Recall or extended warranty for head gaskets?

[Guest dwallbaum]

Gentlefolk;

 

I think I know the answer, but since head gasket failure is almost pandemic now, is Subaru acknowledging this with any type of recall or extended warranty offer for this fix???

 

Thanks.

 

Don

[Guest Drquasievil]

What year and model are we talking about?

[Guest theotherskip]

um, well, no. at least not that i have heard from any of the trees i have barked up yet. call 'em - (800) SUBARU-3

[Guest dwallbaum]

DrQuas.

 

Well, mine is a '99 Impreza, 149,800 miles, soooo.. yeah, Im kinda out of the warranty range. Still and all, its VERY rare to have a head gasket go out these days.. that whole head gasket thing has been pretty well sorted out by now, .... so this raft of HG failures I would think would be making Subaru a little nervous. Or, to put it in terms they may understand... unless I know the HG issue is resolved, Im NOT replacing my Suby with another, as much as it pains me to say this.

[Guest dwallbaum]

Gentlefolk;

 

Just got off the phone with Subaru NA...

 

They are not aware of any chronic head gasket problems, they dont rely on info gleaned from message boards, since it is viewed as unreliable.

 

Their source of info comes from owners who call in, and from the Subaru dealers.

 

There have been some reported HG failures, but at about the mileage one may expect such failures anyway, so there is no planned mfg. assistance for owners with HG failure. Perhaps if you have a good relationship with the dealer, there may be some dealer assistance, but that is the dealer's decision.

 

That's all folks!

 

Don

[Guest theotherskip]

i know exactly how you feel. when i bought my car and researched it, i looked for a car i could drive into its ripe ol' age. subaru seemed to be known for good reliability. after the rash of problems i have had with my car (burned out seat heater, gunked up fuel sending units, blown head gaskets), as well as the number of recalls affecting my car, i am now much more leary. subaru is not the only manufacturer on the market with a safe, awd wagon... audi and volvo both come to mind, and my loyalty is definately being tested...

[Guest PillowSplat]

By the time I had 50,000 miles on my Audi A4 I would have spent $5000.00 on parts and labor if they didn't have the 50,000 mile warrenty.

Steering rack replaced

Steering colum replaced

Digital display faded. replaced

Oil pump burned out. replaced

2 coil packs replaced after being stranded and towed.

I took a hit of $3000.00 on the trade in just to get out.

Timing belt needs to be replaced at 60,000 as regular service $1200.00.

Stick with Japanese.

[Guest Drquasievil]

Out of warranty doesn't mean Subaru or the dealer may not help out. That's good customer server to just listen See if you can get together with both, provide them with your service documentation (I hope you took care of the car). They may be able to check and see if it was normal wear and tear or just a failure. A 99 Subaru is worth putting some money into it anyway and if you can get Subaru to subsidize some of the cost, that's icing on the cake.

[Guest dwallbaum]

Oh, Ill patch up the Suby.. dont have a lot of alternatives right now.. just got the thing paid off and Im not rushing into another long-term car loan.

 

BUT, here is the odd thing.. even the Japanese cars are falling apart... a friend has Toyota.. TOYOTA mind you, that has gone thru one engine already (warranty replacement after a lot of hassle) and now the struts are shot, the list goes on and on...

 

The old Suby my wife had, mid-80s, ran forever. Same way with a mid-80s Nissan. Had an early 80's Toyota pickup I pd. $250 for and ran for years... rust killed all these vehicles (they came pre-rusted from the factory back then) but mechanically indestructable.... what has happened????

 

So.. NOW Im thinking VW diesel. MAYBE the Honda Insight, but not for a while. I want to keep the Suby a while longer, for some odd, pathetic, morbid, masochistic reason....

 

 

<sigh>

 

Don