My First Hiccup, finally put this to bed after the 3rd try Options

[76-914]

When we returned from Rt66 '16 I pulled my exhaust system down for a little trimming and noticed water in the left bank muffler! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) We did drive through a ton of water on that trip. Then when returning from Costco yesterday it acted as if it were starved for fuel when it stumbled during acceleration. The fuel filter was the same one that came on the engine so I ordered another one. When I looked at the filter to check which one I had I noticed the coolant level in the expansion tank/reservoir had dropped. Well, there you are. Head gasket time. Now, I'm wondering if the stumble was due in fact to the head gasket failing? Decisions; should I fix this one which presently has ~ 185K or buy a JDM replacement. After perusing the net I found a few peep's whose JDM experience was less than stellar. Apparently it is a crap shoot as to what you get and the 40-50K avg mileage is (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bs.gif) . So, for about 1K I can pick up another engine and hope I bought a good one or open this one up and hope that is all it needs since it wasn't overheated. What does the the Wasser family think?

EDIT: It's an EZ30D 6cyl

[DBCooper]

See, water = corrosion, just sayin

Oh, so that's why you don't get head leaks in aircooled motors, no corrosion? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Subaru Effed up......that's the answer.

Yup, that friggin fuel injection. Why didn't they stick with carbs?

Kent, the delaminated part was the center cylinder? The discolored part on the gasket in the top photo? Any time it overheated? That's the usual cause of failed head gaskets, not pressure, but you usually also get warped heads, so it's a little odd. If so I'd say consider yourself lucky, put it back together with the Cometic gaskets, don't overheat it again and you should be good. If not then maybe there's something specific to that motor, so maybe post the photos in one of the Subaru forums. I don't think many of the folks here have much watercooled experience.