Attempt to fix car myself or take it to a shop?

[FIreDrill]

Well our Subaru Forester started overheating today and I'm debating weather I should try to fix it myself or take it into a shop.  I've done regular maintenance  on our vehicles the last several years including some not so regular stuff like replacing power steering pump, u-joint, brake lines, and things like that.  It is getting to the point where it would need a timing belt job too so that would be part of this work.  for troubleshooting the overheating I would start with a coolant flush and change out the thermostat and hope that does the trick.  As far as the timing belt goes, that would include replacing the Timing Belt, Crank Seal, Water Pump, Thermostat, Tensioner, Idlers, and maybe more.  We currently have 3 cars so we wouldn't be in a huge rush to get this one fixed but I am trying to sell one of the cars at the moment (2004 mustang).  Local shops charge around 110 an hour for labor plus parts so that adds up fast...  I'm really tempted to take a whack at it and see how it goes, I enjoy working on my cars and this seems like a way to learn some new stuff.... Also, I've found several instructional videos that address the work that I would be doing. I figure the worst case is I'm not able to finish the work and have to take it to a shop in the end anyways.

What do you think?

[frugaliknowit]

I would first deal with the overheating.  You should be able to at least troubleshoot, then try the repair(s). 

1.  I would not necessarily proceed with a flush unless your fluids are old.  It could be a waste of resources.

2.  I would not replace the thermostat without knowing whether it is causing the problem.  There are ways to test it, like if your heater does not work (because your heater core is not getting water), then you know it's the thermostat (because it is stuck shut).

You might try observing what happens from a cold start.  See if you can determine when/if water begins moving from the radiator/overflow to the engine.  If it doesn't seem to, and the engine just keeps getting hot, likely it's the thermostat (stuck shut).

3.  What makes you think you have to replace the water pump when you change the timing chain?

[pjm123a]

I am somewhat of an backyard mechanic. I think you are on the right track for the overheating issue. Thermostats are cheap and the worst that will happen is you end up with a spare if it turns out to not be the problem. I've replaced timing belts on a Hyundai Sonata and a Hyundai Accent. What motivated me was the cost of getting it done by a shop (generally north of $500) vs the cost of a timing belt itself. You can get entire timing "kits" on ebay that come with lots of parts for a little over $100. If your car is anything like the Hyundais that I have worked on your challenge will be to get the main pulley/harmonic balancer bolt out. What makes this tricky is that when you apply enough torque on the bolt then entire engine may spin rather than the bolt so you will be stuck. This is where an impact wrench comes in handy. Good Luck

[duck-duck]

The first thing I would do is to get on one of the Subaru specific forums and do some research. Rule out the leaking head gaskets as the cause. I believe that 2004 EJ25s still suffered from internal leaks. When does the vehicle overheat? At idle, stop and go, on the freeway, all of the above?

[eil]

First, ask these questions on the right forum. :) You might try heading over to the ericthecarguy.com forums and asking for their opinions. Eric the Car Guy is to car repair as Mr Money Mustache is to personal finance.

What makes you think you have to replace the water pump when you change the timing chain?

A timing chain doesn't need occasional replacement, but a timing belt does. The water pump is a wear item too and the maintenance schedule for many cars advises replacing it at the same time that you replace the timing belt because it's easily accessible once you've torn the engine down far enough to get to the timing belt.

[George_PA]

First, ask these questions on the right forum. :) You might try heading over to the ericthecarguy.com forums and asking for their opinions. Eric the Car Guy is to car repair as Mr Money Mustache is to personal finance.

Ericthecarguy is awesome I watch him a lot and have learned so much.  Also do you have the Haynes repair manual for your specific vehicle? they have a troubleshooting section in there where it will tell you all the things to try for a specific problem such as overheating.  Although it sounds like you have already started on some of them, it may be able to tell you about others as well.  Plus, you will probably need this if you try to take on the timing belt yourself.  I personally have not yet worked up to that advanced of a level of repairs, good luck.

