Forester and the dreaded bad head gasket

[Xist]

I am not sure where my images went, but I uploaded them again. I also looked at them full-sized trying to see any indications of where the oil is originating. I think that I need to clean it better and also look from above. The rings or discs in the oil cooler had oil all over--I am not sure the oil is supposed to be on the outside!

Ah! I finally found a picture! Okay, the oil cooler is directly below the cylinder head! So, either the head gasket is leaking, or something is leaking onto it!

Well, good thing I spent hours figuring out all of that. It is nearly five! I should go to bed!

[Xist]

You can see the oil filter is covered in oil, but the timing cover is not, it is just broken!

The valve cover is dry.

Definite seepage between the block and the cylinder head!

[firehawk618]

If you haven't already pulled your engine *i'm not sure if that pic with the head off is yours or not* get yourself some uv dye that is specifically for finding leaks.

Pour some in your oil, clean as much oil off as you can, drive or idle and look for leaks with the goggles / uv light.

It works great to pinpoint leaks.

I have personally jumped to conclusions in the past and done WAY more work than was necessary to repair leaks.

Example: Saab 9-5 Aero, oil leaking all over the back of the engine. HG / block leakage is not uncommon. I assumed this was the problem. I pulled the head only to discover the oil pressure sending unit was the real cause of the massive leak........

Once I had the head off I had a wide open clear view of it and it was obvious at that point.

[Xist]

I took all of my pictures before taking apart anything. Right now, the battery, intake, and windshield washer reservoir are in the trunk.

I will put them back and get some dye. I am not feeling this is progress!

Thanks for responding, though. I was frustrated to deal with something so big, seemingly on my own.

[firehawk618]

Originally Posted by Xist

I took all of my pictures before taking apart anything. Right now, the battery, intake, and windshield washer reservoir are in the trunk.

I will put them back and get some dye. I am not feeling this is progress!

Thanks for responding, though. I was frustrated to deal with something so big, seemingly on my own.

If you are not 100% certain as to the source of the oil leak I would highly suggest to put it back together, clean it up and use the dye.

From the description of your leak it should be very easy to pinpoint the major loss source.

Wouldn't you be disappointed if you pulled the heads and put it all back together to discover it was the oil cooler spewing oil.....

[Xist]

I went to O'Reilly to purchase a dye kit, but everyone there said that instead of having oil everywhere, I would have dyed oil, but if I could see the oil, I would be able to see the dye. I asked about "the bad way" of stopping a leak.

No, not stop leak, although that is definitely bad.

Silicone!

"Man! Don't waste your time on that!"

"Shut up and take my money!"

They gave me the number of a mechanic, so we will see what he will charge, or if I can at least have someone explain how he proved the head gasket was bad.

[Xist]

This picture shows that one of the timing belt covers is broken--see the gap? Maybe it was just missing the bolt, but it was cracked 80% of the way across it, and then broke completely in my hands. I installed a new one and the plastic around the bolt hole started cracking before I even felt tension on the bolt.

The one on the other side is also broken. There is a square nut embedded in plastic, but the plastic was not strong enough to keep the nut from rotating.

I am not impressed by these designs.

According to my timing belt removal instructions, I am about one-fifth through putting everything back together. I went home a few hours early yesterday because of a wardrobe malfunction. I had written reinstallation instructions, but they are on a dead laptop. I just want to make sure that I do this in the correct order, so that I do not need to remove something that I just reinstalled because I was supposed to reattach something else first.