reelst

Well, just picked up my daughter's OBW yesterday from fixmysuby and I have to say it ran like a top! Very pleased. $1600 (very fair I think) and they did all the xtras, TB, new radiator, seals, and a couple unrelated items. Thanks for all your help everyone I'm glad I asked, you guys saved me a bunch of $ *and* I got her car fixed up great! reelst

Thanks everyone! Great resource. Esp you GD, I found your comments particularly helpful. I may pm you about helping out, thanks for the offer. I'll post back updates for general interest. reelst

So, my daughter's 98 OBW has the bad HG :-( I've read a bunch of the relevant posts here, shoulda before I bought it, never owned a Subaru before - *used* to think well of them! I'm not mechanically inclined so I have to have someone else work on it. The mechanic I've been going to for quite some time quotes $2900 (!!) 'course that has the timing belt in it too. Any advice on getting it done for less? We're in Salem Oregon. Anyone know good mechanics near here? I'm thinking at least a 2nd opinion (quote really). Anything that possibly could be skipped (the head bolts? only ~$125) Is it worth it? That's what we paid for it! It has 212K. Otherwise it's solid. Thanks, reelst