Advice for selling Subaru Forester with a BLOWN engine?

[wolfelot]

your engine failed because it ran out of oil and they can somehow claim it didn’t fail the “test.” That sucks. How many miles time since last oil change which you have records for.

I know. It’s maddening. I was at 6400 of the manufacturer recommended 7500 mile interval and had poured 1.5 quarts in. 550 miles down the interstate at 80 mph was just too much for the piece of shit. By my calculations it ran through 6 total quarts in 6400 miles. That’s a gallon and a half!

From what I am seeing Subaru was telling people that 1 quart disappearing per 1200 miles was normal consumption???!! That’s 6.25 quarts per oil change, but I believe you only put 5 quarts in. If you do the math you will run out of oil.

Btw I have all maintenance receipts down to new windshield wipers and all maintenance was always done per Subaru specs.

[uglymoney]

Doesn't the FB have a low oil light?

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[wolfelot]

Doesn't the FB have a low oil light?

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Ha! It comes on once you are totally screwed on the 2011s. From what I have seen on this model is that it might as well be called “the you need a new engine light”.

Mine didn’t come on until the engine blew. That’s the gist of what a number of others with this issue have said.

[GeezerSteve]

Subie engines have split personalities: History of various head issues but bomber bottom ends.

My 2001 Highlander 3.0L/V6 used a quart of oil every 1500 miles from early in its life (started at >10K miles). Compression was up to spec when I sold it with 160K miles, so prolly leaking not burning, although I never figured out where it was going.

Our two vehicles (CX-5, Tundra) are spec'd for oil changes @ 7500 and 10,000 miles. Fuck that. I change @ 5,000.

[TAFKALVS]

Lot of Subaru hate in this thread. Yeah they can suck. Or they can run forever.

I know. It’s maddening. I was at 6400 of the manufacturer recommended 7500 mile interval and had poured 1.5 quarts in. 550 miles down the interstate at 80 mph was just too much for the piece of shit. By my calculations it ran through 6 total quarts in 6400 miles. That’s a gallon and a half!

From what I am seeing Subaru was telling people that 1 quart disappearing per 1200 miles was normal consumption???!! That’s 6.25 quarts per oil change, but I believe you only put 5 quarts in. If you do the math you will run out of oil.

Old Subarus are great cars. Newer ones, no.

A good friend of mine is a suby mechanic. He told me every 2.5 regardless of the year that comes through his shop has head gasket leak of some kind. Even the ones with "improved" gaskets. Some are less severe than others but he said they all leak either internally or externally. In his opinion they will all eventually fail, it's only a matter of time. I'd say that's beyond an occasional lemon. I've never been happier than when I watched someone drive away in my Wife's Forester.

[auvgeek]

Old Subarus are great cars. Newer ones, no.

A good friend of mine is a suby mechanic. He told me every 2.5 regardless of the year that comes through his shop has head gasket leak of some kind. Even the ones with "improved" gaskets. Some are less severe than others but he said they all leak either internally or externally. In his opinion they will all eventually fail, it's only a matter of time. I'd say that's beyond an occasional lemon. I've never been happier than when I watched someone drive away in my Wife's Forester.

Great info. We plan to sell ours well before 100k, but now I'm thinking we'll try to sell it before it's out of warranty.

[TAFKALVS]

Great info. We plan to sell ours well before 100k, but now I'm thinking we'll try to sell it before it's out of warranty.

I would.
The head gasket issues tend to start happening around 100k. At that point if you are selling it and your prospective buyer takes it to a dealer or a shop to do a pre-purchase inspection, it will get flagged as having "failed headgaskets" even if it's just a slight external leak. If it's a Subaru dealer doing the inspection they'll quote $1500 - $2500 to fix it and then have a sales guy come and offer you a "great trade-in offer for your Subabru with mechanical problems." You'll ask why you'd want to buy another Subaru and then they will tell you that "Subaru totally fixed the head gasket problem this time." You respond by saying, I thought the one I bought was fixed, and they will turn red in the face. You then shake your head and leave, sell the car for $2000 lower than Blue Book because now you are aware of "mechanical problems" and it would be unethical to not tell a perspective buyer about something you have knowledge of.

