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Subaru

JimG.

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I've owned 5 Subarus, 3 of them currently. All of them have over 150,000 miles on them, one had 350,000 until it was rear ended and totaled.

I have never needed to replace a head gasket. Just luck?
 

AdironRider

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I've owned 5 Subarus, 3 of them currently. All of them have over 150,000 miles on them, one had 350,000 until it was rear ended and totaled.

I have never needed to replace a head gasket. Just luck?


Did you buy them with over 150k on them?

Its is pretty much a guarantee the head gaskets will go on the 2.5, and it appears on the newer models also. I think you got very lucky.
 

hammer

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I've owned 5 Subarus, 3 of them currently. All of them have over 150,000 miles on them, one had 350,000 until it was rear ended and totaled.

I have never needed to replace a head gasket. Just luck?

Two Subarus, two head gasket replacements...one at 120K miles and the other just below 80K miles. You were lucky.
 

JimG.

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Did you buy them with over 150k on them?

Its is pretty much a guarantee the head gaskets will go on the 2.5, and it appears on the newer models also. I think you got very lucky.

Bought them all new.

Who buys a used car with 150K on the odometer?
 

JimG.

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Two Subarus, two head gasket replacements...one at 120K miles and the other just below 80K miles. You were lucky.

My wife keeps telling me I'm lucky but I think she is referring to the fact that I married her.
 

Quietman

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Bought them all new.

Who buys a used car with 150K on the odometer?

I do. Bought my current 2007 van with 155k 2 years for $2,200. Bought the 2000 van my wife drives in 2012 for $1,200 with 180k on it. Body was mint as it was a Ohio/Florida car. Car now has 305k and a trans with 98K on it(replaced last year for $900), and I would take it on any length trip. I can do most maintenance and minor repairs so I buy used and drive them into the ground. I usually get at 4 or more years out of $2k cars. We also have a 2001 Saturn that I paid my brother $100 for as a backup if one of the vans needs work. It doesn't get used much at all.
 

benski

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On my second Subaru. My 2011 Impreza made it 80-85K, without the head gaskets breaking. My 2018 Crosstrek has a 2.0 liter engine, so maybe that will be more reliable. Only thing is the CarPlay sometimes needs 2 tries to connect.
 

deadheadskier

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I had a 04 Legacy wagon as a work vehicle. On that car the HG went at 94K miles. Virtually all of the company Subarus had the same problem and eventually that company switched to Ford Escapes for better reliability.

My brother bought a used Outback at 100k miles which had already had the HG replaced. He ended up doing it again at 160K miles. Sean is an amateur mechanic and takes meticulous care of his cars, so it wasn't abuse.

The list of personal friends who have had to replace the HG on their Subies is long.

The company should treat this issue as a recall and not standard maintenance like they have for literally decades now.

Despite their great utility, snow performance and reasonable purchase price, I'll never buy one. I view Subaru as the single most unethical mainstream car manufacturer. No thanks

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app
 
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I had a 04 Legacy wagon as a work vehicle. On that car the HG went at 94K miles. Virtually all of the company Subarus had the same problem and eventually that company switched to Ford Escapes for better reliability.

My brother bought a used Outback at 100k miles which had already had the HG replaced. He ended up doing it again at 160K miles. Sean is an amateur mechanic and takes meticulous care of his cars, so it wasn't abuse.

The list of personal friends who have had to replace the HG on their Subies is long.

The company should treat this issue as a recall and not standard maintenance like they have for literally decades now.

Despite their great utility, snow performance and reasonable purchase price, I'll never buy one. I view Subaru as the single most unethical mainstream car manufacturer. No thanks

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

never admitting a problem is a very japanese way of doing business...having worked as in-house legal for a large japanese electronics company i have many experiences trying to defend the indefensible when it comes to product defects/reliability/performance.

as a subaru owner who has also replaced the HG (and transmission at 100K!), i will never be purchasing a subaru again either

doing all of the regular recommended service, the money i've poured into non-regular maintenance on this car could have been a sizeable down payment on a more reliable vehicle
 

bdfreetuna

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I had a 98 Forester blow a headgasket around 200k miles but I was a dumbass at the time and barely checked the oil etc. It was a beater car and I treated it like one.

Transmissions on Subarus are pretty bullet proof but I'm referring to the manual transmissions. The 6MT STi and Spec B trannies are legendary in the abuse they can take. The 5MT is also known to last beyond the life of the car even with increased power and mods. Unless you're playing with launch control they should never normally break.

I've owned 5 manual tranny Subies and never once had to service the transmission beyond fluid change and those cars went 200k to 300k+ miles.

Just got my 08 Legacy GT back from the tuner yesterday... upgraded to Koni Yellow with H&R springs. Also put in the Cobb SF intake + airbox, as I'd already put a Mishimoto turbo inlet. Huge gains.

