I have the chance to get a '96 OB with 246K miles for $500.

It has a suspected failing head gasket and a certain power steering leak, and a couple minor things like rear latch interior pannel clips broken, etc....

 

My gut tells me pick it up, do the head gasket and call it a day, but with 245,000 miles, I want the next subaru to be a definite 10 year rig...

 

-torn between emotion and logic-

personally I wouldn't without it being in great sharpe a a history of good care

reason? I am anal and would want to replace lots of stuff to avoid breakdowns later...t belt pullies...valve job, WP, hoses belts, wires full tune up...probably need brakes/rotors.....

alot of work and $....what if it was overheated too much...I've had it happen...did the whole job and then found I needed a new block....

if you really, honestly want it for 10 years it needs to be in really good shape i'd think. if the overall condition is good and you're capable of doing work on it, then it's doable.

 

quarter of a million miles with a blown headgasket isn't worth much, but for under $1,000 you could conceivably have a good daily driver for the next few years/100k if it's in good shape and the work is done right.

 

i'd plan on a few hundred to do it right though - that's an interference engine, it needs a complete timing kit - $200 off ebay probably, in addition to water pump and head gasket.

 

power steering is cake, just swap in another rack, they're cheap. or if you're lucky it's just a fitting that needs tigthened.

This dilemma of high miles with an HG issue has been asked before. My opinion is to drop in a good used 2.2 motor for good reliability. With 245K miles on the odo, the motor is nearing the end of its useful life. I don't think it is advisable to put good time and money in a nearly worn out motor.

I have the chance to get a '96 OB with 246K miles for $500.

 

Automatic (2.5L) or manual (2.2L)?

emotion and logic are a hard thing to deal with.

Why not just pass this whole deal, and look for something in the 150k or less mileage range in the near future, another will come along, nicer, and maybe even that cheap. Whole lotta work to make a 250k car go another 10 years without going broke. For the amount of money to fix the 500 dollar car, you could have put the TOTAL into a decent nice low mileage rig...that might even have newer tires, brakes, shocks, tbelt etc. emotion tho, it a tuff battle..

Go for it... Hell , I only have 1,300 in my hatch with tons of mods..

Upullit , craigslist, ebay usmb ...you'd be suprised how easy it is to get stuff cheap...keep surfing for the perfect wave ...I'm still riding mine..

 

keep the 2.5

By the way some guy in Sweden has over 1,000,000 miles on an outback...!

emotion and logic are a hard thing to deal with.

Why not just pass this whole deal, and look for something in the 150k or less mileage range in the near future, another will come along, nicer, and maybe even that cheap. Whole lotta work to make a 250k car go another 10 years without going broke. For the amount of money to fix the 500 dollar car, you could have put the TOTAL into a decent nice low mileage rig...that might even have newer tires, brakes, shocks, tbelt etc. emotion tho, it a tuff battle..

 

+1 on above. I couldn't have said it better!

Thanks guys, that's good stuff...

 

Kind of verified what my reason was trying to say. If it had like 60-80K less miles it'd be a no brainer I think...

 

Olnick, its an auto 2.5

 

Overall the car's in really good shape and was highway miles from a hoods in the woods instructor...

 

My thought is this, yeah lots of miles and doing a HG by helping out a local wrench (making it cheaper for me), fixing steering leak, and of course brakes, etc. etc. I'd still have 250,000 miles on an automatic tranny, which could grenade in a couple months...

 

So thanks for the good thoughts and insight... I'm passing this one..

 

BUT

 

then there's this other option:

a neighbor has a 99 forester S with, "a bad motor"....

He said he did the whole timing kit, except the one pulley the dealer told him never goes out. Told him it was a composite and like $500 for the pulley, so he didn't do it, and that's what failed.

 

He's trying to decide if its worth putting another motor in it.

 

I'm telling him I'm interested if he wants to sell it. I'd totally drop like $500 for this forester and drop in another block!!

 

It was his wife's grandparent's car, has the pusher on the front bumper a tow hitch, heated seats and is auto (good for towing our new/used tent trailer

has just under 200K

 

 

I'm kind of all about foresters these days.

 

thoughts on this one??