Should I not be pissed?

I bought an 05 Legacy GT with 62k miles on it. It had just had the dealership 60k mile maintenance and seemed to be in fine mechanical condition.

6 weeks and 5k miles later the engine spins a bearing. The oil level was fine and I was running Castrol Syn 10w30, which the owners manual says is just fine for the temp range.

I bring the car back to the dealership and let them strip it down, they say it's no fault of mine.

Long story short, I need a new shortblock. The dealership I bought the car from (Honda of Keene) is covering 1/3 of the cost. Subaru is covering nothing. They say that my use of 10w30 may have contributed to the failure, which is a bunch of crap. And they say that if I had bought the car from Subaru of Keene, they would take care of it. Subaru of Keene and Honda of Keene are sister dealerships. The car was on SoK's lot, and we went to pick it up before doing the paperwork at HoK so I could use the same sales person I've used for the past 4 cars (you treat me right I keep coming back).

Subaru of America repeatedly said on the phone "We stand behind our products" to me which seems funny since they're not standing behind their product in any way shape or form.

I would be fine with the situation if we split the $4500 bill three ways, but since Subaru is treating me like this I will never buy another Subaru, nor will the 5 other people in my close family that are current Subaru owners. I have given Subaru 3 weeks to do something, anything, with this situation and they've backed down every time. 68k miles on a block is not acceptable.

So instead of spending $1,500 to take care of a faulty engine, they'll be losing quite a bit more from a loss of business down the road. My cousin was just about to buy a new Legacy GT because he liked mine so much, not anymore.

How high have you escalated this at Subaru US?

I've spent some significant time with Subaru of America on the phone

I dunno about this one. For sure, I'd be pissed too, but I'm not sure that you're entitled to anything. The engine is past the warranty period correct? Mechanical failures do happen, and a manufacturer can't really be expected to cover anything past the warranty period. It's accepted that after the warranty is up, any repairs fall on the owner. I'm not saying to give up, I just don't know who should really bear the burden.

Drivetrain warranty is 5 years and 63k miles, I'm barely outside of it.

Yeah, I'd be awfully unhappy too. I'd try talking with different folks at SoA. Don't threaten, but let them know you're unhappy and you have lots of friends that you help with automotive decisions.

Emphasize disappointment, not anger. My .02, YMMV.

Good luck!

Tom Heath wrote: Yeah, I'd be awfully unhappy too. I'd try talking with different folks at SoA. Don't threaten, but let them know you're unhappy and you have lots of friends that you help with automotive decisions. Emphasize disappointment, not anger. My .02, YMMV. Good luck!

AND you have the ears of several hundred would-be Subaru buyers, here on this forum. Very VERY disappointed(shakes head sadly)

Start an FB page, present your case as it is, no hell-fire needed...and let it go viral.

Then, e-mail the link to SoA.

Use FB powerz for good.

5 years/63k miles sounds like a very odd number of miles for a warranty to me. 5/60 sounds more like it as they like good round numbers in the auto business.

There was a class action suit with SoA about the accuracy of their odometers so they extended the warranty to 63k miles.

Completely odd number.

We had a 1986 Pontiac Grand Am SE that had a toasted transmission right at 50,000 miles and 4 years. GM and the dealer laughed when I asked...........

I had a local trans shop pull the car and they replaced it for a 1/4 of the dealership quote.

I would pull the car and have a mechanic fix it.

I doubt SoA will care if you stop buying used Subarus.

DaveEstey wrote: I've spent some significant time with Subaru of America on the phone

I'd be tempted to make my case politely in a good old fashioned snail mail and send that to some of the people listed on this page (mainly because I couldn't find their email addresses):

http://media.subaru.com/index.php?s=20

Most large companies have a special department dealing with people who are annoyed enough to write to their CEO with a polite but firm complaint.

Be sure to understand the difference, just to check:

did the vehicle have an extended MANUFACTURERS warranty?

or an extended DEALERSHIP warranty?

BoxheadTim wrote:

DaveEstey wrote: I've spent some significant time with Subaru of America on the phone

I'd be tempted to make my case politely in a good old fashioned snail mail and send that to some of the people listed on this page (mainly because I couldn't find their email addresses): http://media.subaru.com/index.php?s=20 Most large companies have a special department dealing with people who are annoyed enough to write to their CEO with a polite but firm complaint.

It appears that subaru uses the first name initial with the last name for their e-mails.

Wow, that's some crap right there.

I would DEFINITELY be pissed. Yes, it's out of warranty, but usually a car company will be pretty good about "good faith" claims like yours. Using 10w30 in that motor shouldn't spin the bearings. They spin bearings just as well on the stock oil!

I don't know if I would buy another one either. I'm on my 2nd one, and the performance is good (except for the CRAP stock tune), but it's a total rattle trap and I always feel like that something's gonna break every time I drive it. It could just be me, but I'm gonna try something different next time around.

