[tladuke]

I'm trying to find a used 1st gen. There's a 98 Legacy Auto on craigslist right now that has 200K miles, but has 30K on a new engine. "This car was a customer's car, they blew the engine, so they sold it to me. I put a almost new engine from japan (I'm a mechanic)". It says warranty available too.

I'm new to Subaru's but I've been looking around internet and reading forums, and I've seen a few mentions of replacing the engine so...
I dunno.
What percent of how bad trouble do you think I'm getting into?

What should I ask the guy? I already need to email him to make sure it doesn't smell like cigarettes...

 

[outbackpacker3]

There are two things to find out

1. What quality is the engine it could be fine if the car got a good engine otherwise you might be replacing it again soon ask if it was a DIY project or done by a reliable mechanic and if it has a warranty.

2. What was replaced? Just the engine or were other things replaced as well like the tranny for example. Rember that the new engine may only have 30k but the other components have 200k on them.

Also if they blew the engine could there be damage to other parts of the car? Or was this a car that was not taken good care of and is falling apart? A OBD II code scanner might be a good investment as would a carfax report.