41 replies to this topic

[Durania]

Yep. Got a new water pump, thermostat installed while they were at it.

[GN1220]

Discovered today that the driver's side headgasket is leaking on my wife's '02 Forester. I've been going over the forum and the average price for a repair seems to be $2-3,000. Is this correct? Now, have any of you replaced them yourself? If so, what is a ballpark figure for that? Has the dealer been able/willing to help with any kind of warrenty/recall work on these things? Btw, her car only has 68,000 miles on it:mad:

[ericem]

Your car might still be under warrenty with 68k miles just need some proof saying that you used that coolant conditioner.

Around here I have seen headgasket repair at as low as $1200 I am sure you can find the same deal there if cheaper.

[GN1220]

Thank you. I plan to call the dealer tomorrow. I've never flushed the cooling system until a week or two ago when the anti-freeze started to vanish and I just topped it off. I figure if there is any kind of loop hole the dealer will quickly jump right through leaving me with a big repair bill.
After reading through many posts here I know I can do the repair at home but the cost of all of the items that "should" be replaced seems to be increasing rapidly. I want to poke around and get more info on the 2.2 swap. If it really is a "direct swap",no hidden parts or brackets to locate or wiring to splice, I think that is a very viable alternative.

[Durania]

This is for an RS but it should be the same:
http://www.rs25.com/...eplacement.html

I have a good friend who did my gaskets at his Subaru shop and got all my stuff done for $900 w/taxes. I called the two local Subaru dealers and was quoted 2k at one and $1500 at the other.

If I will get to my tool shed sometime I will take pictures of my blown head gaskets for reference sake.

[GN1220]

Talked to the dealer today and my '02 isn't covered by the warranty/recall because of the late build date. They said they were so sorry but mine should have the updated gaskets in it and they would gladly replace them both for $2,400. So I plan to do it myself next weekend. As of now I'm at:
$200 for a gasket set
$90 for a belt
$100 to have the valves checked and the heads milled.
$50 for other misc. crap: coolant, parts cleaner, etc.
I might put plugs in it but other than that is there anything else I should be concerned with? Also, are the head bolts TTY or not? I've seen both mentioned so I'm not sure but a call to the stealership should answer that.
Thanks for the info, you guys have been very helpful.

[Subaru_dude]

Talked to the dealer today and my '02 isn't covered by the warranty/recall because of the late build date.

What's the build date? It should be on the door tag.

[MilesFox]

the head bolts call for a series of 180 deg and 90 deg turns. I assume they stretch, i was able to re-use the ones i was doing. The old gaskets were 3 layer, and the new gaskets were 4 layers.

you will want a 12 point socket since the hex on the bolts are 12 point.
I used a torque wrench, but there is a gauge you can buy to measure the angles of your bolt turns, which i did not use.

good luck. if you are used to ea82's, you will find the ej25 to be less complicated in that it is less overall parts to remove/install

be real careful on the cam caps, since they can break or strip threads. If you are using a torque wrench for that, i would recomment a 3/8 dr that measures down to inch lbs. I had a big 1/2 dr torque wrench that only went down to 10 ft/lbs, so i just torqued them evenly by hand. does not take much torque, its more important you apply it evenly. the outer most cam cap(seal retainer) uses less torque than the caps themselves, consider that in your torque sequences

Edited by MilesFox, 08 February 2010 - 07:06 PM.

[GN1220]

What's the build date? It should be on the door tag.

According to Subaru the gaskets were corrected midyear '02. To me that is admission to a problem. Correct? They told me my car was a later build car that should have the revised gaskets so I thought I was sol. But I go and check the build date..........8-'01. That seems pretty damn early in the build to me. Correct? So I call Subaru, set up an appointment and let them confirm the the gasket is leaking. The dealer tells me they are both leaking. So the dealer calls Subaru and Subaru calls me. They agree to cover $750 of the dealer estimate of $1,800:mad: Again, they admit there is a problem, mine is not the late build like they told me and yet they still won't fix this thing. I plan to call the service manager monday but of course subaru is closed. This really pisses me off as I have no choice but to fix it myself, wasting 3 days of vacation, $500 etc.
Am I wrong to be upset and think they should repair this car?

[StructEngineer]

Good luck, I have an 2002 that they upfront admitted was part of the 8yr extended warranty campaign and both HG blew a few months ago which is a few months past the 8yr mark. At first they said SOL because its not under warranty. After a huge hassle, they agreed to pay 1/2. Seems like that's the game they're playing from now on.....which is a crock. If I were you and you want to keep the car I'd just have them do it for $750, it will likely be less expensive (your time, hassle, parts).

I think SOA had a big party when the last 2002's extended warranty expired.....now it's time for them make all that money back.

Edited by StructEngineer, 14 February 2010 - 06:22 PM.

[Quidam]

"Am I wrong to be upset and think they should repair this car?"

No, I don't think so. Why haven't people filed a class action law suit against Subaru for this? They went too cheap with the die cast and you're paying for it.

Doug

[GN1220]

Good luck, I have an 2002 that they upfront admitted was part of the 8yr extended warranty campaign and both HG blew a few months ago which is a few months past the 8yr mark. At first they said SOL because its not under warranty. After a huge hassle, they agreed to pay 1/2. Seems like that's the game they're playing from now on.....which is a crock. If I were you and you want to keep the car I'd just have them do it for $750, it will likely be less expensive (your time, hassle, parts).

I think SOA had a big party when the last 2002's extended warranty expired.....now it's time for them make all that money back.

No, they will cover $750 but I have to cover the other $1050:mad: If I do it myself it would cost a little less than $500 but take 3+ days to do it

[Durania]

Did you try a different dealer?

[GN1220]

No but I plan to call the service manager tomorrow. He is the one who dealt with SOA but the odd thing is that I never spoke to him and he never looked at my car. I just don't understand how they can contradict themselves and first say my car was a later build and the earlier ones were covered but fail to recognize that my car is an early build and fix it.

[StructEngineer]

No, they will cover $750 but I have to cover the other $1050:mad: If I do it myself it would cost a little less than $500 but take 3+ days to do it

It depends on how much your time is worth I guess and if you have shop access... Your dealer is on the very high side. I was able to get dealer to do both HG's, heads milled, cleaned up valves, timing belt, drive belts, pulleys, wp, tensioner for $800.

Honestly it doesn't matter so much if your car was part of the original recall, you're out of the extended warranty no matter what.

[GN1220]

Well after talking to the dealer and SOA, the dealer and SOA, etc. we finally found a happy medium. The dealer is going to replace both head gaskets, timing belt and water pump for $1,500, SOA will cover $750 and I will cover the other $750. I wish they would've covered all of the expense but they just as easily could've told me to take a hike. I dropped it off tonight and they said it should take two to three days so I will report back when I get the car. Thanks for all of your help as without you guys I'd be in the garage working on this thing in the cold, cussing the whole time.

[Durania]

Man, that's not a bad deal. I would be tickled to death to get them to cover 50%.