You're happy that you at least got what you owed on the loan back and then go buy a Toyota, Honda or even a domestic AWD SUV like you knew you should have in the first place. Driving the other brands of vehicles makes you realize what colossal piece of shit the Subaru really was/is. You'll find that the Subaru's AWD isn't any better than anything else out there, and not having such a huge jump between 1st and 2nd gear makes low-speed snow driving much nicer. You'll also be amazed how much better a car that makes it torque lower in RPM range is to drive in the mountains. You might even find you can pass people when pulling a grade and you don't have to keep the car wound up to 4500 RPM when pulling a pass. Finally you'll notice a strange sense of quiet and peace in the cabin of the vehicle, because unlike Subaru most other manufacturers insulate the engine bay and wheel wells against road noise. Finally, at 100k of problem free driving you'll be relieved that you don't need to pay the Subaru dealer another $1500 to install a new timing belt because the car you bought has a timing chain that wears out at the pace of the rest of the components in the motor.

True story. It's what happened to us. Fuck Subaru.

[auvgeek]

I hear you, and that's why I didn't want to buy an Outback. Except I don't know of another car on the market quite like the Outback: good ground clearance, AWD, long enough to sleep in, 30 mpg on highway, eyesight (or equivalent), easy for my wife to drive (aka, not huge), under $30k. It's our only car in CO, and it does pretty much everything we need. But again, we do plan to sell it super early because of these known mechanical issues.

Sorry for the thread drift.

[TAFKALVS]

I hear you, and that's why I didn't want to buy an Outback. Except I don't know of another car on the market quite like the Outback: good ground clearance, AWD, long enough to sleep in, 30 mpg on highway, eyesight (or equivalent), easy for my wife to drive (aka, not huge), under $30k. It's our only car in CO, and it does pretty much everything we need. But again, we do plan to sell it super early because of these known mechanical issues.

Sorry for the thread drift.

That's the problem we've been pondering as well. Right now both of us are driving 90s Land Cruisers with tick all the boxes for us other than 15 mpg on a good day. But we also don't have $400 a month car payments, so it seems like a wash. And having low-range and being able to lock it in to true 4wd is really nice for our situation (steep gravel road in the winter). I think some of Lexus and Acura crossover SUVs tick all the boxes, and maybe their Toyota/Honda cousins too.

To direct this back to OP, I think a MDX or the Lexus RX are a great move.

[uglymoney]

FB doesn't have a timing belt to change and saying that all FB motors will lose headgaskets isn't something I have picked up on the the Subaru tech forums. The EJ engine pre mls...yes absolutely that was true. Lots of MLS swapped EJ'S run till the car gives up other ways than a head gasket.

You can also buy an ej reman shortblock with a 3 year warranty for 2k direct from Subaru. Try that with any other non domestic car.

My 02 is only on its 3rd set of head gaskets and 2nd shortblock. Lolz.

Spent 3k sprucing it up at 172k with mls and shortbock and it has been just as reliable for the last 50k as ever. I remember debating if it was worth it back then..totally was. I wouldn't call the cars disposable. Maybe the shortblocks.

Been my daily for 15 1/2 years and it has never needed a tow. Everything still works except maybe the punished cats and the aftermarket trailer hitch is so rusted I wont use it. The original short block never blew up it just progressively burned more oil past the rings.

My other two cars are Toyotas. They are better for sure but Subaru's are good cars.

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[adrenalated]

I was going to go on a Subaru rant but Leavenworth did it for me.

[TAFKALVS]

I was going to go on a Subaru rant but Leavenworth did it for me.

And that's coming from a guy who owned 2 EJ 2.2 Imprezas and loved them. We got 280k out of both before we sold them, and 5 years later I still see both of them driving around town. Asked one of the owners of our 2001 and she told me it's at 330k now on all original engine/trans.

[El Chupacabra]

I was going to go on a Subaru rant but Leavenworth did it for me.

Ditto.

I've posted before here about the POS that was Mrs. C.'s 2009 Outback, with the supposedly new-and-improved head gaskets. Nope.

No more Subarus for me.

[oftpiste]

Just yesterday, yes, yesterday I sold an '06 Legacy 5 speed, 135k miles with a blown engine in Seattle. I put it on CL at $2800 and took $2000 cash. Took about a week for the buyer to show up. He's a guy from eastern WA who rebuilds rubies for a living. He was chill and straightforward. I probably could have held out for a couple hundred more but it didn't seem worth the hassle.

[TAFKALVS]

Just yesterday, yes, yesterday I sold an '06 Legacy 5 speed, 135k miles with a blown engine in Seattle. I put it on CL at $2800 and took $2000 cash. Took about a week for the buyer to show up. He's a guy from eastern WA who rebuilds rubies for a living. He was chill and straightforward. I probably could have held out for a couple hundred more but it didn't seem worth the hassle.

Subarus are great car for mechanics to make money on. The small stuff on the car lasts forever but the big stuff goes catastrophically. And the replacement is highly labor intensive with inexpensive parts. When I did the timing belt on my wife's 2.5 Forester I think it was around $200 with a water pump and new idler pulleys. Yet a shop will charge you ~$1500.

