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Gday folks,
Any suggestions on what issues are at play here. My 2001 H6 Outback is loosing water. Not coming from exhaust, not going into sump, not a leaky heater, not a leaky radiator, no sign of it anywhere but we are talking about big amounts and its getting hot at times. Done a serious pressure test and checked exhaust ports which show mo signs of leaks. Any ideas please?

G'day
Don't really wanna ruin your day, but from my experiences it sounds like it has done a head gasket. Would be leaking compression straight to a water jacket. I have chased these symptoms before hoping it was something else & when I bit the bullet & removed the head I could see the problem straight away. No tell tale signs just like you are describing too.
I hope I am wrong, just telling what happened to me.

Cheers Jake

Rodeo4jake wrote:G'day
Don't really wanna ruin your day, but from my experiences it sounds like it has done a head gasket. Would be leaking compression straight to a water jacket. I have chased these symptoms before hoping it was something else & when I bit the bullet & removed the head I could see the problem straight away. No tell tale signs just like you are describing too.
I hope I am wrong, just telling what happened to me.

Cheers Jake

Sadly thats what I suspect. Now to find someone competent and reasonably priced to do the work. Its way beyond me. I have had a recommendation of some blokes in Bayswater Victoria. Open to suggestions

If you are using coolant not just water, one way to check is if the exhaust fumes have a 'sweet' smell. Also your oil will possibly be a little milky.

Who in bayswater? Have just recently done a head gasket on my h6 and got the heads prepared by augers. They did a pretty outstanding job. You will save yourself a lot of money however if you do the bulk of the work yourself. I can lend you the bits of the manual if you are local.

check all around the engine to ensure no leaks when hot. check spark plugs the leaky cylinders will often have different wear in the plugs. with engine running hold a bundled rag over the exhaust for a couple of minutes, it will often feel damp so you know water is coming out. it may not be enough to white smoke yet.

Remove that beautiful little device that hides a few leaks while the warranty runs out - the drip tray underneath - should help see things in a different light. EJ's love leaking water from head gasket and down - dealers do quite a few EJ HGs to resolve this problem, can only think the H6 is similar

Hi stanvl,
I am having exactly the same problem with my EJ22 in a 92 lib. I have just done the timing belt and waterpump because that was the initial culprit. it seemed fine for 350km, and then started using water again. It must be going out the head gasket in small enough amounts to sneak out the exhaust as vapour which you cant see once its warmed up. I had a VL commodore that did this and it was blatantly obvious as i had the murray river flowing out the exhaust. unfortunately i think its going to be an engine swap and try and diagnose mine out of the car. (picked up another ej22 for 200bucks only 280k on it. seemed a good motor.)
Was also thinking about running some chemiweld or similar through it, not too sure how good that stuff is for the engine and cooling system.
also, Does anyone have sound advice on putting in an ej25? will it bolt straight in if i overlay the wiring harness? the drivetrain should handle it i assume.
cheers.

Probably has been happening long enough to wear plugs as it has the platinum plugs that are supposed to last a million years.

Have a look at here. Lots of queries and replies but worth sifting through.

The originator seems to know what he's on about, does these jobs himself and he's independent. Images are near the top and most post-96 or so engines are covered one way or another and I assume they are similar worldwide.

hydrowill wrote:Who in bayswater? Have just recently done a head gasket on my h6 and got the heads prepared by augers. They did a pretty outstanding job. You will save yourself a lot of money however if you do the bulk of the work yourself. I can lend you the bits of the manual if you are local.

Im in Mt Evelyn. I'm just not sure how much to attempt myself although my son is more capable but may be a bit busy. Apparently the set up is a bit tricky. Does anyone want to guess what I may be up for to get the complete job done?

Subaru quoted me $2,500 for my EA81 (4cyl)
Not sure if this was legit or a piss off price.

Cheers Cam

Whats the update and what was wrong?
Cheers
AP