So I got rid of my '96 2.5L because I was nervous about engine problems, being that it was the first year of production. Needless to say I never ever had a problem with car and I sold it at 75,000. However my dad decided it would be a good idea to sell it to his boss....hmmm.

 

A month ago a mounting screw fell throguh the engine causing $1500 worth of damage. Today I was informed that the water pump failed, temperature spiked and melted the timing belt. $1600. Now this isn't like the Subaru I know at all. How much more is to be expected?

 

My dad suggested they trade the car in for a new one, but the like it too much.

So I got rid of my '96 2.5L because I was nervous about engine problems, being that it was the first year of production. Needless to say I never ever had a problem with car and I sold it at 75,000. However my dad decided it would be a good idea to sell it to his boss....hmmm.

 

A month ago a mounting screw fell throguh the engine causing $1500 worth of damage. Today I was informed that the water pump failed, temperature spiked and melted the timing belt. $1600. Now this isn't like the Subaru I know at all. How much more is to be expected?

 

My dad suggested they trade the car in for a new one, but the like it too much.

 

I'm not sure I understand either of the issues? A mounting screw fell into the engine? Huh? Was this an error due to someone dropping something in there, and what had to be replaced? And I've never had an overheating car melt the timing belt. Blow head gaskets yes, but you have to get it pretty hot to melt a timing belt. Were they paying attention to the temperature gauge at all? (I admit, there are times when you can't just pull over and stop when you see the gauge spike -- like when I blew my head gasket...). If stuff this weird is happening, it sort of sounds like it's got a hex on it or something.

 

A friend of mine just got a good used '97 2.2 engine for $500, so perhaps the way to go would be to get a used engine, if they like the rest of the car. I would have done this before the previous two repairs though.

Yeah I know its crazy. I had never heard of an engine mounting screw breaking and dropping into the engine either. And I certainly never did anything to the engine that would cause that. It was always Subaru serviced anyway.

 

As for the temp, well the driver is a young one and prolly didnt realize that his the guage abnormality.

As for the temp, well the driver is a young one and prolly didnt realize that his the guage abnormality.

 

I'm amazed at what people can ignore on gauges.

 

Of course, I'm used to old cars that I assume are about to die, and am usually pleasantly suprised every day that nothing bad happens. And to be fair it takes a while to get used to what a temp guage is supposed to read. My '87 GL always sat halfway up the guage, which freaked me out to begin with after driving the '89 GL, because on it, anything over 1/4 of the guage meant something was wrong.

i had to replace the radiator in my 90 nissan pickup the other day and thought it would be a good idea to remove the thermostat. i didn't know a car could run that "cool". the guage didn't hardly move. i always heard that the thermostat helped the engine warm up faster. well it does , but what it really does is create heat for the heater. if you live in florida, throw it away.