Yes, that write up is great. I used it on my 02 legacy and there were no surprises. However you have a forester and I don't think that you can get the valve covers off so easily. I think that you have to jack up the motor a little. Do some searching.

 

I've done them on my 04 XT and it wasn't difficult in the sense of being technical, it was more not loosing your mind because there is VERY little room down there.

IIRC, we didn't raise the motor at all. Just worked from up top and underneath to remove the bolts and covers. We also did the plugs while we were in there. Well worth the extra few $$ if they need to be changed.

Mine was leaking so bad, it would drip oil right on the exhaust manifold for the first 5-10 min of driving. Caused some major smoke and stares from other drivers :surprise:

Hope this helps! Good Luck

 

I just did this job on my '08 2.5X. I can't say it was hard, but it took a fair amount of time and keeping your wits about you. The '03 may be different, but on mine there was no way those covers were coming off without raising the engine. Once I got past the idea that I needed to do that, it actually wasn't too bad. Yes, the gaskets are interchangeable.

See my thread on the job...
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbull...rg/vbulletin/f88/2008-2-5x-na-valve-cover-gaskets-spark-plug-tube-seals-466433/

 

Here's another thread for you to read thru: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f66/can-t-remove-valve-cover-113171/#post1229332 :wink:

Bobby...

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

 

I have done this a couple of times, and IMO the most difficult part was getting the old gasket off of the head.

It seemed like the only place the old gasket stuck was at the bottom where it was hard to get to!

You can get a scotch pad kit that will remove the old gaskets without scratching the aluminum.

 

Interesting, my gaskets were trivially easy to remove, just pulled right off. Not sure if they'd ever been replaced before, but with 90k miles on it it doesn't seem likely.

 

It shouldn't be a big deal to get the valve covers off without jacking up or removing the engine. Just be careful when you're torquing down the bolts after replacing the gasket. The bolts themselves seem to be pretty weak and it's NOT fun to break one off in the cylinder head.

 

It shouldn't be a big deal to get the valve covers off without jacking up or removing the engine. Just be careful when you're torquing down the bolts after replacing the gasket. The bolts themselves seem to be pretty weak and it's NOT fun to break one off in the cylinder head.

Don't know about your car, but all I know is for my 2008 2.5X there was absolutely no way those valve covers were coming out without jacking up the engine. YMMV.