Found a 2001 Forester S package, leather interior. Exterior in excellent shape, interior almost perfect, 98K miles. All interior functions work. Carfax shows one owner and no accidents, etc. Took it to a family member that owns a garage and he checked it out for us.

This is what he found:

Right front axle boot ripped

needs new alt and a/c belt

rear brakes hanging up

front end alignment

struts all around are weak

oil leak from engine head, passenger side

timing belt needs changing

We knew going in the head gaskets and timing belt would need changing, but if seller agrees to fix these, would you consider buying? Any of these a major deal breaker in your opinion?

 

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

The Lynns.

What is the asking price? It has low miles, and if the body is solid that is a huge plus.

sounds like a money pit unless they're asking $3500 for it. overall, from your description, it appears very little maintenance was done. for the HG issue alone ($2000 unless you're a mechanic, ha) I'd keep looking.

I think I want to pay 5-6K if everything is fixed. Seller has a garage, just took in on trade, but didn't do anything to it...so I am told.

Okay, I'm thinking if everything you mentioned were to be fixed then 5-K6 would be pretty good (caveat, I'm in Colorado). Seller may not be willing to replace the HGs at that price if there's not evidence of failure, but if everything else is tight then you just have to do the recommended conditioner and make sure it doesn't overheat etc. right? Hopefully you can pick up a mystery free forester.

the oil leak at the heads would be evidence of failure. If they fixed it all I agree 5-6k would be a good deal in colorado.

With as many problems as it has, I wouldn't pay more than 1k$ for it. I just bout a 2000 forester a couple months ago for 2700$ runs perfect only needed a timming belt change.

 

And have seen foresters go for 1k with hg problems.

 

Good luck

The deal breaker for me would be rust. If the body is really solid it might be a good deal at 5-6k with all the issues addressed. My Forester has about 200K on it, and even with an accident is still going strong. Make sure the tranny (if auto), is smooth and plan on changing it's fluid if you get it; this is a very expensive part.

that oil leak is A BAD HEAD GASKET, and wouldn't trust just anybody to do it. they might use ebay junk gaskets and not say. Those ej25 sohc motors have a external leak head gasket issue. If they are selling it, they may throw some "stop leak" in and say it's "fixed". I would require DEALER or independant SUBARU shop recipt for the head gaskets. They can refail if not done properly :-\

The Subaru stock head gaskets for the EJ25 SOHC engines are too thin. We used to have leaking problems after a couple of years, so we switched to turbo head gaskets. (Not sure of the part number right now). Since then, we have had zero issues.

great deal if:

 

1. headgaskets are replaced with *good* headgaskets like just mentioned, the turbo variety.

 

2. the timing tensioner and pulleys are all replaced. you don't want 10+ year old timing components in place on a "new" car you want another 100,000 miles out of.

 

go with ebay timing kits on the timing pulleys, they're much more reasonably priced.

I don't see any show stopper. I would expect all the problems to be present in a Subaru that old, specially if they are selling it. After all, they are selling it for a reason, right?

 

That being said, I would rather not ask them to fix the stuff, but ask for a hefty discount to do those myself, and make sure those are done correctly. Brakes is one weekend, axle boot another, and so on. Head gaskets is a more serious issue, but from my experience in this country mechanical stuff can be fixed, body issues can't.