Petersubaru Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 For decades now this continues to be one of subarus consistent weak points..corrosion onset at an alarming rate together with a poor quality of undercoating that easily developes cracks...salt just loves that recycled metal ..the only way to combat this problem, as least from my experience is to oil undercoat before and after winter or at least before winter followed up with a good wash after the snow disappears..my '86 and '01 show no real signs of any rust and the frames are solid...a friend who works at a muffler shop tells me that a hyandai only 4 yrs old had some of the frame rotted out ..not from salt but from the A/C releaseing the water thru a portion of the frame... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankosolder2 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Have you notified the NHTSA about this issue? It might be a good idea- if this is not a fluke failure, a lot of folks could be tooling around in dangerously corroded cars. Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Too bad for winter road salts, and too bad for throw-away planned obslolesence. Really, keeping the salt off the car is the best defense. I worked at u-haul installing hitches, and there would be rust on 3-5 year old cars, and 10-15 year old were too rusty to get bolts out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarfire Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 i'm in the same boat here. 2001 subaru outback - i'm the original owner. 105,000 miles. just had major work done by the dealer in dec 2010 - timing belt and two head gaskets replaced - $1600 repair. heard a noise in my rear passenger wheel. brought the car to my mechanic who informed me that the entire rear subframe is rusted. i called subaru customer care and was informed that the 3 yr 36k warranty is expired. nothing else he could do. sorry. i demanded a manager as i want this to be repaired by subaru free of charge. she will call me tomorrow. am i screwed? the cust service man claimed his system found that recall had been fixed but i don't recall bringing it in. either way, this is ridiculous for a 10 yr old car with 105,000 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchwarzeEwigkt Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I let my sister borrow my Outback for 3 years. She didn't wash it even once. I was amazed at the damage the road salt did. The rear subframe is fine, but there are all kinds of things I've had to fix because of that once she gave it back. Now I run it through the car wash once a week just to hose it off when it's winter. Moral of the story here? Road salt sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rpm90001 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I just got mine back, took t in for the recall, looks like they took a can of under coating and sprayed the rear frame, very poorly I might add.. Missed 50% of it. I bought my own cans an sprayed the he'll out of it. Im luckey no rot on the frame and I live in NY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william_hunter Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 Update: took it back to the guy I bought it from and flipped out on him. Having a wife that is an attorney finally paid off for me.. Entire rear end replaced, no charge. Here are the updated pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eqz-BHTo2H_LzYKYlqcDsHwaS1VYkMJ_AJsZtVIcYOg?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xJfAk23yVF55Lt7V0V3QEXwaS1VYkMJ_AJsZtVIcYOg?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sSNtEy9Hu16CA8iiWpYAtXwaS1VYkMJ_AJsZtVIcYOg?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BoBXMkr-zovuURDr7ggRg3waS1VYkMJ_AJsZtVIcYOg?feat=directlink Now it should last me a few years.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 awesome, good job getting it taken care of and glad to hear it finally worked out for you. thanks for sharing the happy ending with us! now, hopefully the rest of your time here is for regular maintenance and no crazy surprises like that again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybojangels Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 yea I have a 2001 Legacy wagon and it will not pass inspection because the rear subframe is rusted out. At this point I might attempt to fix it my self but its not worth paying all the expense to have someone repair it. The only thing that interest me about maybe doing the repair is that it would be the perfect oppertunity to give it a lift and make it into a small SUV instead of a wagon. Also Subaru's do not deserve a good reputation for reliability or standing behind their product. I had a 2005 outback XT and the engine and turbo blew at 90,000 miles. Subaru would not lift a finger to help and the car was a total loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 yea I have a 2001 Legacy wagon and it will not pass inspection because the rear subframe is rusted out. At this point I might attempt to fix it my self but its not worth paying all the expense to have someone repair it. The only thing that interest me about maybe doing the repair is that it would be the perfect oppertunity to give it a lift and make it into a small SUV instead of a wagon. Also Subaru's do not deserve a good reputation for reliability or standing behind their product. I had a 2005 outback XT and the engine and turbo blew at 90,000 miles. Subaru would not lift a finger to help and the car was a total loss. Subarus have a good reputation for a very good reason. They're a good car. The turbo blowing at 90k isn't because subaru made a bad car, it's because some idiot didn't change the oil every 3k miles with synthetic like you're supposed to with a turbo. You can take two identical cars. Maintain one meticulously, and abuse the other like most people. The maintained one will last 10x as long. Whatever brand you choose. You're in Vermont (according to your profile). It snows, they use salt and crap on the road. Salt rusts cars. If you don't wash your car regularly (remember what I said about maintenance) it'll rust out. Plain and simple. It's not subaru's fault people don't take care of their car. You'd think if someone bought something for $20k+ they'd want to take care of it, but cars are apparently an acception... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william_hunter Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 That issue was a recall, though. I found a TSB on it at the time I was hunting for answers with my car. I contacted Subaru with the VIN and they confirmed for me that the recall spray on treatment had been applied, so I was out of luck there, but I have a bulldog of an attorney wife who got nasty with the dealer that sold me a car with a broken rear subframe and THEN inspected it and sent me on my way..lesson learned by me, I will admit, but you expect a certain amount of honesty when you work with a dealer, and I didn't get it, so we won out in the end (threatening to report their inspection station for failing to check an issue I think they obviously knew about didn't hurt). Contact Subaru and see what's up with any recalls on your vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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