1999 2.5 engine

[Mike]

Hi everyone!

I have just purchased a 1999 outback with the 2.5 engine.

After buying it all I keep reading is that the engines are bad. This
car has 140000 miles on it and really seems to run good.

I had a 1995 Legacy with a 2.2 and it seemed like it would run for
ever and was hoping the same for this one.

Is there anything I should be looking out for?

At what point do these engines go bad?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Mike
Upstate NY

 

[johninky]

Hi everyone!

I have just purchased a 1999 outback with the 2.5 engine.

After buying it all I keep reading is that the engines are bad.  This
car has 140000 miles on it and really seems to run good.

I had a 1995 Legacy with a 2.2 and it seemed like it would run for
ever and was hoping the same for this one.

Is there anything I should be looking out for?

At what point do these engines go bad?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Mike
Upstate NY

My understanding of the 99 2.5 is it is a one-year only design. This
makes parts expensive. Also has a history of head gasket failures.
Can't remember if the gasket develops an internal or external leak.
Also been told the vast majority of this engine will run forever
without problem. You only tend to read/hear about the ones that have
the head gasket problem.

 

[Clifford Heath]

I have just purchased a 1999 outback with the 2.5 engine.
After buying it all I keep reading is that the engines are bad. This
car has 140000 miles on it and really seems to run good.
Is there anything I should be looking out for?

If the head gasket has been done, you should be good.

If not, it will likely need doing sometime, circa $3K.
If it overheats badly and cracks as well, it will cost
even more (new head or engine).

If you want to postpone the time when this *will* happen,
ensure that you find a serviceman who knows how to bleed the
air when the coolant is drained, or google it up yourself,
and ensure that it *always* happens when needed.

The problem with the EJ25 engine design is that the water
pipe that takes coolant over the engine from one side to
the other *traps air*. When the engine is run, the air
moves to the head on one side and you get hot spots leading
to HG failure.

It's possible if you're keen to tap a small nippple into the
top of this crossover pipe, and run a tube back to the radiator,
which will allow the air to bleed out properly. There's a guy
who uses an EJ25 engine in a homebuilt aircraft who diagnosed
the fault and used this fix; google for his page on it.

We still have our '98 Liberty (Legacy outside Australia), and
the engine needs significant $$ spent to fix various oil leaks,
but the HG was done 4 years ago and has been ok since.

Clifford Heath.

 

[weelliott]

At what point do these engines go bad?

I hear they usually go bad at about 140k miles.

Just kidding, but they've gone bad with less than half that mileage,
and also lasted to 200k. It's a gamble.

 

[Uncle Ben]

I hear they usually go bad at about 140k miles.

Just kidding, but they've gone bad with less than half that mileage,
and also lasted to 200k. It's a gamble.

My 1999 2.5 engine has gicen no trouble in 175,000 miles.

Uncle Ben
Upstate NY