Two key things here. It's WHO you talk to and How you say what you say. I had an issue with my chrysler minivan engine a while ago. Chrysler was going to leave us high and dry on the rental car (block was back ordered for nearly 2 MONTHS). I sent a very polite letter to the prez of customer service explaining that I don't have an issue with the engine failure, every manufacturer of goods has failures now and again. My issue was with how it was handled. I then went on to talk about customer loyalty and my buying habits and so on. I sent the letter off at about noon on Friday. The dealer called me back less than two hours later and said "Man I don't know who you know, but your rental van is covered for the duration of the repair, no limit and no questions asked". This was after weeks of getting nowhere with some folks from India with thick accents but names like Bob, Mary and Joe.

DaveEstey wrote: ... I was running Castrol Syn 10w30, which the owners manual says is just fine for the temp range.... ...They say that my use of 10w30 may have contributed to the failure....

Doesn't Castrol have some sort of guarantee from oil related breakdowns? Good luck proving that normally, but it sounds like Subaru will vouch for you.

Get some sort of statement from Subaru that allows you to make a claim against Castrol, or let the two of them fight it out.

Mikey52_1 wrote:

Tom Heath wrote: Yeah, I'd be awfully unhappy too. I'd try talking with different folks at SoA. Don't threaten, but let them know you're unhappy and you have lots of friends that you help with automotive decisions. Emphasize disappointment, not anger. My .02, YMMV. Good luck!

AND you have the ears of several hundred would-be Subaru buyers, here on this forum. Very VERY disappointed(shakes head sadly)

And that you're related to your state's attorney general. Just mention that person's first name when you talk with Subaru, and say,"oh, yeah, attorney general Sam (whomever) is on my wife's side of the family. And I'll mention what you said at this weekend's barbecue." No threat, no screaming, a little white lie (if they are of the same political party, then it's 99% true..) and see what happens. As another poster said, it's WHO you talk to, not the quantity of time with them.

Or Who talks FOR you to them. Know your local state rep? Legislator? Judge? Someone with a title that sounds impressive.... Might work. Has for me. Past girlfriend was friends with a person in the AG's office. "Well, I'll bring that up with our friend at the attorney general's office" brought a few things to a nice conclusion. Yeah, a bit jerky, but used as a last resort.

ugh, I've tried to be so patient and reasonable through this whole thing. I didn't want to resort to playing games, I HATE games.

I'll write a letter tomorrow. If I don't get a response I'll just write a letter every week.

In late 96' my dad bought a well optioned 96' F-150 at a year end sale. Had Less than 500 miles on it if I recall. At 36,200 miles the transmission let go, and this was not a work truck just a daily driver. The dealership was notified before 36k and an appointment made. On the way to the dealership all forward gears were lost in the transmission. Even after talking to FoMoCo they refused to cover it.

Op's situation sounds a bit like one I had with Mazda. I had an early ('73 I think) Rx3 wagon. Enjoyable car. The spinning triangle engine had a 50K warrenty. Apex seals were shot at 52K. Mazda would not help at all. I had the engine rebuilt & sold the car not long after. My bride has owend 2 Mazdas but both were before we married. She or I may someday own another one,they make some neat cars (including the answer), but I'll never buy another new Mazda,nor will lots of folks I know. Semi-happy ending: a couple of years after paying for the engine rebuild, I was in a class action suit vs. Mazda & got a check for $600 or $700 dollars or so. Good luck to you OP.

In reply to M2Pilot:

I think this situation is different. Your RX3 was under warranty. The OP's car is not. If the warranty says they cover problems for 63k miles and the car needs an engine at 65k miles why do you expect them to pay for it? If you want a warranty buy a new car. If you are willing to take the risk of potentially big ticket maintenance costs buy a used car.

I agree that any car that needs major engine work at 65k miles has some sort of problem or was abused at some point. I do not understand how you are so sure that the original owner did any maintenance...maybe the car got its first oil change at 50k miles? Is that Subaru's fault? I sympathize with your situation and see how it would be a nice gesture for Subaru to cover a portion of the cost here, but I do not see that they are under any obligation whatsoever to do so (other than good customer service and good PR).

It can't hurt to carry out a letter writing campaign. Maybe someone will listen, but don't think that they have any obligation to do anything because as far as I can tell they do not. Good luck and stick with it.

Subaru of Canada has come good for 2 new shortblocks for my mom's 2004 Legacy. The original crapped just after warranty, but the piston slap problem had been written up from 40,000 kms.

The second barely lasted 20,000 kms and was doing it again. Complained and new engine was done right away.

Datsun1500 wrote: No good faith claims are paid when you buy a used car that has no warranty.

That's not always true. I had a 2001 Jetta that was a couple years old with 18k on it when I bought it. About six months out of warranty the oil light came on. Oil was full, no ticking or anything to suggest pressure was down, etc. It was due for service so I brought it in and mentioned the oil light. Turns out the coolant level sensor was leaking into the wire harness, and it had wicked coolant through the whole freakin' harness. It was a semi-common problem with the early MKIV VW's. The service manager made one call and VW agreed to cover it 100%. They changed the wire harness, computer, instrument cluster, fuel pump, and a bunch of little stuff, to the tune of about $2,400, and I didn't pay a dime.