Tuned for 20psi target boost but I haven't even boosted over 12psi since it got out of the shop.. the powers just more than you can use on a normal road.

325 awhp 349 awtq .... 135k miles... perfect results on compression and leakdown tests... aka.. the engine is mint.

Message_1521672606687.jpg

By the way it only should cost like $200 to replace HG on your non-turbo Subies. Do it every 80k miles no matter if it's a 2.0 2.2 2.5

It's not like they go bad right away, just do them when you do your timing belt.

Yes Subaru should include it as part of their 80k service but by now its common knowledge
 
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bdfreetuna

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HG repair is a lot more expensive since your engine probably overheated and caused damage

Just replacing the gaskets before a problem arises is pretty quick and easy

edit what I mean to say is just do it when you do your timing belt... it's not going to be much more than $200 for parts and very little additional labor... should be able to get both done for $1k which isn't much more than just the timing belt / water pump service anyway.

If you do it separately you'll pay more. If you let them blow and overheat your engine you'll pay a lot more.
 
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skijay

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$200 for a HG replacement? It takes about one hour of labor just to get access to the area.

For model years 2009 and up a 10 year super coolant replaced the previous coolant. With the super coolant a conditioner / additive was to be used as this prolonged the life of the sealant on the HG gasket thus stretching out the lifespan of the HG to around 225K. I learned a lot about the HG on these things. Unfortunately, my servicing dealer didn't follow the maintenance requirement for my vehicle on the coolant change as I now have the failing head gaskets. The additive is to prevent "leaks".

It now appears the FB engine series doesn't suffer from HG failures. I'll have to see if that holds true at 150k.
 

bdfreetuna

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well the coolant/conditioner was basically how they avoided having to do a recall, or at least avoided responsibility.

it never solved the problem but who knows it might buy you a few extra miles
 

hammer

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$200 for a HG replacement? It takes about one hour of labor just to get access to the area.

For model years 2009 and up a 10 year super coolant replaced the previous coolant. With the super coolant a conditioner / additive was to be used as this prolonged the life of the sealant on the HG gasket thus stretching out the lifespan of the HG to around 225K. I learned a lot about the HG on these things. Unfortunately, my servicing dealer didn't follow the maintenance requirement for my vehicle on the coolant change as I now have the failing head gaskets. The additive is to prevent "leaks".

It now appears the FB engine series doesn't suffer from HG failures. I'll have to see if that holds true at 150k.

My son's car is an 09 and it has the coolant, and the HG still went...which is likely why Subaru covered the replacement even though the basic warranty had expired.
 

bdfreetuna

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If you have one of the new direct injection engines you need to walnut blast the valves every 50k miles or so.

This is a crappy design because normally in port injection engines the gasoline is sprayed onto the valves and cleans it naturally this way, preventing carbon build up.

Subaru doesn't really have any appealing current products IMO. They peaked between 1999-2009.

Afaik Toyota has the only self cleaning direct/port injection-hybrid engine out right now, they are leading the pack when it comes to that.

I'll stick with the EJ257 and when my timing belt is due in 30k miles I'll have it rebuilt with forged rods, pistons, rings etc.

Nice thing about boosting the torque to 349 ft lbs is I can actually get pretty good gas mileage as you barely need to touch the pedal for a nice push. I was getting around 30mpg highway today which is better than stock. Averaged around 26mpg to Killington and back but that included a few instances of flooring it to pass several cars at a time and fairly spirited driving overall.
 
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Edd

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Test drove a Crosstrek today and was impressed with the interior room. If I can get the wife on board it’ll be a likely replacement for her car.

I’m at 116k on my 2010 Forester with no significant maintenance issues. If the HG blows on me I’ll probably eat shit on the costs and keep it running as long as I can.


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deadheadskier

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Test drove a Crosstrek today and was impressed with the interior room. If I can get the wife on board it’ll be a likely replacement for her car.

I’m at 116k on my 2010 Forester with no significant maintenance issues. If the HG blows on me I’ll probably eat shit on the costs and keep it running as long as I can.


Sent from my iPad using AlpineZone
We just ordered a VW Golf Alltrack. You should test drive one

I'll let you take ours for a spin, but it won't arrive until October. We had to special order ours to get the colors J wants in a manual transmission

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benski

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Test drove a Crosstrek today and was impressed with the interior room. If I can get the wife on board it’ll be a likely replacement for her car.

I’m at 116k on my 2010 Forester with no significant maintenance issues. If the HG blows on me I’ll probably eat shit on the costs and keep it running as long as I can.


Sent from my iPad using AlpineZone

I have one and it’s a solid car. No problems so far other than occasionally not being able to connect my IPhone 6s over the cord but it has worked as it supposed to with my iPhone X. I find the advances Cruz control impressive. Great for traffic as it does a good job keeping as good distance from car in front of it.
 
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