INSIDE THE EJ253

Recently, I have had the chance to help out in a local automotive repair shop near Lynnwood. Some of my favorite memories while helping at the shop was tearing apart the Subaru Forester's EJ253 in order to fix the infamous head gasket failure. 

Head gaskets are uniquely-shaped pieces of aluminum that fit between the cylinder head and engine block. These crucial elements of the engine are designed to prevent leaks from the two surfaces of the engine. However, the second-gen Subaru Foresters contain engines with somewhat weak gaskets that ultimately lead to the mixing of the coolant and combustion gas. As you might guess, this is no-bueno for the engine.

In order to fix this issue, the flat-4 has to be taken out from the engine bay and dissembled. This is a tedious process, but the correct tools and knowledge, it can be fixed. Here are some photos of the assembly of the EJ253 after the engine oil was drained, and the gasket/engine bolts were replaced.