Head Gasket Replacement

[ken.subaru]

Hi,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately for me, I believe I have a leaking head gasket on my 99
Subaru Forester S. I can smell fuel/exhaust fumes in the coolant
reservoir. Also, coolant is not flowing back from the reservoir into
the radiator when the engine cools off.

Does anyone know of a good engine mechanic in the SF Bay Area --
preferably in the South Bay/Peninsula area? I know that's a tough
question, but hopefully somebody has had a good experiences with a shop
that has done engine work -- in particular, diagnosing and replacing a
head gasket.

If I can't get a good recommendation, I will probably default to
Carlsen Subaru.

Thanks.

Ken

 

[_AWDfan_]

Try San Francisco Autoworks
http://www.sfautoworks.com/
Their estimate was about 40% less than from that of a dealer. They have
a good rating on cartalk mech files.
Another good bet is Arts automotive in Berkley.
http://www.artsautomotive.com
For outback 2000 headgasket work with belt, pump etc was around $2.7k

See http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechx/ if you need something more
local.