What would you do??

[isopropyl_z24]

A friend of mine has an 02 Impreza 2.5L non turbo.
It is a one owner car and only has 70000km on it.
The brought it over for a coolant leak. Rob found it.
It looks like the head gasket has failed on the drivers side rear.
This is their only car and they are an older couple.

So would you fix the head gasket, change the motor or just get a new car?

What is the cheapest option for them??

[AndrewR]

Fix the head gasket on a 2.5L Impreza.

If it is minor, Subaru recommends trying their stop leak (only theirs) and monitoring.

It has been known to resolve this issue.

Car is not worth much fixed - $4-6K trade in even less.

The new Head gaskets are supposed to be fine.

[JoeT]

If it has not overheated, it'll be as simple as changing the headgasket. The new HG's are coated 3 layer design which are more resilient. Like Andrew says, use the conditioner, it may fix the problem if it's not severe.

[BruceE]

It should be worth fixing if that is the only issue. I recommend doing both heads while it is out. Once done the car should be good for years of service. I would also suggest an independant mechanic as the dealerships are fairly expensive.

[westwind999]

What I did with my 99 was add the Subaru coolant conditioner and it improved it a lot. It was never totally stopped though. I drove it and kept an eye on it for a couple years with no real problems. Sadly the timing belt broke recently and I've needed to replace the motor.

In your case with a pretty low KM vehicle it would be wise to replace both head gaskets and be done with it. May as well replace the timing belt, tensioner and rollers while you're in there too (as they're probably original and 8 yrs old). It really isn't a terrible task on a SOHC.

[isopropyl_z24]

So after X-mass the plan is to fix the gasket and do the timing belt at the same time. Thanks guys