i just had both head gaskets blow on my 2001 outback. am i the only one who never heard of this problem with the 2.5 liter motors?

How much miles on it?

The headgasket failure was common on the Phase one EJ25 motors which were DOHC. Yours in particular is a Phase 2 EJ25 and SOHC. Though the design of the Phase 2 was an improvement over the Phase 1, I still hear headgasket failures occur within the Phase 2 engines. It's an engineering defect and I believe that there was a TSB or warranty claim for updated headgaskets on the Phase 1 EJ25, but I dunno about the Phase 2. You should contact a local dealer and discuss.

I own a Phase 1, and so far the hg's are still alove (knock on wood). :D

-paK +2