Subaru problems?

Are all Subaru's ticking time bombs waiting for the head gasket to fail? I'm looking basically at non-turbo Subaru's from 2003 to 2014, and don't want to have a $1,500 surprise repair after two months of ownership (no, I'm not doing the repair myself).

I hope not since I own a 2012 WRX.

N/A ones, plagued with h/g failures in my experience, turbo ones dont seem to have a problem with h/g at least.

There were problems. I understand that the replacement parts largely fixed the problem if it was done right. Easy mode is to buy one that's already had the job done.

I bought a 2005 Legacy 2.5i last year. It had 81,000 miles on it and the outside of the engine was bone dry until 83,000 miles when I had to pull the engine out and change the headgaskets.

It also liked to throw CELs for automatic transmission stuff. Not sure why a transmission issue would illuminate a "Check Engine" light, but there were certainly a bunch of codes for transmission stuff. I guess the transmission is some kind of emission control device.

I sold the car for a $3000 loss at 84,000 miles. I really wanted to love that car.

mtn wrote: Are all Subaru's ticking time bombs waiting for the head gasket to fail?

Yep! I have two legacy outbacks. An 03' with 88K miles and an 07' with 120K miles. BOTH cars need headgaskets... A good friend has an 05' Legacy with 60K miles. And his needs them too. The problem is Subaru used a fiberous gasket material with a metal combustion chamber ring. The main portion of the gasket degrades and they leak externally. The new replacement subu and aftermarket gaskets are all the modern MLS - Multi Layer Steel style gaskets. Just an FYI, to pull the engine and do the gaskets isn't a horrible job. Parts and Machine shop labor is usually around $400. But I do understand not wanting to do the job yourself!
Good luck
Paul

If remember correctly the 2.5 liter NA motors do not have a solid deck on the block and the cylinder liners were a floating type in which the head located them, this was a contributing factor.

The turbo motor liners have a bridge, so to speak, that links the liner and block. Somewhere around 2010 the NA motors went to a Turbo style block. We had a 96 Outback that got upgraded gaskets at 75k (before we bought it) and my brother in law is currently driving it and it's now at 185k with no issues.

I currently drive an 11 Outback, the newer cars do not seem to be as prone to the gasket failures, so we shall see. The car drives nice enough that I am willing to deal with it should it happen.

Tom

mtn wrote: Are all Subaru's ticking time bombs waiting for the head gasket to fail? I'm looking basically at non-turbo Subaru's from 2003 to 2014, and don't want to have a $1,500 surprise repair after two months of ownership (no, I'm not doing the repair myself).

from my days of Suby ownership, it was SOP for the 2.2's to have leaky rear seals, and for the 2.5's to have to have the head gaskets replaced ... but it seemed that if these "problems" were corrected, you tended to be pretty much trouble free down the road ...

I never understood why, with Subaru knowing all this they didn't correct the problem at the factory ... shrug

Woody wrote: It also liked to throw CELs for automatic transmission stuff. Not sure why a transmission issue would illuminate a "Check Engine" light, but there were certainly a bunch of codes for transmission stuff. I guess the transmission is some kind of emission control device.

That's normal for literally every car out there in my experience. They throw a CEL to let you know that there are codes in the transmission. GMs set P0700 DTCs Set In Transmission Control Module. ECM DTCs don't necessarily have to mean an emissions issue, although they usually do. They can be to alert you to a system operating outside the defined parameter.

Brett_Murphy wrote: There were problems. I understand that the replacement parts largely fixed the problem if it was done right. Easy mode is to buy one that's already had the job done.

I'd extend that to 'buy one that had it done a while ago'. Evidently people cheap out and don't look at the heads fairly often, so "new head gasket last week" does not necessarily mean you're clear.

I bought one with the HG's done 20k miles prior. It has run another 20k with me, no problems.

If you experience a fuel smell the first time temps drop, just go tighten all the hose clamps on fuel lines under the hood. There's like 16 of them, they're not constant-pressure types, so you get to tighten them once a season on early 2000s cars. On the N/A cars you can access them all without taking anything apart. I think there was only a recall for this on the turbo cars, probably because the N/A ones don't have anything hot enough under there to start a fire.