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Hi Folks,

Have recently purchased a 00 Liberty RX 2.5 sedan with 198k on the clock. I have been investigating how difficult it would be for me to do the timing belt and waterpump for the 200k service (vehicle has solid regular service history recorded in the book). If any one has an electronic copy of the manual could you please PM me.

The car has been running perfectly but have had irregular and intermittent lighting of the check engine light. I have not been able to establish a pattern of behaviour that causes it to come on. A local mechanic checked for codes and found none. I haven't had the opportunity to do it using the black leads under the steering column.

Anyway, last night my wife drove the car at approx 100kph for 15 mins in 4th gear until she noticed the temp rising. She suddenly remembered 5th gear, slowed down and the temp eventually dropped back to normal.

This morning she drove the car through medium traffic for approx 20k and the car started to overheat again. She then took the vehicle to the local mechanic again who wasn't able to analyse the problem in the short time she was there. Later in the day she drove it to my work (approx 10k) with no problems. After work I drove it for approx 15k (a little hard driving to see if the temp would come up)... no problems encountered.

Coolant levels/ oil levels are fine. The only issue I have been able to locate is a minor weeping of oil that appears to be coming from the bottom of the cylinder head on the passenger side (cylinders 2 and 4 ?).

Any suggestions on possible causes of a sudden temp issue from an otherwise healthy engine?

Cheers ... Taz

Well it looks like head gaskets, that's around the time they go on just about every 2.5L motor of that age, may as well get the timing belt etc done while they have the motor out and are ripping you a new one, they don't usually show oil in water or water in oil, need to be diagnosed by a specialist but maybe the previous owner knew something he "forgot" to tell you.

Check how many K's on this and you might get it cheaper than paying 3-4k for a head job, sell the left over junk to re-coup your money.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Subaru-Outba ... 1c27c317c5

G'day Taz,

D_Gen is on the money there. It's most likely the head gaskets. Pretty common with the early 2.5 motor at he said.

May aswell get them done with the timing belt and water pump. Should save labor costs all up. The engine will need to come out but it means that the timing belt and w/p can be done faster, so saving some labor costs.

Since it has full log books, after this it should be a very reliable car. Best to get the HG's done soon'ish so no damage is caused from the overheating. I am suprised though that they haven't yet been done.....

Cheers,
Taz

BTW - nice name mate

Agree with head gaskets.
Disagree with price, Subaru quoted $2,500 for my EA81.
My EA81 rebuild cost just under $3,000 by a proper race engine / Subaru builder. And had some pretty hefty work done.

Cheers Cam

You have to factor in possibly having the heads re-built/machined, timing kit $500ish, fluids, engine in and out on a much more complex car than an EA81.

True that,
Still seems a lot though.

Just to add to my woes my wife now tells me that as she was driving home when the car temp went up she also heard a noise that sounded like a ball bearing rattling around in the glove box. I got home tonight and the eldest boy was washing the car and he reported that the engine was now harder to start and when it was shut down I heard the same sound.... sounds like a ball bearing rattling around in a metal dish.

On starting the engine it turned over for twice as long as normal before starting, made some strange gurgling sounds for a couple of seconds and then smoothed out sound like normal. These noises reduced with each starting of the motor (15 - 20 secs apart) and by the 4th or 5th time they had disappeared and the motor sounded completely normal and starting/turn over time had returned to normal.

New engine time ?

Cheers .... Taz

i think new engine time better off getting a later model engine so you dont have the head gasket issue

sorry to hear about the issues with the car

thunder039 wrote:i think new engine time better off getting a later model engine so you dont have the head gasket issue

sorry to hear about the issues with the car

If your full of money then yes.

I wouldn't be going a new engine and it may not be anything major. It's hard to say what it could be without looking at it. Or listening to the noise. Take it to two mechanics and get opinions...

taza wrote:If your full of money then yes.

I wouldn't be going a new engine and it may not be anything major. It's hard to say what it could be without looking at it. Or listening to the noise. Take it to two mechanics and get opinions...

if you read above for the price of doing the head gasket then plus if it is something major, which is a possibility due to it has been driven with this known issue and overheated then it could be worth getting a replacement. see plenty of them from wrecks like in the link above

thunder039 wrote:if you read above for the price of doing the head gasket then plus if it is something major, which is a possibility due to it has been driven with this known issue and overheated then it could be worth getting a replacement. see plenty of them from wrecks like in the link above

I'm personally more inclined to fix it, as I am with my engine which needs work. You don't know the condition of another used engine where atleast if you fix what you have and it either has a service history or you've had it awhile you know it will be reliable.
That's me though..

taza wrote:I'm personally more inclined to fix it, as I am with my engine which needs work. You don't know the condition of another used engine where atleast if you fix what you have and it either has a service history or you've had it awhile you know it will be reliable.
That's me though..

very true but if on a budget it can work out better to buy a wreck with a service history, then part out the rest, but is more risky