Noob to Subaru's - Looking for advice

Discussion in 'Modifications And Maintenance' started by jdhaack41, Aug 28, 2017.

  1. jdhaack41
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    jdhaack41 New Member

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    Hello all,

    I just purchased my first Suburu, and I have some questions I am hoping to have answered.

    Let's start with what I know.

    The Vehicle:

    2002 Suburu Outback
    Mileage: 134,139
    Transmission: Automatic

    The car is in immaculate condition appearance-wise.

    I just bought the vehicle from my aunt, and drove it from Grand Junction, CO to Minneapolis. Upon my return to MN, I received a call from my aunt saying that she saw a couple of small spots in her garage that may indicate oil is leaking from the most recent oil change she received days earlier at the dealership, and that I should take it in and have it checked out.

    I brought the vehicle to a dealership here in the cities, and was told the following:

    "Oil leak from the cylinder head gaskets. Recommend replacement of the cylinder head gaskets. $2700. Oil leak from the rear differential vent. Recommend drain and refill rear differential and clean vent. $109.00. May be a leak from the front differential or may be seeing oil from the cylinder head gasket."

    What is so confusing about this is that my aunt claims to have had the head gasket replaced around 5,000 miles ago along with the timing belt. I have no reason to distrust my aunt. She was actually in the process of trading the vehicle in for a new Suburu for the dealership offer of $2,200 and was willing to sell it to me for the same price as the trade-in value so she could keep the car in the family. She has paperwork to show that she has had work done on both the front and rear differentials from the dealership in Grand Junction. Further compounding the situation is the fact that the dealership she was going to in CO claims to have undergone a computer system change, and cannot produce any specifics for the work she had done beyond "Parts and Labor - X Amount"

    I am hoping you all may be willing to shed some insight into whether or not it is worth it for me to put another $3,000 into this vehicle. I am sure it is tough to say without actually looking at the car, but any broad statements you care to put forth would be taken as such.

    Also, having not dealt with this particular situation with past vehicles I have owned, I am somewhat ignorant as to how severe my situation is. I use the vehicle as a daily commuter to my office about 5 miles away, if that helps. Any thoughts on how urgent it is for me to have this work done?

    Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to add their two cents.
     
  2. Shancaldazar
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    Shancaldazar Well-Known Member

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    If the vehicle has been taken care of, 130K miles is not much, and it could run for that distance again when repaired. It's unlikely you would find another vehicle for 3K that is in good condition and won't need any work, so it's usually a better bet to put money into the car you already have if you know everything else has been taken care of. I would repair it if it were my car.

    As far as the severity, did the place mention that it was leaking any coolant? Any oil floating in the coolant? Coolant disappearing from the expansion tank? Coolant burning smell (very "sweet" smelling) while driving? Temp gauge show it overheating? Bubbles in the coolant?

    If it's just leaking oil, keep an eye on the oil, keep it topped off, and you can hold off on the HG replacement for a bit. The oil leak will get worse over time and eventually coolant can start leaking or being burned (which is when the problem becomes severe in my opinion). You could potentially drive it for years if it is only seeping a little oil, or it could completely fail next week and start leaking/burning coolant.

    Does your aunt know if the engine was overheated before the original HG replacement? Usually the reason for immediate failure of new HGs is because the engine was previously overheated (lost too much coolant, air gets in the cooling system, etc), warped the heads, and the previous shop never milled the heads flat again. That or they used cheap parts, but you said it was a dealer, so they probably used the OEM gaskets which shouldn't fail a few thousand miles later.

    Give JM Auto a call/email too. He's a subaru specialist in the Twin Cities area and does great work. I don't know what his prices are for a HG replacement, but I'm pretty sure he is cheaper than the dealer (who isn't), and he'll do it right. https://www.jmautomn.com/service/
     
    tangledupinblu likes this.
  3. pillboy
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    pillboy Well-Known Member

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    She has her receipt for the diffs being serviced, does she have the one for the head gaskets and timing belt? If the work was done by a Subaru dealer 5000 miles ago, I would think there would be a warranty on the work - most dealerships give a 1 year/12,000 mile warranty on work like that. For that kind of money, I would drive back to CO and have them fix it again. Unless the dealer here just looked at the mileage and said "head gaskets" because that is about the time they fail (had an '02 myself), and they didn't do a proper diagnosis. This wouldn't surprise me since this was their first time seeing this car.

    I believe the common failure point causes an external oil leak as opposed to a failure of the gasket between oil and coolant passages, or combustion chamber and coolant (someone will correct me if I am wrong). Driving it with an external oil leak won't hurt anything if you keep the oil topped up.
     
  4. tangledupinblu
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    tangledupinblu Event Coordinator Staff Member

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    As stated, a second opinion from JM Automotive would be a good start! Then take it from there. Jesse has a huge amount of knowledge in both turbo and NA Subarus. He can point you down the right track!
     
    housemusic1 likes this.
  5. housemusic1
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    housemusic1 Well-Known Member

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    ^^^What this guy said.
     
  6. Chux
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    Chux Well-Known Member

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    A second opinion may not be a bad idea.

    +1 for more information on the head gasket job that was done. Was it done at a dealership? Subaru definitely offers a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty on those jobs. If it was done at a dealership, I believe that warranty should carry over to other dealerships, so you might not even need to drive back to CO to have it done.


    Good news is the head gasket leak on these engines is not a death sentence, like it is on most cars. The VAST majority of them are just an oil leak. So keep oil in it, and it'll run forever. Be aware of the temperature gauge, as very rarely that head gasket leak can cause it to overheat, and if they get hot, it'll do a lot more damage, quick.

    Our 2003 had leaking head gaskets when I got it at 105k, I didn't fix them until 150k.
     
  7. pillboy
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    pillboy Well-Known Member

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    If this is the case, I learned something today too.
     
  8. Chux
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    Chux Well-Known Member

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    I hope it's clear that I am not completely sure about that. My position in the Parts Dept means I'm pretty far removed from the warranty process.

    But, I do know that when we have had parts warranty claims, it is processed through our Warranty Administrator, very much like a new car warranty would be. So as long as there is adequate documentation on the original repair, it seems to me that it could be done anywhere....

    I'll try to ask him the next time I see him.
     
  9. silverD
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    silverD Active Member

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    We have used JM Auto in the past. They really know Subarus.