08 Outback engine needed

[kmasters]

I am looking for a used engine for my outback. All the engines I find are out of cars with automatic transmissions, and I have a manual trans. Will they fit?? The used parts dealers say no. Some mechanics I speak to say no and some say yes. Does anyone here really know? My VIN has a 6 in the sixth position, 2.5L, SOHC, CA emissions.

Respectfully,
Kurt in NH

[OutbackUFO]

From past experiences in engine swapping, the engine blocks for a given type engine are all cast and machined the same way. The bell housing, either MT or Auto is what determines fitment. IMHO any 2.5 should fit just fine..

[upflying]

How does a 4 yr old Outback need a new engine? What happened?

[kmasters]

Originally Posted by upflying

How does a 4 yr old Outback need a new engine? What happened?

It had 95K on it when we bought it 2 years ago. Now has 165K. I have been told that we are at the high end of what to expect to get out of it.

[Bootski]

did a mechanic tell you that? i dont see why you cant get another 160k if you take care of it.

[kmasters]

That's what we thought. It was a guy at a salvage shop that said it- not a Subaru mechanic. But what are your thoughts on the swap? A different salvage yard says the MT and AT have different cranks.

[jesseP]

Here's an '08 with a bad engine, another thread had an '07 with a bad engine. This isn't making me feel too good about my recent purchase of an outback. I had a Kia Spectra and Suzuki Esteem that both went to 200K miles before they ate it. With my current outback I have an Accord with a tad under 200K miles and besides needing to throw in a quart of oil every few weeks, it's still fairly solid. I'll see how this experience goes for me but I'll easily be out of the Subaru fan club if anything serious goes wrong for me.

[rasterman]

We'd all be out of the club if those two posts were par for the course. Subaru sold approximately 187,000 cars (of all models, USA only) in each of 2007 and 2008 model years. The vast majority of them had the 2.5 engine. I couldn't find anything that broke it out by engine type, but let's say 3/4 of them were H4s. That's roughly 280,500 cars that did not get talked about on the internet for blowing their engines. I like my chances.

Remember that the internet brings huge visibility to any issue, and in the right circumstances you can destroy any engine with 0 miles on it.

[plain OM]

It had 95K on it when we bought it 2 years ago. Now has 165K. I have been told that we are at the high end of what to expect to get out of it. . . . . It was a guy at a salvage shop that said it- not a Subaru mechanic.

If there's no distinct symptoms (problems) with your engine suggesting it be replaced, and if it has been properly maintained and not abused, there's no reason to replace it with one that is totally unknown.

Getting to a (one) more specific detail, the engines used with manual transmissions have an additional timing belt guide. (See attached.) I'm not sure if this can be added to an engine that had been used with an AT, but imagine it can. Nevertheless, that's probably one reason why parts lists don't show interchangeability.

[bheinen74]

Originally Posted by kmasters

It had 95K on it when we bought it 2 years ago. Now has 165K. I have been told that we are at the high end of what to expect to get out of it.

nonsense.
my parents 06 outback is about to turn 299k on it this coming week.
And no signs at all of any issue, course dad just installed a new passenger headgasket, as it was leaking oil out the bottom.