I’ll have to check when I get it back. I don’t recall. It does smoke a bit at the tail pipe when starting it up but maybe that’s another issue.
A dealer is the most expensive option, typically, so search Google and Yelp for independent Subaru repair shops in your area.
You don’t have to take your vehicle to a Subaru specific mechanic or repair shop.
Any repair shop with the proper repair manuals and equipment can repair your Subaru.
Tester
I’d rather have a mechanic that has done several Subaru head gaskets (if that’s the problem). No other make I know of has this as a common repair. Better chance of getting it done correctly, and quickly.
Yeah, I have one that I found that I’ll call in the am.
Fifty eight hundred dollars for head gaskets along with a sublet?
That is pure, unadulterated insanity for what sounds to me like a guess more than anything else.
How many dxxxxd flat rate hours are they billing this at?
That smoke you mention could be nothing more than condensation burning out of the exhaust system. Temperatures and humidity play a part in that and it is nothing to worry about.
Try this. After the car has been sitting all night loosen the radiator cap. Retighten the cap. Start engine and allow it to idle for a minute. With the engine idling loosen the radiator cap again. If you do not hear a hiss the head gaskets should be fine.
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Thats normal. One of the by-products of combustion is water. When the engine is fully warmed up, the water vapor is not visible because it cannot condense on the hot engine and hot exhaust pipes. When cold, the vapor will condense in the muffler and tailpipe and form a visible vapor.
Remove and replace cylinder heads; 25 hours of labor X $160 = $4000. Prices have gone up during the last 20 years.
Your engine uses a rubber timing belt. If you are doing the heads, you should have the timing belt, pulleys and water pump done at the same time. The labor should be about an hour more as the timing belt has to be removed to take the heads off. The only labor is the removal of the water pump and pulleys. If done later, the cost will be much higher.
25 hours for the heads sounds bit high. 8 hours would be more reasonable in fully equiped shop.
No, Subaru’s six cylinder engines utilize timing chains.
No, the newer 4 cylinder engines use timing chains. The 6 cylinder was due for replacement with turbo 4 cylinder engines so the six was not upgraded to a chain, at least not by 2014.
Then I guess that I have the world’s only 2011 Outback 3.6 liter six cylinder engine with a timing chain. 
My previous Outback, a 2001 3 liter six, also had a timing chain.
My bad, you are right, the 3.6 did get a timing chain. The WRX was the only Subaru after 2011 that still used a belt.
… as did the previous six, the 3.0.
Thanks for the update OP. Part of the reason for the higher than expected repair cost, I believe this engine is configured with the cylinders horizontally opposed. This arrangement requires two separate cylinder heads. Contrast this w/my Corolla, which is configured in line and only has one cylinder head. If your shop could determine which of the two cylinder heads was the problem, only having to do this repair one side would reduce the repair cost. fyi, some shops may have a policy that they’ll only do the repair on both sides.
I stand by my assertion that near 6 grand for head gaskets on a 10+ year old Subaru is ridiculous. And especially so based on the somewhat murky complaint and how this head gasket diagnosis was arrived at.
The only way a head gasket will cause overheating is if the combustion chamber is breached; meaning into the water jacket, oil galleys, or between cylinders. All noticeable and easily tested. Coolant into the combustion chamber is going to mean thick white smoke out the tailpipe and “that smell”.
The “dealer says” may or may not mean anything. A guy I worked with at a Subaru dealer in N. OK diagnosed every car that came overheating with “bad head gaskets”. I worked with him for 1.5 years before he thankfully left and this diagnosis was always done without even looking at the car or raising the hood.
Only once did I ever see him pull a Subaru engine and change head gaskets and that was on his own car.
The rest got the valve covers cleaned, new VC gaskets, and voila; head gasket repair completed. Where was management? Condoning it all…
I am NOT saying the dealer in question would do this.I am only illustrating a point here.
Spend 6 grand on head gaskets and then discover that cylinder walls and rings are washed out due to coolant entry into the combustion chamber; or crank bearings. Then what is Step No. 2…
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I’m not sure how audible the hiss would be, but I don’t think I heard anything in particular. The coolant very slightly overflowed out of the radiator top. I dipped a long screwdriver into the overflow and the coolant was blue with no noticeable residue of anything else.
The fan never kicked on. Could there be a sensor that isn’t working telling the fan the engine is getting too hot?
On my invoice from the dealership, it stated “POSSIBLE FAILED HEAD GASKET OR CRACKED HEAD. CAN DO COMPRESSION TEST AND LEAK DOWN TO CONFIRM”. When I asked the advisor about this (because they told me it needed a new gasket or head) she called the tech (who she said was a master tech), he told her that he’s seen this a million times and knows for sure either the gasket or head has failed and only put that in case I take it to another repair facility for them to know how to verify.
Head gasket failure on the 3.6 is very rare. So I doubt the tech’s opinion. You said the cooling fan didn’t turn on? That could cause the problem.
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And that was why we chose this model when we bought it used.
What would you suggest I try next? An independent mechanic? Replace the engine temp sensor?
I’d find an independent shop to test the cooling fan operation and conduct a pressure test on the cooling system. But I wouldn’t tell them the tests, describe the problem and see what they recommend.
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