[msnln7]

For overheating engine, I would start with the simplest issue first, which is fuse for the evaporator fan.  Depending on how old your car is, fuse may have corroded and not making a good contact to turn on the fan to cool the radiator.  This happened to me to my 2005 Accord last summer.  Same thing happened to the radio this year when it just stopped working for no reason.  Ten seconds and quarter later for a new fuse, the radio turned back on.

[bacchi]

What's the car computer tell you? The overheating could be as simple as an ECT sensor.

[Greg]

First you need to diagnose the cause of the overheating as others have said. 

Is the coolant level good?  Are you losing coolant?  Any leaks?  Does the radiator cap hold pressure?  Does it overheat only in traffic or while idling, but not on the freeway?  These can all be different problems.

Then decide once you've diagnosed the cause of the overheating.

[Ashyukun]

Definitely echo checking with the specific forums for this type of thing (general car repair/shadetree mechanic forums, subie model specific forums). You're in a good position it sounds like to try tackling it yourself- it's similar to how I got into it myself: had a car the needed fixing but not in a hurry so I slowly worked on it and learned what I needed to do.

One thing to consider that I've not seen specifically addressed: tools. Though you're not likely to end up needing THAT many tools that are truly unique to auto repair, you will end up needing some and you're almost certain to end up need more tools in general if you don't already work on cars regularly- and their costs can definitely add up. If you're planning on making this a regular thing, i.e. taking over as much maintenance on your fleet of cars from here on out and will be putting the tools to frequent use it will likely be worth it- you'll spend the money now but save a lot more down the line in paying other people to do it for you. But if you don't think you'll be doing that, you may want to more closely examine the costs of getting the tools vs. having it done for you. I certainly heavily advocate doing it yourself- but also have to acknowledge that not everyone has nearly the enthusiasm for it that I do...

[FIreDrill]

Was gone this weekend so I didn't have the ability to reply until now.  I'll try to answer as many of the questions brought up but there is a good amount so I might skip a few, lol.



frugaliknowit:
Vehicle has about 97k miles with original fluids as far as i know so it's due for a flush.  Thermostat is cheap so I figured I would replace it while in there, same goes for the water pump.

duck-duck
My first gut feeling was that the head gasket gave... My FIL suggested it could be as simple as a thermostat but after looking briefly it looks like the passenger side head gasket blew (nice amount of oil under the passenger HG).  Luckily, I told my wife to pull over as soon as she called me so I'm hoping nothing is warped, I'd prob take the heads into a machinist just to be safe.  I know you can do a HG job without removing the engine in these cars so I may just go for it.  I've found several pretty good write ups about doing the job and I'll of course be referencing my Haynes manual as well.

eil
Haha, I've been lurking for a while on the forester forums but yeah I'll bring it up over there if I decide to do it and yes, ericthecarguy is awesome, I've seen a few of his videos.

Ashyukun
I'm planning on doing as much future repair as possible to my vehicles.  The last couple years I've started getting a good collection of tools together and I'm sure this job will let me add to that collection for future use.



I've been pretty busy this last weekend but I'm planning on getting the garage cleared out and the Forester jacked up in the garage by next weekend.  Then I'll be able to get a better look and most likely confirm what I believe is a blown passenger side head gasket.

[guitar_stitch]

If your car is anything like the Hyundais that I have worked on your challenge will be to get the main pulley/harmonic balancer bolt out. What makes this tricky is that when you apply enough torque on the bolt then entire engine may spin rather than the bolt so you will be stuck. This is where an impact wrench comes in handy. Good Luck

If you do not have an impact wrench, you can remove a spark plug and feed nylon rope into the cylinder until you can't shove any more in.  When the piston comes up, it will try to compress the rope and be stuck, allowing you to break the bolt loose.  PB Blaster is your friend.  A heat gun to the bolt may also help.