for flatness which I didn't do either. Just cleaned it with lacquer thinner and yes, scotch-brite pad.
Thanks for any thoughts/advice you might have!
Thanks for any thoughts/advice you might have!