So I have a 2009 base Forester with the EJ253 NA CARB model. We bought it back in 2010 used with 18K miles. Found out it was a former Enterprise rental vehicle. It was rock solid until last June at 183k miles it started having misfire codes.
I did a compression check and I had 2 cylinders that were low. The head gaskets had been leaking oil for quite a while so I just bit the bullet and pulled the engine. Took the heads to a machine shop that is familiar with Subie's and he went through them for me cost $600. I put it all back together using Fel Pro MLS gaskets which I have recently heard are junk? Everything else was Aisin OEM stuff if memory serves me.
Not long after finishing that job the car suddenly one day wouldn't seem to accelerate and was stumbling very hard and stalling. Come to find out both catalytic converters were clogged. I got a cheap manifold/cat off eBay and hogged out the rear cat to be sure that would fix it. It did. But the cheap manifold/cat only lasted a couple weeks before it broke up inside. I contacted the seller and they sent me a new one.
At some point I purchased a Walker manifold/cat and a Walker rear cat pipe. The car has been running perfectly with that combo up until about a week ago when I took the car to get some dinner and it started acting up again just like when the cats were clogged up. So I yanked off the manifold and the rear cat pipe and found them both plugged up again?
I still had the cheap eBay manifold and my old rear cat pipe minus the cat which I put back on and the car is again running. But the exhaust doesn't smell right, what I mean is it smells like burning oil? When I did the head gaskets I was going to just purchase a JDM complete motor with low mileage but the machine shop guy said that wasn't necessary that all I needed to do was have the heads done and replace the gaskets and I would be good to go.
So now I am thinking I wasted my money and should have just gotten the JDM engine and slapped that in? Looking for any/all input on next steps. I have been looking at used Foresters instead of screwing around with this thing anymore but not sure what to do???