The car is a 97 legacy 2.5l. It had a cyl #2 misfire code which eventually (after being misdiagnosed as a leaking injector) led to the conclusion that it needs a valve job on that cylinder.

 

They quoted me 950 to 1000 to do just the one side of the engine, or 1550 to do both sides.

 

So the question is should I go the whole way, or just fix whats broken.

 

A little history of the car. Its been in the family since about 99, has 135000 miles and gets driven inner city almost exclusively all minnesota winter, gets on the freeway more frequently in the summer.

 

Thanks for any help. Charlie

 

Oh and it had the head gaskets done at 113000 mile along with the timing belt and water pump etc.

i have never ever heard of doing a valve job on one side of the engine. Doing it just on one side of the engine can lead to a rough idle and other weirdness.

 

How did they decide it needed a valve job (which is rare on a subaru).

 

What you may need to do is find a shop with a computerized engine analyzer and let them look at the car (people rely way too much on the ECU to trouble shoot). Usually the reason for a valve job today is a burnt valve, not carbon buildup.

 

nipper

a compression check will determine if you need major engine work. More accurate method, albeit needing more expensive tools, is a leakdown test.

A valve job is major engine work! In today's engines, something has to be MAJOR league fubar'ed to need a valve job.

They did a leakdown test and said that it had 90% loss or failier or whatever it is they measure. They also said it had fluctuating vacuum from about 21 inches to 16.

 

thanks for the help