Car shopping lately, and I'm have been looking at used Subies. I came across an 03 Legacy w/ 107k that's original and runs good. I was wondering if they are as prone to HG leaks as the earlier EJ25's - 1998-2002. Been comparing w/ some Foresters and Outbacks of those years w/ roughly the same mileage, except they have recently had HG's replaced, and the money is the same. Trying to decide which is the smarter way to go?

 

Jay

The '03 shouldn't really have the HG issues of the earlier phase II 2.5L sohc engines. The issue was fixed around '03. I'll include the campaign with the VIN #'s from the campaign below; now there could be vehicles outside this range that were impacted, it's just the 'official' list.

 

Note that at 107k miles, she's due for a timing belt, and it needs to be done if it hasn't been since it's an interference engine that may bend valves if it breaks. At the same time there's a number of other smart things to do such as the timing idlers, water pump, cam seals, etc.

 

Ok now let me look for the VIN list.....one moment please...

There have been a few head gasket failures of the late'02 and later subarus as you can see in the link. I have a late'02 so I'm keeping careful track of the situation. If I were looking to buy an '03, I would want to see that the coolant had been regularly changed at 30K intervals [unless it was a good bargain].

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/88-head-gasket-issues/18583-hg-failure-log-no-discussion-log-only.html

i'd try to find one with headgaskets already replaced. usually not hard to find depending on area.