All, we are finally going to look into a newer Subaru, the 1995 Legacy LS has treated us well but it is time to move on. 

My question to every one is that all the Outbacks I have been looking at do not have the timing belt changed at around 90,000 miles.  I thought this is a must on a Subaru 2.5.  Am I wrong? The cars I am looking at are 2011 Outback 2.5I Premiums with a 6 speed trans, my wife and I like to shift gears yet,  but this lack of timing belt change or head gaskets replaced before 100K miles has made turn down three cars already.

Your opinions are always welcomed,  Mark

Maintenance is 10 years or 105,000 mile replacement for the 2011 2.5 timing belt.

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/outback/outback2011.html#warranty

 

 

Ok,  so that explains the no timing belt change on the CarFax reports I am looking at.  Do these engines still have head gasket problems?  

later ones like this are much less-risky for catastrophic internal HG failures than the late 90s-early 2000s DOHC 2.5s.

there can be external weeping of oil or coolant - not sure if it's any worse than other brands of used cars though.

 

one could argue that, getting one with a little price reduction that soon NEEDS the TB system done is good from the standpoint that you can make sure the work is done properly.

I tried on one of the cars to get a reduction on the price because of the belt, but the salesman insisted that the warranty that he wanted to sell me for $2500.00 would cover the expense of bent valves if the belt let loose.  That car has 113K on it, I think I am going to pass on that one.  What the heck, I can get a belt installed for a lot less that that.  He would not budge on the $9885.00 price tag and the car was for sale about 80 miles from here. 

Strangely they have a higher than expected incidence of fire ring HG failure that leads to overheating like the old 25D. We have not yet determined a cause but the factory 770 equipped EJ25 single cam engines are having this type of failure quite often. 

GD

At about what mileage have you heard this is happening GD,  and is there a recommended repair like the older motors?  

It varies. Last one I saw I think was around 120k. 

Not much choice but to replace the gaskets with the same 770 and resurface the heads. 

GD

Edited July 21, 20196 yr by GeneralDisorder