I recently became the owner of a 98 legacy outback with 80,000 miles on her. It has the 2.5l dohc. It overheated and after searching through the post on here I think it is the headgaskets. It overheated fast, cooled down to normal operating temp fast, and the lower radiator hose is much cooler than the upper. I have a couple questions so far.

1) why is there such a dramatic difference in the hose temperature?

2)There are no air bubbles or oil in the radiator or fill cap or water in the oil.

3)The car can idle all day and not overheat, why is this.

4)Can someone smarter than me explain why the headgasket leak causes these particular issues?

I have never worked on flat engine. I have done a couple head gasket jobs in the past on a rodeo and a mustang, is this engine especially complicated. Does the engine really have to get pulled to take the heads off?

Thanks all, looking forward to joining and participating in the community here.

Matt