later, Peter Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 OK, I just(one week ago) bought a '99 30th Anniversary Edition OB(60k and extremely well maintained). I have read the posts regarding the tapping (aka piston slap), the wheel bearing disintigration, & recently the headgasket disaster... to calm me down so I can enjoy this luxury vehicle... how many of you have had any of these catastrophes happen & at what mileage (a headgasket blowing at 150k for example is more acceptable than at 60k) write on: Later, Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbhrps Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 My 97 OBW developed the piston slap at 23 000 km. I lived with it until I sold the car at 140 000 km to buy my 02 OBW. It was annoying but did no damage to the engine all that time. My 02 has a less severe case of it as well (72 000 km) and I'm not concerned about it in any way. The car's other attributes make up for it in spades, looks, utility, gas mileage, and lack of white-knuckled winter driving. The 97 had one rear wheel bearing replaced under warranty at 56 000 km. The 02 had head gaskets replaced under warranty (they were leaking very tiny amounts of coolant onto the header pipes) at 38 000 km. I received the company recall notice last month concerning the coolant additive to prevent future headgasket leaking problems, and have not as of yet got to the dealership to get it done. I must do that soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 OK, I just(one week ago) bought a '99 30th Anniversary Edition OB(60k and extremely well maintained). I have read the posts regarding the tapping (aka piston slap), the wheel bearing disintigration, & recently the headgasket disaster... to calm me down so I can enjoy this luxury vehicle... how many of you have had any of these catastrophes happen & at what mileage (a headgasket blowing at 150k for example is more acceptable than at 60k)write on: Later, Peter Unfortunately it is not a matter of if but when. Change your coolant frequently, and keep your fingers crossed. I have seen them go at 40k and up. There is a thread of someone changing them before they are an issue but not sure what the consensus on this is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slo5oh Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Forgive my lack of ... ehumm... subaru experience and knowledge. I have a '98 2.5RS and I bought it from a dealer with a hair over 60k. I'm now at 106k (2 years later) and it's been a great car. I don't know if your 99 has the same 2.5 as mine, but when I first got it I ran it for 3k and when the oil change was needed I thought I'd treat it to the same thing I've always given the mustangs. Redline 5-30. A few weeks later when I started it up on a real cold morning and took off with no warm up t rattled like a baby's toy. Piston slap... bad. I lived with it, just did my best to warm it up in the mornings so that wouldn't happen. 4 months and 10k later I was looking to change the oil. I've always loved redline, but I remember a friend of mine telling me he got better oil pressure with mobil 1 synthetic in his mustang. Hell i'll try it. It's been over a year and a half later and I have not (knock on wood) had to listen to any piston slap since my soob started drinking mobil 1. I even ran 2 cycles of 0-30 weight I got on clearance at wal-mart for $1 a bottle... I bought all 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger83 Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 I changed my head gaskets at 140K miles as a preemptive measure, based on bubbling in the coolant overflow tank. Turned 142K today and it runs great. I have 7 friends with 97 or 98 Outback wagons. They have between about 87K and 192K miles. Three of the eight, counting mine, have had the head gaskets replaced. The mileages were 142K, 156K, and mine voluntarily at 140K at replacement. Next highest mileage is 132K. Other non-scheduled maintenance on this vehicle includes the right front wheel bearing and the camshaft gaskets and some other seals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commuter Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 97 OB. Head gaskets at 160k miles. Block at 160.2k miles (long story... con-rod bearing failure, rare, and "not" related to the head gasket failure). Right rear wheel bearing has gone twice. I don't recall exactly, but the last one was around 200k miles. I think the left one is starting to go. I'm at 250k miles now. For all the miles I've put on, I'm fairly pleased with the level of maintenance. One sensor that cost me a stupid amount. Rear struts recently. Some EGR bits that went bad. But I have a big one looming - Center clutch pack is going (4EAT). Still, there have been reports of these usually failing at half my milage. Commuter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subie Gal Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 99 Legacy GT gaskets/block at 56k miles... and i never saw it coming the new additive from subaru seems to be stopping a lot of these HG issues... maybe any kind of stop leak additive should be considered preventive maintenance alongside coolant flushes? enjoy your car Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 The coolant additive is ONLY for the Phase II 2.5 SOHC engine. The additive is supposed to prevent/repair the EXTERNAL head gasket failures associated with that engine. THe EXTERNAl head gasket failure is usually nothing more than a slow coolant leak. The Phase I 2.5 DOHC engine is plagued with the much more serious INTERNAL head gasket failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzbilder Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 nice...taht puts a damper on my day. I am the proud owner of a phase-I EJ25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
later, Peter Posted August 6, 2004 Author Share Posted August 6, 2004 The coolant additive is ONLY for the Phase II 2.5 SOHC engine. The additive is supposed to prevent/repair the EXTERNAL head gasket failures associated with that engine. THe EXTERNAl head gasket failure is usually nothing more than a slow coolant leak. The Phase I 2.5 DOHC engine is plagued with the much more serious INTERNAL head gasket failure. I just called the local Subaru dealership and talked with the service writer... he looked my VIN up on his computer & said the additive does NOT apply to my vehicle (& I "shouldn't worry")... now I know why. too bad. Later, Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slo5oh Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Don't fret over what the dealer said. The best cooling additive I've ever seen is redline water wetter. It really does what it says. I ran a supercharged mustang with a blown head gasket using 100% water, no anti-freeze and a botte water wetter. I never boiled over. I had to wait a month or 2 before I could rip it down to swap out the gasket. If you're wondering why I didn't use anti-freeze... it plays hell with your bearings if it's leaking into your oil. Water on the other hand, in small amounts, will heat up and evaporate out of your oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subie Gal Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 additive from subaru may not 'apply' but it's not a bad idea now is it. honestly i dont think there's much you can do to prevent the HG's failure. if they go, they go.... Jam~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtk Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 :-\ Well, I've just wasted lots of time today scanning the internet for Outback questions, especially related to cooling/head gasket issues. Interesting sites included carreview.com and the NHTSA webpage. My 1998 Outback is showing all the symptoms of the headgasket failure at 99k miles and I'm seriously considering getting rid of it. Subarus are a cult car with the AWD attracting many of us. However, if they can't make an engine that's going to last, Honda and Toyota will get rich off us disgruntled Subaru owners. In my opinon, this is a major problem and I doubt if they got it right in their 2005 models. Besides my new major fix, had to replace valve gasket covers, I go through brakes every 20k miles even though it's a standard!!! and the rotors ALWAYS warp, plus there's a bunch of other things that happened under warranty that I quickly forgot, but point to an epidemic in my opinion. So, off to look at a Tacoma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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