got one in the shop yesterday, lady said its got a blown hg or engine... was towed in..

 

my shop foreman went over it.. let her run for an hour or so and drove it.. no overheating problems.. it did have a miss so we fixed that with a good ole tune-up..

 

are these the phase 1 engines? or phase 2?

 

and is it worth it for me to give the lady about 700 for it?

 

cars in good shape inside and out, just a little dirty.. has alloys, no sunroof, is automatic with 136k on the ticker..

 

if i do buy it and it turns out to be a dud with a blown hg/head i'll need to either get rid of it or part it out..

got one in the shop yesterday, lady said its got a blown hg or engine... was towed in..

 

my shop foreman went over it.. let her run for an hour or so and drove it.. no overheating problems.. it did have a miss so we fixed that with a good ole tune-up..

 

are these the phase 1 engines? or phase 2?

Phase I

and is it worth it for me to give the lady about 700 for it?

 

cars in good shape inside and out, just a little dirty.. has alloys, no sunroof, is automatic with 136k on the ticker..

 

if i do buy it and it turns out to be a dud with a blown hg/head i'll need to either get rid of it or part it out..

I would, you can have a shop fix the HG for 1200 or do the work yourself for less and you have a car worth 7-9k range depending on market.

That's a 99 right? Not an 89? Even an 89 is worth more than $700 even if you have to put an extra $1200. OF COURSE, go for it.

yeah its a 99 with the tiny hoodscoop

 

even if the lady comes in and says she wants a little more i may just offer her $1500 for it and take my chances on the engine being toasted..

 

we'll see..

 

i know i can't let it get away, lol...

SO am I understanding this right. A lady comes in thinking she has a serious engine problem, i.e. blown head gasket. You guys figger out it's just in need of a tune-up, and now you're not gonna tell her so you can get her car dirt cheap $700.00 / $1,500.00 for a '99 Outback.

 

I hope I'm misunderstanding this. I believe that if that is what you're planning, it's called fraud, never mind the bad juju.

lol, umm no we don't do that... she had it towed in thinking its got a HG problem or bad engine.. its already been to another hill billy shop that wired the electric fans so they come on with the key..

 

we look it over, let it run awhile, drive it, compression test it, etc.. basic stuff you do when you "think" you have a bad headgasket. it shows no sign of any problems at all except its got 136k on teh original plugs and wires and is missing horribly..

 

I called her, told her we do not think she has a hg/engine problem and this is why, then proceed to sell her a tune-up. she says ok do it. but in talkin with her i get the feeling she still thinks she has this "major" engine problem that we can't find..

 

before i hang up she asks me to price a new engine for her car, installed.

by this point i know she is dead set on it bein bad. so i price it all up as i would with any other customer.. i call her back, quote her the price and she says no, i think i'll just get rid of it..

 

then i ask her what she's gonna do with it, she says "if i can get a decent price i'll sell it" i ask whats a decent price? she says $500-1000.. i say ok i'll give ya that and pay your $350 bill here at the shop..

 

thats where the conversation left off..

 

so no i'm not telling her she has a bad engine, i told her she doesn't need one, she's the one who's set on it being bad....

 

we are an honest shop... not like some out there.. and i sorta feel good about this since our factory trained subaru guy thinks its ok also..

 

bout the only thing i'm guilty of is gettin it for a deal.. i mean would you go buy a used car thats priced at $5995 and say well i feel like payin you $8995 for the car just to take it off your hands? lol......no

OK, I feel better now, if she instigated it and passed on your recommendation ... well, ol' P.T. Barnum wasn't far off.

 

Ya wanna make a quick grand?

lol, naw not just yet.. i think the wifey's camry is going to loose a tranny here soon.. gonna drive it until it won't drive no more but the outback will make her a nice replacement.. even if i gotta put a new head/gasket on it down the road..

Those HG's can go days with out overheating. If it is a minor seep, sometimes they only overheat on the freeway.

 

Does the overflow bottle have any signs of oil residue in it? You guys should have a 4 gas analyzer, are there any hydro-carbons in the antifreeze?

Didn't they switch from Phase I to Phase II halfway through 99?

 

Phase I

Didn't they switch from Phase I to Phase II halfway through 99?

 

Yeah...what's the official way to know which Phase engine you have?

Yeah...what's the official way to know which Phase engine you have?

I believe the different phases have different part numbers, there should be a decal on the back of the engine by the bell housing that has a part number on it (make sure the decal is on the engine, and not the tranny, the tranny will have one also). Then you can call a dealer and have them check the engine number against there record to see which phase it is (the engine might also be on the data, if it has the original engine in it).

 

I would love to be in this situation, I could get a brand new long block from Subaru, and put it in and still be way under the low blue book for this car.

 

if i do buy it and it turns out to be a dud with a blown hg/head i'll need to either get rid of it or part it out..

 

Hey man, if you part it out I'm in need of the front sway bar...please let me know!

 

peace

ramon:D