When Did Subaru Figure Out Headgaskets?

I've got a buddy looking at Outbacks and I don't know when/if they stopped eating headgaskets. Is there a safe cutoff to look for?

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

They haven't.

In reply to Javelin :

Beat me to it! :)

In reply to Javelin :

Haha, that's what I was worried about.

At least they only have two of them... on a four cylinder.

They mostly fixed the head gaskets and leaks about the same time they started building the chain drive engines that burn oil instead.

Javelin said:

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

They haven't.

180k on my 09 WRX running 18psi....no headgasket issues when I sold it. 

Maybe i was just lucky, but no other guys I know with 09+ models seem to have any more issues than any other car. Can't say I have any statistics to back that up though. 

EDIT: also didn't burn much, if any, oil (always used Rotella T6 for its whole life). 

In reply to irish44j :

The turbo ones are an anomaly in an otherwise 100% failure rate company. We're talking base Outbacks here, not WRX and STi stuff.

Turbo ones are better at not leaking from head gaskets in my experience. They’re pretty good at lower end failures though. 

maybe an SX4 would be a good fit for your friend?

One thing that amazes me is that Consumer Reports recommends every Subaru, but when you look at their reliability data, every Subaru model has a terrible rating for "engine major" problems. 

Having owned a Subaru I get the love, at least for the turbo models, but they're like a VW or Volvo - you have to put up with some crappiness to go with the greatness.

Streetwiseguy said:

They mostly fixed the head gaskets and leaks about the same time they started building the chain drive engines that burn oil instead.

He’s correct, except they fixed the oil consumption in 2016. So it’s no longer an issue anymore either. The EJ series was prone. The Fa/b engine is not “prone” to it. 

But the TV commercials say they're the most reliable cars on the road

I get really confused with Scoobie doo engine numbers, but I think the Crosstrek gets the FB20 D. First, is that core and second does that appear to be post major issues?

In reply to _ :

So post 2016 is an FA/FB engine and fine?

I though 2005 was the generally acknowledged year for head gasket improvements. 

I also understood 2005 to be the year that the problems were greatly diminished.

Also, let's be fair here. The head gaskets were an issue, but I see crashed 2.5 NA Subarus with 250k miles in the U-Pull junkyards on a fairly regular basis.

GTwannaB said:

I though 2005 was the generally acknowledged year for head gasket improvements. 

Nope. 2016.

Brett_Murphy said:

I also understood 2005 to be the year that the problems were greatly diminished.

Also, let's be fair here. The head gaskets were an issue, but I see crashed 2.5 NA Subarus with 250k miles in the U-Pull junkyards on a fairly regular basis.

I'm reminded what a friend said about another certain car.
  Paraphrased:  "From working at a dealership, and being online, I think that being on a forum causes you to have problems."

He was working at a certain Japanese-model dealership and he noted that the main issues he saw with a certain car were from people who were online and bitching about it.  People who just drove the cars and didn't bitch about them online were not having issues.

(The manufacturer started with an M, and the model in question rhymed with "Arrecksate")

I have a 2011 Outback; my understanding is the changed the blocks in 2010 to the turbo style blocks. I currently have 89K on mine without issue. The head gasket issues on the earlier models seemed to happen at around the 60K mark. I believe they also updated the head gaskets.

I refer to Subarus as the Japanese Volvo; they have some fairly odd features but they also have some really nice touches as well. The weirdest feature has to by the fact that the car has a economy gauge so you can see instant results on the mileage, they choose to have this instead of a temp gauge. The other one is the damper on the clutch pedal; it smooths the clutch release but also causes a delay in the clutch engagement the I find odd.

Overall I'm very happy with mine, should it eat the head gaskets then I'll fix it. The cost to do so isn't outrageous. Granted if I had to pay someone to do it, I'd likely not be so casual about it.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Lots of people have an "economy" gauge, and lots of people don't have temp gauges, and pretty much everything with a hydraulic clutch has a weird feeling damper in the master cylinder ('84 RX-7 included), so these are all signs of Subaru being boringly normal... so yes, like Volvo.

Subaru USED to be truly weird, like SAAB.  Like 4x140 bolt pattern wheels held on by fine thread lug nuts torqued to 55lb, handbrake goes to the front calipers, front wheel bearings are pressed over the AXLE and not the hub, spare tire is under the hood...  All of which have some very sound engineering reasons behind them, like the hub thing makes sense because the rotors bolt to the backside of the hub (due to large lug pattern) and this way you don't have to mess with the bearings when doing the brakes, but it's also just.... weird.

SAAB also ran the handbrake to the front calipers for a while, come to think of it.

Off topic but from my Datsun 1200 through 2 Miatas, Mr2, Protege, Sentra  & Civic the Outback is the first manual I've had with this weird delay in the clutch.

While the economy gauge is useful given the head gasket issues of the past a temp gauge would be awfully handy in spotting creeping water temp.

I loved my old Volvo 142; from the thermometer speedometer to the steering column mounted overdrive. I specially loved the upright mounting of the spare tire. 

I've got the 6 speed manual Outback; finding an equivalent off roadable wagon with a manual wasn't really going to happen. This is our 3rd Subaru (96 & 11 outback + 05 Impreza 2.5 RS my son currently drives).

In reply to Tom1200 :

The "headgasket issues" don't result in overheating, they result in engine fires from the oil leaking onto the exhaust if you ignore it long enough.  (A lot of "leaking headgaskets" are probably misdiagnosed oil pan gasket leaks, too)

I've only ever seen one (unmodified) Subaru have a head gasket lose coolant.  It wasn't overheating, but it was turning the oil into mayonnaise.  This is too small a sample to be statistically important one way or the other.

Certainly the 2.4l Camry engine has more issues, as those will regularly sink the deck in the block a couple thousandths.

This is an upgrade from the EA82 engined cars, which merely cracked the heads without overheating, at which point the rest of the car was rusted out so you went and bought a Toyota.

Consensus in...

2005:  Headgaskets were fixed in 2001

2010:  Headgaskets were fixed in 2005

2015:  Headgaskets were fixed in 2010

etc.

@knurled I can't remember which generation but the coolant would start magically disappear in for the system and then eventually this would turn out to be the head gasket. As for glugging oil my wife's CAravan with a 2.4 engine would glug oil down the back of the block, I delayed the head gasket for some time by simply cleaning off the motor every couple of months........one shouldn't have to do this on a car with only 80K but it's also not a big deal as her caravan only used about a quart between changes.