This may have been covered here before but I am looking into newer Subaru Outbacks. (2005 or newer) Have there been any HG failures on 2005 or newer cars?

They aren't as common on the newer ones as they were from say 96-02. I have seen a couple later model bajas where the gaskets blew.

too soon to tell, people are just beginning to get the 12k yr avg on them, so just seeing 60k on cars now made 2005 and later.

I got 92k on my 06 Outback, its fine now, but I know the risk.

Here is one report of oil leaking on the 2005 Forester (same engine):

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23228

 

As the previous poster said, its a bit too early to say, but I think its not as bad as the 95-99 2.5L Phase I engines or the 2000-2004 Phase II engines. IMO YMMV

Have there been any HG failures on 2005 or newer cars?

Yes. Like they touched on it's difficult to get a feel for anything because many are still under warranty or worth enough that repairs don't have as much of a voice.

 

I think Subaru even redesigned the headgasket (again) for the 2.5 around 2010 or something? Could be a block or head change but I wouldn't be surprised, if it's true, that it's related to quality control.

You could stick to the turbo models.

Here is some info on the new gasket for 2010 2.5L Outback models:

 

http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-changed-there-head-gasket-for-the-2010-25l/

 

Apparently its not backward compatible with the earlier engines

 

Here is some more info on the open deck vs semi open deck blocks:

 

http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-changed-there-head-gasket-for-the-2010-25l/

To answer the original question by vwbuge1 clearly, it doesn't look good for the 2.5 phase 2 engines supplied 2002-2009.

 

One, Subaru has supplied completely new gaskets for 2010 and stiffened the cylinders as noted in the above post. That doesn't mean that 2002-2009 head gaskets will fail, but that's the way to bet!

 

Two, there is already some posts on the internet of owners of 2002-2009 model Subaru's having failed gaskets in the area of 100 Kmi or less. But we know from pre 2002 Subaru's. that many, many of the gaskets will fail at 150 kmi, 200 Kmi, or even higher milage. The late model cars just haven't reached that that mileage yet, as already pointed out by another poster.

2006 b9 Tribeca H6 3.0L engine: Both head gaskets went bad and seeped oil. Caught it in time at around 80k. and SOA did a repair. They screwwed something up i now have a false misfire in cylinder 3&4..... its been in and out of dealer for 3 weeks now they keep sending me away saying they cannot get it to throw codes when its there it just comes in with a history of it. They say they cannot fix it if they can not get it to repeat the problem(there typical excuse for everything) Im honestly so fed up with Subaru at the moment. The car has been in the shop 30+ times in 3 years.....

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/2006-head-gaskets-problem-64464/index19.html

 

In our case, 2.5 forester just under 5 years, just about 50 k miles.

 

Dave