That 2004 Subaru head gasket job that took me 11 hours

Customer rolls in with an EJ25 that's clearly overheating, classic symptoms. I quote 9 hours because I've done a dozen of these. Big mistake. Someone before me had used RTV instead of the proper gaskets and the block surfaces were caked with crud. Took me 4 hours just to get the heads off without gouging the mating faces. Then the new head bolts wouldn't torque right because the threads were full of old sealant. I had to chase every single one with a tap. Ended up doing the whole job in shifts across two days. Final time was 11.5 hours on the clock and I ate lunch at my toolbox standing up. Anyone else ever get burned by a previous hack job on a Subaru? How do you protect your quoted time when the rust and RTV fairy has visited first?

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amy85826d ago

Holy crap, ELEVEN hours?! That RTV nightmare sounds like a total disaster, I would have lost my mind.