Subaru Headgasket?

My girlfriend (soon to be fiance) has a 96 Legacy Outback in great shape with 101k on the clock. Today she called me and said it made a gurgling noise, and that it burned some white smoke. She also said she turned the AC on and it smelled funny. When pressed she said "I don't know what it smelled like, maybe coolant?"

I checked it out and everything seems fine, coolant and oil look ok, I observed no smoke or smells. Should I be worried? What else should I look for? How much money will this cost if it is a head gasket?

Thanks in advance!

Pretty common failure when I was with subaru. There are test strips that chemically test for presence of coolant in oil and vice versa. Sounds like a high degree of likelihood that it's a headgasket failure. Shop the job to local, reputable subaru specialists, cheapest isn't necessarily best but it's good to check with a couple places to get an idea on fair pricing in your area. Good luck.

If its an automatic, yes its likely its a head gasket, at least enough to be worth checking further. I would expect paying a shop to fix it would be about as much as the car is worth, so I guess it depends on how nice the car is if that is worth it or not. If you can fix it yourself that would be much cheaper, but still a reasonably big job.

Yeah that's about what I figured. Do you know what the strips that test the coolant and oil are called? I assume I can buy those pretty much anywhere auto parts are stored.

I think if we can get it fixed for less than a grand it's worth keeping. It's due for a timing belt, I assume that has to come off to do the HG anyway right? Who knows with her though, she always thinks there is something wrong with her car and there never is, maybe we'll get lucky.

What motor? 2.2L or 2.5L

If the 2.5L - more likely yes HG

The 2.2L tend to be more reliable but the symptoms sound likely anyway

I think most competent (if you can find one of those in your area ) autoparts places should be able to provide the strips. Keep in mind a grand doesnt buy much car these days. if it's not rusty, it's probably worth fixing. Timing belt should cost parts only to replace during h/g job.

A 96 legacy outback is a 2.2 if 5 speed, 2.5 if automatic. I doubt it would be under $1k to have the head gaskets and timing belt done at a shop, just a guess I would say a little over $1500, but who knows.

Its a 2.5 auto. Its really a nice clean car no rust and only 100k on the odo so I'm leaning towards fixing it. Thanks everyone!

I thought headgaskets were just replaced with the timing belt on Subarus?

I did the headgaskets on my 01 legacy sedan with the 2.5L. However, we didn't have coolant issues but rather external oil leaks. It would drip from the lower corners of the heads and run down the cross member until it landed on the exhaust. From there it would smoke and stink.

I did it with the engine in the car. If you jack it up you can swing it side to side to get clearance for the bolts. We re-used the bolts, got the headgaskets and coolant conditioner from the dealer, and used a gates belt / tensioner / water pump kit. It was a big job - full weekend I believe - so be sure the diagnosis is correct.

In reply to Bobzilla:

As I understand it, engine removal is the fastest easiest way to do that.