rockbass Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I'll try to keep this concise, as I'm looking for advice. (Hey, that rhymed!) Brief history: 1998 Outback Limited purchased with 147K in 2004. Head gasket replaced by Independent Subaru shop. Duty C/Transfer clutch replaced twice by same shop. All of this within first 3 years of owning. Last year the head gasket blows again. It's suggested here that I convert to 2.2. Rick "General Disorder" Cropper, or as known to me, Subaru Rock Star, does the work in a day! More recent history: the transmission has been occasionally slipping into neutral when climbing a slight grade. I did a passive AT flush (multiple drain/fill cycles) as suggested here and things improved. Threw in a bottle of Trans X, also suggested here. Things got worse. Repeat flush. The car was drivable with occasional slips into neutral and let the car slow down enough to start over in a lower gear. Fun stuff. Most recently: slipping got so bad a couple of weeks ago that I could barely get the car to work and back. I had to avoid the freeway completely and nurse it home. Bought a case of AT at Costco, flush - drove a bit - flush - drove a bit - etc. Now it seems stable and has only slipped once this week during a mildly aggressive maneuver. The 2.2 is running strong. I get a P0440 CEL that I can't seem to solve, but that's another story. The car now has 272K miles on it. The biggest issue for me right now is the lack of power climbing even the smallest hill. To keep up with traffic flow I have to floor it and wait for the RPMs to gradually get high enough to get the power to make it up the hill. 1) Should I buy a used trans and get it swapped out and maybe keep driving the car for another year or more? 2) Or, sell my car and get a 2000-2003 OBW? Those years are somewhat more affordable for me, however I don't really want to deal with any more head gasket issues - internal or external, and I'm not crazy about the body styling. The H6 option is interesting (although more money) because I haul about 500 lbs. of music gear almost every weekend and it would be nice to have the extra poop. 3) Or, sell my car and bite the financial bullet and get a 2005-2006 with the body styling I like and maybe even an H6? 4) Or, sell my car and buy another 1998-2000 OBW Limited (I like the body styling, and I'm spoiled by those heated leather seats) with the newest version of head gasket and hope they didn't cook the engine too much when they overheated it? Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 h6 kicks rump roast buy one of those jlbean edition ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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