need mechanic in north west New Jersey

[ron917]

'99 OBW with almost 100K miles needs head gasket job plus seals, timing belt, water pump, etc. It's been bubbling in the coolant for a while, and would probably be OK for a while longer (no overheat), but now it's draining oil from the front crank seal or oil pump seals at 1 qt per week. It lays down a pretty good smoke screen ;-)

 

I bought all of the parts to do the job (genuine Subaru from 1stsubaruparts.com), but I simply don't have the time right now.

 

I need to find a good, honest, mechanic that knows Subarus and is willing to use my parts. In or near North West NJ. Will drive a reasonable distance if I have to.

 

Any recomendations?

 

Thanks!

[idosubaru]

SVXpert may be interested. he is roughly around the philly area, south jersey. he is on the board, look him up and email. he's a good guy, i've bought parts from him and met him once to get parts.

 

don't drive it very long like this, depending on the leak, prolonged driving can damage the heads. (been there, done that). i drove mine for 10,000-20,000 miles and damaged the heads. they may be repairable but at a cost.

[nickb21]

Not sure why I didn't think of this before... but there is a Subi place up in Broadway off of rt 57 (just west of washington). They always have a bunch 2nd gen legacies around. I don't have any personal experience with them, but it would be worth a call.

 

I don't know the name/address off hand, lemme see if I can find it..

[ron917]

Nick, thanks for that hint. Broadway isn't very far (I'm in Andover, used to live in Phillipsburg). If you remember the name of the place, please post, otherwise I'll do some digging and maybe go for a drive.

 

Gary, thanks for the tip. I've seen posts by SVXpert, his place near Philly is a little further than I want to drive.

[lhrocker]

Ron,

 

If you find a place, please let me know. I'm in Hardyston and would also like to find a good mechanic other than the dealer, who may not be that good.

 

Thanx,

Pete

[nickb21]

Ok, so it took me a month

 

I stopped up to the place in Broadway yesterday, it's name: Broadway Automotive, go figure. google maps is off by a bit on the address: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=broadway+automotive,+broadway,+nj&ll=40.733275,-75.049614&spn=0.002773,0.006034&t=h&hl=en

 

Tele: 908.689.2226

 

I talked to a nice lady there for a few minutes; the two mechanics are ex- flemington subaru guys who opened up their own shop. They were busy, so I didn't get a chance to speak with them. I think they only they can't do are alignments.

 

If anyone ends up going there for some work i'd be interested in their experience.

[avk]

FWIW, that shop is listed in CarTalk's MechaniXfiles with positive comments.

[ron917]

Haven't been on USMB in a while, but I figured I would follow up on this old thread.

 

I did end up going to Broadway Automotive, as suggested by nickb21. I dropped in at lunch time one day to "interview" them, and found that they REALLY know Subarus. Jim and George knew exactly what the problems were when I described my symptoms. They were happy to use the genuine Subaru parts that I supplied. And best of all, they respected me as an intelligent person - no BS like you get at some places.

 

They fixed my car in early February, and I'm happy with the work they did. No related problems after almost two months - I haven't lost a drop of oil, and there are no more bubbles in the coolant. The price was fair, and the work was done well - I normally do all of my own wrenching, and I am very particular when I let someone else do it.

 

They changed my head gaskets, all engine seals, timing belt and tensioner, water pump, belts, hoses, and spark plugs.

 

The machine shop found that I had a leaky exhaust valve and some loose valve guides, so I had them re-seat and grind all of the valves and change the valve guides as well. That cost a bunch of extra money, and an extra week because the exhaust valve guides were not in stock anywhere locally.

 

Seems like a lot of work for an engine with only 104,700 miles on it.

 

Broadway Automotive, on Route 57 in Broadway, NJ, about 2 miles west of Washington in Warren County. Phone 908-686-2226.

 

Thanks to nickb21 for the tip!

 

-Ron, '99 OBW

[pitstain]

if you dont mind me asking what did it cost for the work minus the machining done to your valves and whatnot?

 

and how much the parts were...thank you

[njdrsubaru]

Hey The guy in washington on rt 57 is a good guy, i've bought parts there before and had some service done there. There is a guy in Keyport that i really trust, the name of the place is Economy Machine, his name is Ron.

 

 

cheers

 

Neo

[yarikoptic]

To diagnose the problem I have

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=72752

first I called Broadway Automotive and they tried to troubleshoot it with me over the phone. At the end it boiled down to either differential or smth more weird -- it was a nice phone chat. I asked to make an appointment so they could test drive the biestie themselves -- came today's morning, two guys drove it and unfortunately the final opinion was that it is nowhere in the mech. driveline (not even probably a differential since it would sound/behave worse) but rather in the AT. Also stated that it might be a torque converter as the stealership mechanic told me:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76994

Also the guy said that unfortunately he does not know anyone trustful working on ATs -- just 2 dealerships which he used to deal with, which left a good impression.

 

So -- it seems that they are good fellows and deal with subies quite often -- I saw at least 7-8 subies around the garage which were either on sale or for parts or just chilling out ;-)