Just spent today pulling the motor and replacing the head gaskets on the wife's Subaru Outback due to an external failure resulting in a coolant and oil leak onto the exhaust manifolds. In researching this issue with the Subaru, it's a very common problem. As I as working on the car, I got to thinking, is this a common problem on the TT? I did a quick search on this forum and didn't find much. Just wanted to see if there were many failures on the TT's? On the Subie's the boxer design apparently puts pressure on the lower side of the gasket, leading to erosion and external failure and leaks.

 

definitely an issue that Subi's are inclined to have. 911's are MUCH more resilient...a lot is probably due to deck design and clamping. Not a flat-engine issue.
Cheers,

 

On the subis it not if its when the head gasket will fail. I just finished my Legacy. Of course new belt, idlers and water pump, thermostat while your in there.

 

Quick question...what year are these Subi are we discussing here? I ask because I just picked up a 13 STI. Am I to expect the same concerns?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts

 

Turbo Todd, yes, did the full monty. It's nice of Subaru to design the failure to occur right around 100k miles when the timing belt is due for change out. It was a full engine out repair, but not that hard to do.

In regards to which year(s) are bad, I believe it's the 4-cylinder, EJ25 motor which is prone to failure the most. This is the single over head cam, 4 valve model. from 1998 to 2003 the were so bad, Subaru extended the HG warranty to 8 years and 100k miles. This expired for my year, 2006, and Subaru claims the "fixed" the issue, but that only means the failure rate is less then before. Usually found in the Legacy, Outback and Forester in NA models. I heard the turbo versions use a 3 layer gasket which does not fail as much