hey guys, just bought my first subaru on monday. 2008 outback 2.5i with 61500 miles on it. Thought it was a steal and was super happy with the test drive and purchase. Halfway home (2 hour/ ~100 mile drive from dealership) the heat started acting funny. Didnt pay it any mind. It was like midnight, I was tired and just wanted to get in bed. Got home, pulled into parking spot, put her in park and the heat turned cold. Sat there for a minute and it didnt warm back up. Then the temp gauge went up to like 3 ticks below max (mind you it was <20 outside). I was confused as to why this would happen, surely a car I just bought from a very reputable dealership would not be broken.
Woke up a few hours later, heated her up to go to work (13mile drive). after about 7 minutes of running I went out and the heat was only luke warm. Didnt think anything of it and started driving to work. about 3 miles into the drive I realized there was still no heat. Temp gauge was only slightly elevated. (Very cold out this morning. dont know exact temp. close to zero before windchill). It sputtered every here and there on way to work. Go to leave work about 3 hours later. Drive home about 5 miles in the engine gauge is all the way up again and no heat. I take the nearest exit off the interstate stop at gas station and check coolant level. It was acceptable. So I open the radiator, bought some coolant, poured some in there and tried to burp the radiator (maybe there was a small air bubble). Needless to say none of this worked. Didnt have any one from dealership contact info on me. so I drove home in a safe manner and called dealership. they said take it to nearest subaru dealer (since i bought it 2 hours away they didnt want me driving it that far). Took it to sub dealer. After a day they said that it has a blown head gasket. Apparently someone has recently done work to the engine and replaced the headgasket but did not seal it properly. This caused it to get jacked up. The original dealership is bringing a loaner car up here for me to use and they are towing my car back to their shop to fix it. then they will do the opposite once it is done being fixed.
So after buying a car I had it for less than 24 hours only to not have it for atleast 2 weeks.......awesome!
Question is this, what should I expect after they fix the head gasket? Is it going to run any different, anything I should look out for? Never had a vehicle with this issue so dont know what to be looking for/expect.
Make sure they machine the heads and use either OEM gaskets (I hear Turbo ones are the best) or Six Star milspec gaskets. The 2.5 is famous for HG leaks. Usually they are external, but it sounds like you got the rare internal leak. Nice that they are fixing it. Now, go take their loaner out and thrash it in the snow. JK.
How am I supposed to know what they use or how do I request they use certain ones?
No loaner yet =( they made the determination about diagnostic tests, loaner and a fixing it on Friday morning. They said no loaner til Monday. They weren't letting any employees driving in this storm. I'm in northern va....1 ft on the ground so far and it's still coming down hard.
Sadly you probably won't have much influence over the particulars of the repair. This is where the reputation of the dealer comes in- if they do it right, you can keep saying they're great.
I wish I had more to offer, but this is kind of how it goes with used cars anywhere. They get traded in because of a perceived problem. The dealer may or may not notice the problem. They may or may not take action. Then someone eventually buys it. They may or may not notice the problem. Once you've found one, they should fix it if the terms of sale allow- warranties etc.
I would be encouraged by what they've done and promised so far- that's more than the shady places usually offer. Complications from the weather are just that: complications from the weather, nothing anyone can reasonably do.
It has been demonstrated that a properly replaced head gasket is a lifetime fix. There are engines out there with 200k miles post-gasket-job. There should be zero detectable difference in power, mileage or drivability, and no impact on service life or future maintenance costs.
Oh I know it can happen to any vehicle. I just didn't expect it with this one. From everything I read before buying they are amazing and reliable cars lasting to 200k miles easy. But an engine is mechanical and mechanical failures do happen.
Yes! Super bummed about not having it for snow. I specifically bought it for this reason! Biggest snow of the year? Probably of the decade!! Haha. But whatever. Stuff happens right ?
Nice car.....very low miles too!
I'm sure it was traded in to the dealer....and their inspection didn't catch the gasket.
Once the gasket is replaced, I am sure you will really enjoy the car!
Like all "older" vehicles, keeping up on maintenance is key.
So, don't be discouraged by random maintenance.
I've made the decision That I much rather have an older car with no payment and occasional maintaince with routine carethan a car payment every month. Lol
As DavidPeab said get them to use a turbo gasket. Also get the heads machined. If you ask them they will most likely do it free of charge. If not chuck in the extra dollars to cover it. At this stage they will be very embarrassed for selling a dud. With a turbo gasket it will go from dud to stud and never need to be replaced.
I bought my 01 LL bean with a bevy of known issues (I'm an "accomplished" shade tree mechanic) with north of 195k miles and mine sits awaiting parts and care from the 1st day I drove it home from dealer ( side of the road "Bubba" dealer). If your dealer is willing to take steps to make you happy with a used car I would consider that a win already and would be happy to let them proceed.
Looks like you have a a good guy dealer and hope you leave them a good detailed review on Yelp (or similar) and here for others to read.
Yes. I definitely plan on leaving a lengthy (up until now) positive review. Let's hope everything continues down the same path from here. Supposed to be dropping loaner Car off for me in the am and picking mine up. Things got delayed bc of all the snow on the east coast. Im in n virginia and got well over 2ft. So the dealership was working on plowing cars out. Lol. I'll keep you all posted though.
Well I got the outback returned to me (literally drove it to my house and picked up loaner). From what I can tell it seems to be running much better. Only drove about 10 miles in it today. But I'll do about another 35 round trip to work tomorrow, and that'll be on the interstate. So we will see how it turns out then. No issues today though.
Oh yeah and they did resurface before applying new gasket.
Good to hear they took care of you. Did they replace the timing belt and related components while they had it apart? The TB has an 8.7 year / 105k mile rating so age wise it's getting up there..
Remember your antifreeze needs to be changed out every 30k according to the service manual. Most recommend only using Subaru's label. Fwiw this will help keep your new gaskets healthy for years to come.
I would also have done the TB since the engine was apart (belt was already off!). Hindsight, I missed this if I read the post when you first put it up.
Definitely get a jug of Subaru Blue for top-ups, that is certainly what is in there now and some antifreezes are not compatible together. And if you don't need it, you have it for your next drain/fill. I keep a quart of engine oil and one of coolant in my cars, better to be prepared!