Kakadu

Ok I have another question then... If this isn't prone to all subes, then how many people reading this thread have had a HG problem with their car, replaced it, and hasn't had a problem since? Then the other way around, had a problem, forked the 1k and it broke again? Here is a little more background for those who were wondering, we bought it for 5,500. The car itself has ~ 132,000 miles on it. The ENGINE has ~ 72,000 miles on it. Like I said in the first post, the reason we got a 97 Leg/Outback for 5,500 was cause the engine was replaced, which I thought would mean a good deal, newer engine and cheaper car! BUT the original engine that the previous owner was using blew due to overheating and her just running it with the car overheating. I don't know exactly why the car was over heating, but I would put 90% of my eggs in the basket that says it was the HG.... mtsmiths, you are right when you say that 1k is cheaper then just getting a new car...but if we get it fixed and it just will happen again, is it worth it?

thank you very much! how much would a 2.2 engine with a new HG run? Meaning, get a whole new engine all together...

Ok, so I took some time to see the older threads here and yup, it does look like this is a problem everyone faces... So instead of everyone saying the same stuff in the threads...after reading them all, I didn't see much closure. My question is, if we buy a new or used engine to put in this car what modle should we be looking for that will work in a 97 legacy outback? OR If we trade in this car to a subaru dealer what would be a good thing to look at to replace this car. For reliability, mileage...yadda yadda... What is a good year/make/model that is close to the 97 Leg Outback but doesn't come with the gasket problems...

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew some of the problems that commonly face Subarus. For instance, my wife and I bought a 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback about 8 months ago. We got a great deal on it because it had a new engine in it. From what I understand the previous owner saw that the engine was heating up and tried to make it home and blew the motor. So we got a newer engine put in it which dropped the price. Now the problem... My wife is now experiencing the engine overheating frequently, she is now putting coolent in it once every 4 or 5 days. We brought it to a personal mech and he said that the model Subaru that we have is prone to the head gasket failing due to poor engine design. He told us that if we get it fixed (around 1k to fix), eventually it will happen again. This is most likely the reason the previous owner's engine blew as well. So is this our car or is this a common thing, Subes? If it is, is there a model where the design was fixed? My wife really likes this car, but I am not about to keep forking 1 grand every 60k miles 'cause of a head gasket. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.