Wanga

Hi. I own a 1997 Subaru Outback with 144,000 miles on it, and I just blew a Head Gasket over the weekend. The dealership has not looked at it, just a local shop that I don’t think knows what they’re doing, but they (the dealership) has estimated that replacing the head gaskets, plus the water pump and timing belt (since they’ve got the engine out) will cost in the range of $1100 to $1500. They don’t believe that the heads would have been warped, they say they rarely are. I’ve had no other major work done to the car in the 115K miles that I’ve owned it. Aside from new struts last October, I’ve only had the 60K and 105K recommended service done (now regretting not getting the 135K, maybe they would have caught something). I believe I caught the car overheating before it was hot for more than a couple of minutes, and drove it a few minutes at a time to get to the only shop in town that was open at 6:00 on Friday. So, I would hope not too much other damage has occurred. It overheated a little bit 2 years ago when I had the timing belt and water pump replaced and the shop forgot to re-attach electrical connections to the fan. This I also caught pretty quickly. Now my questions! I you think you have an answer for even one of them, please put in your $.02! I’m trying to decide to fix it or unload it. I understand that many people have blown head gaskets on this engine, what was your experience following the repair? Should I expect additional peripheral repairs due to the overheating or oil/coolant exchange that has occurred? If it’s a big risk to dump the money into the car, do I stand a chance of getting anything for it sold “as is”? Will the fact that I replaced the HG’s affect the resale by much? Are there any other major time bombs I should expect in the next 20K or so? Ideally I’d like to drive it for another 6 months to a year before going to something new. Thanks for any advice! -Jon Michigan