cwiggles

Thanks. I will talk to my mechanic on Monday about this. As far as I recall he only mentioned seeing traces of coolant leaking around the head gasket. He didn't mention redoing the heads, just the gaskets. I will confirm with him on Monday. I would like to get an another 4+ years out of the car, basically the house will be paid off and I will in a better position financially to get a replacement car by then, however if I had to I could replace the car, but it's my least preferred option at this point in time. Thanks to all who have replied to this thread. It has been really helpful. ​ Regards, Craig​

Hi all, just an update. Eventually got the car back from the Insurance company, they were going to write it off originally, but changed their minds. Just got it back from a recommended Subaru experienced mechanic and the real issue is a leaking head gasket. He says that basically coolant is leaking into the combustion chambers on steep inclines causing the cylinders to misfire, hence the vibration and loss of power. He checked the CV joints and axels and could not find anything wrong. So now the question is this, do I 1. have the head gaskets replaced. His only concern was that seeing the engine is so old and is already low on compression, replacing the gasket could cause the engine to blow due to the weakened state of the engine and the higher compression with the new gaskets. He has quoted $1800 Australian dollars to replace the head gaskets. 2. Look at a reconditioned engine, this one has done close to 400,000 km's now. Ball park for a refurbished engine is in the $3.5-4k AUD region. 3. Cut my losses and trade up to a 2010/2011 model. (have been looking at the diesel outbacks, quite a few on the 2nd hand market. A 2010 model seem to resell between $14-18k AUD. So I have a decision to make, invest more in the current car, or upgrade. Would be interested in you would do in my position. I am loath to spend a lot and would rather put the money to pay off the mortgage, but the car is 20yrs old, but I like the car, it drives well, sort of attached to the dam thing, plus I just had some body work repaired which cost $600. Craig

Hi all, it's been awhile since my orginal post. Firstly thanks to all who have replied. I had booked my car in to a good service centre, but as luck would have it, the day before it was due to be serviced someone tried top steal it from the railway station car park. Basically they destroyed all three locks, the two front door locks and the boot lock, the later looked as if in frustration they just jammed something in it and snapped it off. The door locks just rotated 360 degrees in the door if you tried to open them with the key. Had to get the insurance company to get the car towed and locked up for the night, didn't want to take the chance the sods would come back at some point in the night and try and steal it again. So it's been with the insurers for just on 6 days now, and despite warnings that they may write it off, they haven't and just now waiting to have the locks replaced and re-keyed. Just frustrating to be without the car. The police said my car made it four for the day, two Nissan Pulsars were stolen and another Subaru suffered the same fate, except they managed to open the doors but destroyed the ignition lock. At least in my case they didn't get in. So once I get it back, it's off to the mechanic to check the CV joints and axles and take it from there. I'll post another update once I know more from the mechanic. Regards, Craig

Hi Everyone, many thanks for all the suggestions/opinions. I should have given a better run down on what has been looked at and replaced - Spark plugs - Wiring harness - Clutch plate (old one was worn) - One of the front CV joints (can't find paperwork to tell me which one) - Upper Engine cleaner was applied at last service (4 months ago) - gasket in one of the rocker covers replaced, had a small leak. Decided to get it fixed before it got worse. - Fuel filter replaced - front brake pads redone to stop shuddering under braking The fuel pump has been tested and they can't find anything wrong, said the pressure was correct per spec. My family are telling me to junk the car, but it's been such a good runner, and relative cheap to run repair wise. I always had it serviced regularly, so this is the first major thing to go wrong. Not bad for a 20yr old car. So I am prepared to spend a bit on it to get it back in shape. You have all given me some area's to investigate, so I'll discuss them with the mechanic. I also have a lead on a very well respected Subaru mechanic, so I plan to call them and have a chat and see what they say. I'll post an update when I know more. Once again, thankyou to all. Craig

Hi all, I am new to this forum, in fact it is my first post! So hello everyone Now on to business.... I have a 1995 Subaru Liberty GX (manual). I think they are called Legacy outside of Australia. I've had the car for about 15 years and it's done about 380,000 kms. For about the last 2 months I have noticed that when going up long steep hills the car starts to lose power and at the same time I get a really bad vibration from the front. It's a left to right sort of vibration and seems to be coming from the engine or engine compartment. Changing down gears does not seem to help at all. Revs stay about the same, so no significant loss of revs. The issue goes away fairly quickly once over the hill and on a flat road. Issue does not occur when going downhill. My mechanic has checked the wiring, spark plugs, fuel pump, had part of the clutch replaced (clutch plate I think), and one of the front CV joints was replaced 6 months ago. None of these has fixed the issue. I think it is now getting worse and occurring on moderate inclines, not badly, but I can feel it through the steering wheel. I noticed in some threads on similar topics that the front axels could be the culprit. Do you think my symptoms point to this? Despite the car having a few k's on the engine, the power is not lacking at start-up or on the road, apart from the afore mentioned moderate-steep hill issue. About the only thing I can add is that on one occasion there did also seem to be the smell of oil, it wasn't strong, but I was sure I could smell it. Since then the mechanic replaced the rocker cover seals, he found a small leak. I did not smell any oil last time this happened. I tend to avoid the roads with long hills at the moment, but I would like to get it fixed, it just seems my mechanic is not a Subaru specialist. Anyway, I would really appreciate any feedback / suggestions. It's been a bloody good car and don't really want to part or junk it if the issue is something relatively easy and not too expensive to fix. Kind regards, Craig