[wolfelot]

Just yesterday, yes, yesterday I sold an '06 Legacy 5 speed, 135k miles with a blown engine in Seattle. I put it on CL at $2800 and took $2000 cash. Took about a week for the buyer to show up. He's a guy from eastern WA who rebuilds rubies for a living. He was chill and straightforward. I probably could have held out for a couple hundred more but it didn't seem worth the hassle.

Good to know.

[powbmps]

I'll probably jinx myself, but we've got a 2010 Outback 2.5 with over 190K miles. My second teenage daughter is using it now. Once I hit 60K, I've been doing all the maintenance myself, without one single mechanical issue (other than a $40 sensor).

I did pay for a timing belt change at 105K (and will do so again around 200K). $1,500 for a timing belt change? What the fuck is that nonsense? Under $300 at the local NH Subaru dealership. Under $400 at the dealers I called in MA and ME.

Had four 2000's Subarus before this one, including two with turbo motors. No problems with those either, but traded all in by the time they hit 60K.

I would think yours would have been smoking pretty good at 1 quart every 1,000 miles, unless it was leaking out the rear main seal, but then you would have seen oil in your driveway.

[Iowagriz]

That is a good idea. I just looked at all of the Denver metro Subaru dealers to see if any of them have anything in stock. Flatirons Subaru/Acura in Boulder carries both. No other dealer in the metro area has an MDX with the specs we are looking for.

Don't forget that many dealerships are larger than they appear and if it is not on their direct lot, they might have a sister/corporate lot with one. Tell them your MDX wishlist and have them give you an out the door price. They can make money on both ends of the deal, so they should be able to get you a decent deal.

[uglymoney]

They don't start smoking till a quart every 100 to 200 miles or so. Cats work pretty good. It does wreck them though. I have had a p420 for 75k. Apparently the light burns out eventually.



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[powbmps]

They don't start smoking till a quart every 100 to 200 miles or so. Cats work pretty good. It does wreck them though. I have had a p420 for 75k. Apparently the light burns out eventually.
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Mine could be burning that much I suppose. My daughter is clueless, so I just check it every couple weeks, and top it off. I just know it's a great car in the winter (especially with snows). Must just be lucky with ours (so far).

Anyone lining up to buy that new 7 seater?

[TAFKALVS]

I'll probably jinx myself, but we've got a 2010 Outback 2.5 with over 190K miles. My second teenage daughter is using it now. Once I hit 60K, I've been doing all the maintenance myself, without one single mechanical issue (other than a $40 sensor).

I did pay for a timing belt change at 105K (and will do so again around 200K). $1,500 for a timing belt change? What the fuck is that nonsense? Under $300 at the local NH Subaru dealership. Under $400 at the dealers I called in MA and ME.

Had four 2000's Subarus before this one, including two with turbo motors. No problems with those either, but traded all in by the time they hit 60K.

I would think yours would have been smoking pretty good at 1 quart every 1,000 miles, unless it was leaking out the rear main seal, but then you would have seen oil in your driveway.

Ok, go climb under your Subaru and look at the gaskets. I'll be shocked if there isn't a film of oil on the driver side cylinder bank head gasket.

Looks like it's worth driving to the East coast to have maintenance done. Out here the Subaru shops charge Audi prices... because they can.

[bodywhomper]

I hear you, and that's why I didn't want to buy an Outback. Except I don't know of another car on the market quite like the Outback: good ground clearance, AWD, long enough to sleep in, 30 mpg on highway, eyesight (or equivalent), easy for my wife to drive (aka, not huge), under $30k. It's our only car in CO, and it does pretty much everything we need. But again, we do plan to sell it super early because of these known mechanical issues.

Sorry for the thread drift.

A friend recently solved this with a 2017 Honda pilot. He likes it enough and it ticked the boxes for him. He has mixed feelings about the variable cylinder management in terms of reliability (uncertainty) and how it feels when driving. He got the 6 speed version and was not a fan of the 9 speed version, stating that the 9 speed trannie felt like it was always hunting for the right gear.

[skaredshtles]

I'll probably jinx myself, but we've got a 2010 Outback 2.5 with over 190K miles. My second teenage daughter is using it now.

You'll be fine. She'll total it before you have any mechanicals.

[uglymoney]

You'll be fine. She'll total it before you have any mechanicals.

190k I am pretty sure the bugs are out. Friend has an 03 EJ all original with like 250k...head gasket leaking oil but otherwise fine.

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[skaredshtles]

190k I am pretty sure the bugs are out. Friend has an 03 EJ all original with like 250k...head gasket leaking oil but otherwise fine.

Reading comprehension?