ahender Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Hi..new to the forum. Used to have a 2000 outback wagon and loved it. Will likely become a Subaru owner again. Looking at an '05 Outback XT wagon turbo. It has around 135k miles. I believe the timing belt has been changed, but I'm verifying that. I plan to have a local mechanic take a look at it before buying. Other than what may be uncovered by my mechanic, any big gotchas with this particular model? I know this has the turbo, which is something that could break/need to be replaced. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stelcom66 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Not sure of common issues, but most every review I've read about Turbo Outbacks are very favorable regarding driving the car. The word 'fun' is seen often. I did see a couple of posts on Edmund's site about turbo component trouble. I know many wish the Turbo Outback was still available, as well as a manual transmission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahender Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Thanks man..I found a mechanic which will give it a very thorough once over. I also have a friend who is a bit of a car nerd, which I hope to become. Going to enlist his opinion as well and bring him along for a test drive. I'll post back here with my results. There are two for sale in my areas....one red with tan interior, one blue with black interior. I'm all about the red one because of the heat here in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 you will wan t educate yourself about the banjo bolt screens. do a search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Banjo bolt screens Oil pickup tube Cracked ring lands Aaaaand GO! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahender Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 You guys rock...from reading about banjo bolts, I need to A. Verify if this vehicle has one (sounds like it probably does), B. Immediately get it replaced with a new one, or perhaps get a different type of setup (as mentioned here: http://blog.1aauto.com/2012/05/30/got-subaru-turbo-read/) Will now read about: Oil pickup tube Cracked ring lands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 a good .Soob mech might also be able to drop the pipe and check the turbo for shaft play - if that's an option, probably worth paying for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahender Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 a good .Soob mech might also be able to drop the pipe and check the turbo for shaft play - if that's an option, probably worth paying for. Again, thank you for the invaluable advice. That sounds like something to look at in addition to the points above? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahender Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 I am now looking at an '02 H6...yes, I may have focus issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrinc Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 The '02 EZ30 is a MUCH more reliable engine providing it's had the required oil changes. We have had a run on 2005 turbo engines over the last year. None of which were STi or WRXs. All were engines which died of oil starvation, leading me to believe that somewhere there is an issue with that year and that engine. Of course, SOA isn't going to admit it. And, it would be a very small percentage of the overall sales for that year. But, if a co. like ours sees that pattern, you know there's an issue with that year and that engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I hate to say it, but pretty much any of the USDM factory EJ-turbo cars (and by extension, any homebrewed N/A turbos) will see an oiling problem at some point. EJ205 - Spun bearings (Usually on cyl. #3) <-- Personal experience x2 EJ25X - broken oil pickup, starved bearings (broken ring lands too [personal experience x1]) <-- beat the crack, replaced with Killer-B pickup 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyeights Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 @carfreak85 Thank you for this ^^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) No problem Crazyeights. Now, just becasue there are known problems doesn't mean that every engine will have trouble. For the EJ205 example. We have owned our 2002 WRX since new and the bearing started letting go at about 80k miles on the stock engine, finally failing around 90-95k. My close friend bought a one owner, modified 2002 WRX wagon that had rod knock around 120k miles. Yet another friend bought ANOTHER, unmodified 2002 WRX from an additional original owner, but sold it just shy of 200k miles with zero signs of rod knock (It DID seem down on power... His '94 touring wagon was nearly as fast, despite being down almost 90 HP). The first friend replaced the EJ205 shortblock with a hybrid setup (EJ205 heads, EJ257 shortblock) got it all fixed and popped a ring land on the brand new shortblock (His car was far from stock however). Why all the bearing trouble? It is a bit of a perfect storm. Subaru spec'ed the rod bearings too tightly in the EJ205 and government fuel economy standards have driven manufacturers to use low viscosity oils in their factory fills. Moral of the story? USE GOOD OIL! Shell Rotella T6 is widely available (Walmart, NAPA, etc) and endorsed by many engine builders. I have had great sucess with Redline synthetic oils. The rule of thumb is to use oil with good HTHS (high temperature, high shear) properties. LOTS of info on bearing failures, pickup failures and which oils to use on NASIOC. Edited April 3, 2015 by carfreak85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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