Subaru Service Advice: Help!

My '95 Legacy 2.2 is in the shop for a new clutch. The car has about 127k miles on it, I bought it at 95k. I don't have service records from the prior owner, but the shop says the timing belt looks to have been done relatively recently and it doesn't need to be replaced. BUT, they say the water pump is leaking, as is the cam seal.

So, I'm debating what to do. The clutch had to be done, and the throwout bearing has been making noise since I bought the car, and the shifter went sooper sloppy about 1k miles ago, so they are going to replace the throwout bearing and a spring and bushing which will fix the shifter slop. Total cost for all that noise including new pressure plate and flywheel is $1,200. They recommend doing the water pump and cam seals for a total of about $640, and hey, while you are in there, you might as well replace the timing belt as the only additional cost is the belt at $80.

I'm inclined to say forget the pump and seal as spending $2k to fix a sub $3k car seems stoopid. But, we plan to keep the car long term, and I don't want the wife to have the water pump take a dump on her when she's on the road. What does water pump failure look like on these cars? Slow degeneration or catastrophic failure? Don't want to dump a bunch of cash but don't want the wife to get stranded either.

Love the car, just hate to spend too much money on it and honestly, this stuff is beyond what I want to take on as a project. And, the rear struts are original and pretty weak but that's expensive on this car too. Parts wise, the seals and H20 pump wouldn't be too expensive, maybe I could get some cheap used rear struts, but I don't want to tear into this stuff and run out of talent and tools with a mess in my unheated garage...

So. WWGRM do?

Depends on your time horizon and what your plans are with the car. Maintenance is the problem with old cars that have little value.

For the struts, I'd look into some stock WRX/STi takeoffs. That was the plan with my '95 Legacy waggin before I abandoned the project.

I've no experience with the water pump/TB job on a boxer so I can't really weigh in on that.

I had to do the timing belt and water pump 35k miles early on my WRX because I switched to that orange, pet-friendly antifreeze, which destroyed the seals on my water pump.

How do they know that the cam seal and WP are leaking, if you took it in for a clutch job? Has it been dripping/losing coolant?

I say fix it all if you're that far into it already. It's not a $3k car if it has a blown water pump and clutch, after all. Sound's like you're spending $2k on a $1k car, which will then be worth $3k, so it's like getting the work for free, right? ;)

Tyler H wrote: How do they know that the cam seal and WP are leaking, if you took it in for a clutch job? Has it been dripping/losing coolant? I say fix it all if you're that far into it already.

I presume by looking at it! It is not dripping fluid. The underside of the engine does have oil on it but not enough to make a mess of the garage. As for the water pump, I haven't looked at it to know...

This is the last thing I need... My BMW is leaking power steering fluid like crazy, and apparently its water pump is leaking too.

Tyler H wrote: It's not a $3k car if it has a blown water pump and clutch, after all. Sound's like you're spending $2k on a $1k car, which will then be worth $3k, so it's like getting the work for free, right? ;)

Nice logic.

If it isn't visibly leaking water, wouldn't you have to pull the cam/timing belt over to see the seepage and leaking water pump? My point was that they had no business being under the timing cover for a clutch job. (I don't know anything about the Subaru 2.2L, so I could stand to be corrected.) I have no reason to doubt them, but I would be wary. If you're certain that it needs the work and they aren't trying to upsell you, then now is the time.

Gotcha. I don't have service records so I asked them to look at the timing belt since I haven't had it done in the 30k I've put on the car. They think it was changed recently enough to not need replacement at the moment.

Dave Ramsey, the financial guy, says to fix the car until the expenses add up to ~66% of the retail value of the car. It's cheaper to fix the problems with your car, than to buy something else and have to fix things.

Aside from the clutch, the rest of the parts could be installed by a shade tree mechanic in a couple weekends.

Struts <$250

timing belt <$50

water pump <$60

cam seal <$10

< $400 for parts, assuming nothing else needs replacing. If you can do the labor on just the suspension you would save a few hundred.

Thanks guys.

So, how lego-like are the suspensions on these cars? Say I could get the rear struts from an '06 Legacy GT sedan for cheap. Would they bolt on?

'We plan to keep the car long term'. That tells me, have them do the water pump and seals (since I gather that's beyond your capabilities as a shadetree) then do the struts yourself. From a dollars and cents standpoint: could you replace the car with another that has a known service history for the sum total you'll have in it? Probably not.

Scooby water pumps are behind the timing cover and it's a pretty major PITA to do if you haven't done something like that before. The timing belt is a good idea as well, now you KNOW when it was replaced. Was it me, I'd have them replace the front and rear crank seals too and perhaps the tranny input seal as well.

FYI: if the front crank pulley bolt is not tightened properly it can and will work its way loose, destroying the crank nose! Subaru's special tool for that is a pin type wrench about 3 feet long.

Thanks for the input gang. I went for the whole shebang. They are changing the oil separator cover as well while they have it apart, replacing the original plastic one with the updated metal version.

It ain't cheap, but I won't need to worry about the car for a loooong time.