It looks like my first post is going to be about the infamous head gasket issue.
Less than a week ago, I bought a one owner '98 Outback with 88k miles. It runs beautifully, apart from the coolant puke- overheat- bubbling overflow stuff that's typical of an engine with a blown head gasket.
As I write this, I'm waiting on a call from the local Subaru repair shop, who is firming things up with my after market service contract people. I don't always purchase these kinds of warranties, but after having seen this head gasket problem show up on this and other message boards, I needed some peace of mind. Thank Buddha for message boards! This online dialogue is such a great tool.
I'm guessing that head gaskets can just leak at first, then steadily worsen, or suddenly fail catastrophically, and that there are symptoms that can appear alone or in combination with others. I suppose it depends on where the breech is and how long it's been problematic. I seem to have oil in the coolant, a black gooey residue the texture of peanut butter collecting on the inside surface of my overflow tank, and the overheating episodes with the bubbling . The oil looks fine, however, and I'm not blowing steam out of the exhaust.
The head service guy told me he had to repair his '99 Outback, too. This is not coincidental, too many post's with more than one incident are being reported ( "my father and my uncle", "blew gasket, installed rebuilt, blew again" etc.) Perhaps the likelyhood of a second failure was greater before the introduction of the 4 layer gasket, I don't know. I feel so bad for the people who have lost out, I'm gonna sign the "head gasket guest book", hopefully something good may come of this.
