'04's were not covered under the extended warranty. Strike one.

The car had 86k miles (well out of normal warranty). Strike two.

 

But, I wonder if enough people call SOA if things will change. Kind of doubt it.

 

Like the piston slap issue. They started out replacing engines with piston slap, then went to just installing new pistons in the engines, then to only fixing the engines that were still noisy when fully warm, to doing nothing at all.

And I still run across late model cars ('00-) with piston slap. Is Subaru doing anything about this anymore?

 

 

Any way, as of June (I believe) of '03 SOA recommends the use of their cooling system conditioner in ALL their engines.

 

That tells me they aren't so sure the problem is fixed.

But they don't seems to willing to fix all the cars that have the problem.

 

Unfortunate situation to be sure.

Philbiker I agree with grossgray don't condem soobs just for this issue. They really are great cars. This is the only real big issue. I've been driving soobs for ten years now at over 500 miles per week. They're like the E bunny they keep going and going. I looked for a year and a half for my 97 outback 2.5 5sp. Paid $4000. for it. After 5 weeks the HG issue happened. I had to deal with it myself. Hadn't found USMB at that time. Soob dealer told me the block or head(s) were cracked. Got another 2.5 from the bone yard. A year later what's that smell? Oh crap!! I drove that motor into the ground with a vegeance! Finally after 6 months it seized. I'm looking for a used 2.2 to replace it. Some on this site think the new HG's solve the problem. I'm not convinced yet, maybe in a few years with no HG issues I'll be convinced. The 2.2 are great engines. All the soobs I've had before the OB came from boneyards. All had 2.2's. Drove them thousands of miles until the bodies finally failed inspection for too much rot. My advice replace the 2.5 with a used 2.2 the cost is about the same, you won't be sorry. Subaru rules:clap: !

Philbiker I agree with grossgray don't condem soobs just for this issue. They really are great cars.

he did talk about that after i said the same thing. everyone is different and makes decisions in different ways. some subaru lovers are subaru lovers because of their anecdotal experiences with other brands! most of us have a few things in life where we are that way...turned off by one really bad experience...like a girl we'll never consider dating again, EVER AGAIN!!!!!

Personally I'd just condemn the EJ25's.

 

I do believe your car will last 200k, Subarus may have their issues but the big difference is an average bloke with a spanner can fix them.

 

For flat out reliability - forget Subaru and go get a Toyota.

he did talk about that after i said the same thing. everyone is different and makes decisions in different ways. some subaru lovers are subaru lovers because of their anecdotal experiences with other brands! most of us have a few things in life where we are that way...turned off by one really bad experience...like a girl we'll never consider dating again, EVER AGAIN!!!!!

 

I've never been treated as badly by a soob as I have by a woman. You also can't run a woman until she seizes! (Sorry I couldn't resist the response)

Follow-up, I was incorrect. The shop did indeed replace both head gaskets on my car.

The head gasket kit from Subaru came with the conditioner for my '04...

Hmmm, that reads like a tacit admission by Subaru that even the newest head gaskets may not be up to the job.

 

 

It may be (and Subaru may be thinking{?}) that the head gasket issue with the EJ25 engine is just NOT permanently fixable and nothing short of a redesigned engine will remedy the problem.

If that's the case, then anyone buying a Sube with an EJ25 engine of ANY year, maybe even the newest ones, will just have to expect the need for head gasket replacements (possibly more than once) if they intend to keep their Subes for more than, say, 60k-90k miles, and possibly even sooner.

I think I need to go lie down now.

It may be (and Subaru may be thinking{?}) that the head gasket issue with the EJ25 engine is just NOT permanently fixable and nothing short of a redesigned engine will remedy the problem.

I suspect that is the case. And they've already redesigned the entire top end of the engine once in order to address the problem, all it did was change an internal failure to an external one. A small step where large steps are needed.