How common is the head gasket issue on a 2008 Subaru Forester?

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My aunt has a Subaru Forester she bought from her son and its developed a misfire and check engine light. Just a few minutes ago I popped the radiator cap and fired it up and after about a minute the coolant started flowing out of the radiator cap instead of the level lowering like its supposed to. There were no bubbles. Ive never seen a car do that before.

Are head gaskets a common issue on these cars?
 
Short answer: yes. Subarus years before that had more than their fair share of head gasket problems, but I don't know exactly what year Subaru fixed it by revising the design of the gaskets.

Longer answer: it doesn't affect all cars. My '04 Forester was slowly consuming coolant so I thought the head gaskets were failing. But when doing the 100k service I found a slow coolant leak around a faulty water pump gasket. UOA showed no traces of coolant in the oil, and the old coolant looked clean. After servicing and refill, I used the conditioner Subaru recommends (as well as the normal service of replacing the water pump, gasket, timing belt, tensioner, pulleys, etc.) and the car is no longer consuming coolant. I never had to replace the head gaskets. The point is, old Subarus have more than their fair share of head gasket failures, but it doesn't affect all cars, and replacing them is expensive, so make sure that's really the problem before diving into an expensive repair.
 
and make sure those heads are checked for flatness. My buddy just slapped a set in and guess what, he needs to re-do them.
I'll bet that's because nobody checks the coolant level, so if it's slowly leaking or being consumed, they don't realize it until the engine overheats, which warps the heads.
 
Common as changing spark plugs in fact the plugs may live longer depending on the engine model, the one you have is a bad one EJ25. They can leak coolant or oil I see both. Rod knock is also common especially if it has gotten a bit hot.
Get a new short block and have the heads done, use Six Stars gaskets (viton covered and made by cometic) on the head. Doing the job yourself with cost about 3K but the engine will be like new and not much more than a garage doing a half arsed head gasket job.
 
Common as changing spark plugs in fact the plugs may live longer depending on the engine model, the one you have is a bad one EJ25. They can leak coolant or oil I see both. Rod knock is also common especially if it has gotten a bit hot.
Get a new short block and have the heads done, use Six Stars gaskets (viton covered and made by cometic) on the head. Doing the job yourself with cost about 3K but the engine will be like new and not much more than a garage doing a half arsed head gasket job.
They're going to fork out the money to have a competent mechanic do the job. I know the last time I did headgaskets it ended with me just buying a low mileage junkyard engine. The car was barely used for a couple years, only has a little over 110k miles on the engine.
 
Head gaskets typically fail and just seep/leak externally on subarus. The expansion of coolant out of the radiator may or may not be normal, that’s hard to judge by a description without viewing it in person. The misfire could be other things than the head gasket, they’re due for tune ups around 60k if I remember right, and spark plug tube seals are typically leaking by then if not before.
 
To be honest a used one of these is a fools errand, the replacement can be ticking time bomb if the HG are original. I have one right now that is almost finished that the HG let go on at 48K (low mile older car), the thing was leaking oil out of the L/Side head like the Exxon Valdez, got run low on oil and tore up the bottom end with it.
If you are in the NE PM me, I can hook you up with an engine if you want one.
 
Head gaskets typically fail and just seep/leak externally on subarus. The expansion of coolant out of the radiator may or may not be normal, that’s hard to judge by a description without viewing it in person. The misfire could be other things than the head gasket, they’re due for tune ups around 60k if I remember right, and spark plug tube seals are typically leaking by then if not before.
She said it just had a tune - up.
 
My aunt has a Subaru Forester she bought from her son and its developed a misfire and check engine light. Just a few minutes ago I popped the radiator cap and fired it up and after about a minute the coolant started flowing out of the radiator cap instead of the level lowering like its supposed to. There were no bubbles. Ive never seen a car do that before.

Are head gaskets a common issue on these cars?
OK did you scan and find what cyl had a misfire? May be coil/plug issue. there are more noted for some oil in the spark plug tube.
If this was a Honda you be checking plugs first. Could be a gasket, but first things first.
 
To be honest a used one of these is a fools errand, the replacement can be ticking time bomb if the HG are original. I have one right now that is almost finished that the HG let go on at 48K (low mile older car), the thing was leaking oil out of the L/Side head like the Exxon Valdez, got run low on oil and tore up the bottom end with it.
If you are in the NE PM me, I can hook you up with an engine if you want one.
I'm in VA. Her brother in law had his own repair shop at one point. Former master chrysler Tech. He's going to be the one looking at it and fixing it.
 
OK did you scan and find what cyl had a misfire? May be coil/plug issue. there are more noted for some oil in the spark plug tube.
If this was a Honda you be checking plugs first. Could be a gasket, but first things first.
Read my last post.
 
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