I have a 91 Loyale that currently has 3/4ths of a functioning engine in it. One of the pistons has collapsed according to my mechanic and it certainly sounds as if it does. The motor does run, it will move on its own power, I've done 35mph with it in town with out anything other than the obvious check engine light turning on as I took it home from the mechanic.

 

I recently had a fellow offer to buy it off me, and I figured 500 was a fair price but of course he didn't agree, and that's fine, but I am curious as to what you guys would sell it for if it were yours, and on the flip side, what would you pay for it if you were looking at buying it?

91 with a bad engine...250 to 500 depending on condition of body/tranny/tires etc.

Transmission is great, there's a good dent in the front quarter panel that took out a parking light but no rust anywhere.

Pics would be helpful.

if 4wd it's definately worth at least $500

 

I would be a bit suspect of the mechanics opinion too.........not common for them to have a "colapsed piston".  How did he determine that?  Compression test? Leakdown?

 

More common for these is passenger side timing belt skipping/slipping so one bank is off.......might want a second opinion.

I'm fairly sure that your mechanic of choice is incorrect. Seek a Subaru specialist.

Sorry for such a delay, but I happened to have looked around and I happened to take a look at the timing belt for a bit while it was running. One of the pulleys on the passenger side is no longer attached to the block, and I could see that because the ends of the belt cover are off. So with the idea that the passenger side might be off due to a timing issue would the tensioner missing cause that issue?

if 4wd it's definately worth at least $500

Not around here you can get a runner that might need some work for that price. Id say $250 max

Edited December 27, 201411 yr by Fish-N-Fool

Yep, missing T-belt tensioner would give you some grief.

 

T-belt kits can be found on E-Bay at a decent price, and I've seen them on various parts sites for close to same amount.

 

T-belt kits have both belts and both tensioner/springs in them.

 

Once you have the new kit, go to you-tube and search for "The art of Subaru Maintenance by MilesFox". Excellent how-to on doing the belts.

down here in the bay area they throw them away i got 2 for 100 each one had a great body and one perfictly running with a duel range in it it was roled at some point and some one fixed it i looked great but the winsheald rusted out so bad there wasent enuff metel to reinstall a new window my 3rd one my daily was a gift so i got 3 loyales for $200 total but i would bet yours is a easy fix though when i looked up the nada blue book for my 94 loyale wagon the range was 100-1200 for a running car but what i coldent figure out was the older 2wd dl wagon was 500-2500 i might be remebering that wrong it was a few years ago when inlooked them up but the 2wd versions with auto seem to go for way more i dont understand but hay

Around here, these cars are rare. I paid a bit over 3k for a loyale wagon 4wd wi with no rust not long ago. Plus had it shipped a Ross the country.