Head gasket failures on unmodified engines?
 

The latest iteration of the BRZ has me considering getting back into an 86, but...

My wife's 2009 Impreza recently needed to have its head gasket (or is that plural?) replaced. It has, maybe, 80K miles on it. Looking around other Subaru forums and talking with local mechanics, this appears to be a known Subaru problem.

My question: do the 86s also have this issue?

I have read a couple of hundred thousand posts and do not recall ever seeing one single blown head gasket on a stock engine. Different head and block than the ones you have read about.

Two different motors. I believe it's an ej motor in your wife's impreza while the BRZ has an fa motor. Haven't seen any head gasket issues on these cars.

The head gasket issue is not on all ej motors either. They are more common on certain ones then others.

I personally know a guy whose engine head gasket blew, BUT he was an avid track enthusiast with many track miles, definitely it is not an issue on this FA20 motors.

I am not sure there's large enough of a sample size of cars over 80k miles to answer your question definitively. That said, 80k miles is simply too little miles for the average engine of any kind to experience a head gasket failure.

And yes, in the case of Subaru engines you need head gaskets.

I've yet to see a definitive case of a blown head gasket on a non-modified 86 with 80K miles. I've seen plenty of modified 86's driven hard without a blown head gasket.. with 70K miles or more (mine's included).

When Subaru switched to the chain driven engine('11 in Forester, maybe '12 in Impreza/Crosstrek) the external head gasket leaks seemed to have stopped. They now leak from other places(randomly, not from abuse or mods) due to using silicone sealer instead of gaskets. Buy one, oil leaks are covered for 60k(Subaru at least, not sure on Toyota warranty).


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There was one where a guy bought a stock BRZ used with 3000 miles on it and discovered it had a blown head gasket. Of course, there's no telling what was done to it during that 3000 miles before he got it, but the dealership fixed it under warranty.

Did your wife's car ever have the coolant replaced? Subaru engines require the Cooling System Conditioner part number SOA635071. Without it, the head gaskets may leak. Just wondering...

I don't know. She pretty much tends to the care and feeding of her car. Do you know when the treatment is required?

Since we are focusing on tiny sample sets, I should point out that my friend's wife's 1999 Impreza RS 2.5 (original owner) has never had engine problems of any kind.

It was also regularly maintained.

Anytime the coolant is drained out of the car, Subaru recommends adding their cooling system conditioner when refilling with antifreeze. They put it in there from the factory so unless you have changed your coolant, it should still be in there.

Does this also apply to the BRZ/FR-S? Link to the product?