86subaru Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 seems they may have made a few bad ones , i have a 2000 outback , new headgaskets, , no other problems , i will always buy subaru 's i have 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brompy Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I bought my 2000 outback in march of 2000......early on i had it in for brake problems .....most of it was squeling noise......I am in sales and do not buy a car to baby it......I have 115,000 on mine and had to replace the leaking head gasket and still have problem with poor milage......I am told the o2 sensors in relation the a catalytic converter problem is possibly to blame......but other than that I can not complain about the quality of my sooby......having the head off i had the chance to look into the cyclinder and the cross hatch hone marks were still in tack.....that impressed me.....for all of the cars shortcomings i do believe that the engine design is still worth fighting all the other crap for ......just my cent and a half Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJM Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I must point out, that NONE of these problems seem to be present on any Impreza...... Also on a note...the Legacy Platform is now built here, in the usa, along side of some other GM products. Suzuki, Isuzu or so as well. While the Impreza is built entirely in Japan. Or am I wrong here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbrainard5575 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Stoneman, Join the club. I have 2001 outback 4 cyl automatic transmission. First Trans. went @ 59-000, 2nd trans. went out @ 73-000 miles. Third trans. hanging in there. Also, Oil Pump Gasket and Belt Hydraulic Tensioner went out but was caught by Dealership. Head Gasket is being watched by Dealership. Transmissions were covered under original warranty or continuing warranty 2yrs/20-000 miles. Trick is sir, to keep up your Scheduled Maintenances and get your oil changed at your dealership so they can keep their eye on trouble spots. Dealership is not allowed to open transmissions. I think they are sent to Ohio first, checked out and then sent to N.J. Headquarters for re-Manufacturing. I love this car and will see it thru its' trials and tribulations. I understand that the technology employed by Subaru Transmissions embarked on a design to improve gas mileage and cut down emissions and they are having a few glitches. They don't have to say anything or recall anything because it isn't a safety factor. Hang with it and make love to your Dealership as they are your life-line. Hope This Helps, gbrainard5575 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Wow Dave! When they did the head gaskets, they thought it best at the time to also do the timing belt. Didn't say anything to me about the water pump though. . Dont know if anyone has answered this, but yes all water pumps (including subaru) have weep holes so you can tell when its begining to fail. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Sir, did you buy this vehicle new, or used? What was the mileage when you got it? Did you buy it from a dealer? A friend of mine had all kinds of problems with a used Toyota he bought with 65,000 miles on the odemeter. He had a lot of unusual problems, and eventually was able to contac the original owner - who had put nearly 120,000 miles on it. It had been wholesaled out, then sold through a couple of dealers, during which over 50,000 miles disappeared from the odometer. Brakes at 50-60K are one thing, a head gasket and tranmission problems are pretty rare. This site tends to amplify some problems. I have 8 friends with 97 or 98 Outbacks with no head gasket problems, with mileages of 50K up to 191K. Mine has 126K and no such problem. My 97 OBW 2,5L is at 182K with the original HG and tranny. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoneman Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 107,000 miles, another set of head gaskets, another timing belt. Mostly covered by the manufacturer. Thanks again to Manchester Soob. And yes. Regular scheduled maintenance intervals, and the dealership has record of these. This is mostly why they stepped up to the plate and went to Soob corp to see if they'd cover it. Again, still very disappointed... Lost count of how many brake jobs it's been through. But brakes seem to be the week link on a ton of newer vehicles these days. Cheaper materials to keep everyone's costs down, I guess... Oh! It held up suprisingly well when I hit the deer just before Thanksgiving! Only $4000 worth of damage! Was still able to put a coupla hundred miles on it after 'the incident'. Still suprised at how well it kept it's own in THAT battle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyfish9 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Here's my history: 1998 Forester L purchased new. Currently has 236,000 miles. Wheel bearing at 92,000 Only lasted a few thousand miles as the dealership installed it improperly and it ate the seal. Replacement still working. Overheating problems started at 180,000. Replaced radiator and fan relays. HG failed at 184,000....likely caused by the previous overheating. Aluminum engines don't like overheating. Replaced timing belt and water pump as well. A/C went about this same time....replaced condenser, running fine since. Front brakes have been replaced three times, and will be due again shortly. Rears (drums) are still original. All the work sfter the bearings was done by an indie mechanic at only slightly less cost than the dealer, but was done very well. Front struts replaced at 220,000. All other work has been normal maintenance, some done at dealership, some at indie shop. Car still runs near new. Next timing belt is due at 289,000, and I'd like to run the car until then, and buy a new vehicle. I'll be looking at Honda and Toyota as well as Subaru, (the new Rav4 6 cyl looks interesting), but I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Forester. If I had traded this car at 179,000, I would have had only one problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklemotion Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 99 OBW MT - Oil separator plate (or something like that) @ 80k. Viscous coupler @ 115k (my fault probably, I didn't know e-brake slides were bad for the unit). Brakes & head gasket @ 130k. Alternator/batter & slave/master cylinders @ 140k. That's about it really. Current mileage is 150k + (tough to tell for sure since the speedo/odo cuts out on occasion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwatt Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Quick background: 2001 Outback wagon, 62,300 miles, 4 cyl... At 55,000 miles, the brakes disintegrated without warning. One day they were fine, no shaking, no fade, no degredation what so ever. Next day, gone. Toast... At 60,000 miles, blown head gasket. After some serious pissing and moaning, Subaru decided to cover the cost seeing as the car was only a bit over 2 years old. (I didn't get the extended warranty). Big kudos go to the service manager at the local stealership for stepping up for me like that.... At 62, 300 miles (now), the tranny pump goes on my way to work. Yip, tranny is now toast. Naturally, it's not covered at this point and Soob wants ungodly amounts of money to remove & replace. After some more serious ***************ing, Soob offers to pay 2/3 of the replacement costs. The 1/3 I hafta shell out is less than any local shop will charge me. Once again, big kudos to the service manager for taking this up with Soob... Now I didn't just go out one day and decide I wanted to get an Outback. I did my homework and researched this purchase. Commuting roughly 500 miles a week to & from work in New Hampshire, the Soob seemed like a no brainer. Safety, reliability, decent mileage, and longevity were all issues that the Soob seemed to handle well... Up until a few months ago, I woulda considered myself a Soob owner for life. THAT'S how happy I was with it. Even after the brake incident, I still felt confident in my decision to go with the Outback. The head gasket issue is when I started to get a bit concerned. I've put many miles on many vehicles and NEVER would I expect to run into an issue like this so early in a vehicle's life. The fact that Soob covered the repair eased my mind a bit. But it doesn't negate the fact that there's obviously a problem here... Then the tranny goes a mere 2000 miles later. Makes no sense to me to be having THESE kinds of problems this soon with a vehicle that's supposed to be so damned reliable. Typically, the stealership denies any inherent problems of these sorts and assures me these are isolated incidents... Still owing a few thousand $$ on this thing, I'm a bit concerned about what it'll cost me to keep this thing running now. Can any of you please shed some light here for me? What else can I expect to be failing next? Any common big ticket repairs I should be bracing myself for next? Needless to say, I can't be more disappointed with the Outback. I'm almost certain this'll be the last Subaru I'll ever own... Thanks for listening, thanks in advance for any info you can provide... I'm sorry to hear about the problems you've experienced. One question that I want to ask you, however: you mentioned "the brakes disintegrated without warning". By that, do you mean they were suddenly metal-to-metal and grinding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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