[jesseP]

I just bought an '05 Outback with 59,000 miles on it. Pretty good score, looks and drives brand new. Before I bought I did a lot of research and found foresters tend to have transmission problems but couldn't really find anything about the outback. Anyone know of any common problems I may want to watch out for?

Also, I'm right around the corner from the scheduled 60K maintenance. Does anyone have an idea round-a-bout how much this usually costs? It seems like there's a few actual things changed/flushed, but the rest are just them checking things out.

 

[1stgenfarmboy]

On the H4 keep an eye on the headgaskets/timming belt, change the differential fluids pretty soon.

Dar

 

[JTrujillo86]

I just bought an '05 Outback with 59,000 miles on it. Pretty good score, looks and drives brand new. Before I bought I did a lot of research and found foresters tend to have transmission problems but couldn't really find anything about the outback. Anyone know of any common problems I may want to watch out for?

Also, I'm right around the corner from the scheduled 60K maintenance. Does anyone have an idea round-a-bout how much this usually costs? It seems like there's a few actual things changed/flushed, but the rest are just them checking things out.

Congratulations on your purchase and on finding an '05 with such low mileage :29: Our 2003 was picked up in August with just over 70k miles.

Anyhow, first thing's first: what engine and transmission combination do you have? 2.5, 2.5T, or 3.0? If you have the naturally aspirated 2.5 you should keep an eye out for seeping head gaskets and ripped CV boots. For piece of mind, I would have all fluids/oils changed as soon as you can. That includes transmission fluid, front and rear differential gear oils, engine oil, P/S fluid, brake fluid, and coolant. I did all of that when I got my OBW just to get every maintenance item back to zero miles. IIRC, most if not all that stuff should be taken care of by 60k miles anyway. I can't remember when plugs and wires need to be replaced though.

Other than the HGs and CV boots, you should be good. The automatic transmissions on these is pretty solid. Just keep up with regular maintenance and it'll run forever.

- Jeremy.

 

[jesseP]

Yeah, I was shocked to find one with as few miles as this one. It was a one owner and the body looks like they just drove it off the line. (literally the only flaw was a little rub on the wheel well) Must have been an old lady that kept it in a garage and drove it to church and the doctors.

The 60K maintenance calls for all those fluid changes and the plugs. I got it last Thursday and planned on making an appointment for that work to be done. I really hope that I don't have to deal with HG problems, I thought that was more of a Forester issue like the transmission thing.

But so far we're impressed with the handling and comfort. I live in Cleveland so we get snow so we knew we wanted an AWD. We just weren't sure if we were going to go CRV, RAV4, Subaru or something like an AWD Volvo. Less than a week in and it's so far so good.

 

[vr4Legacy]

I believe the 60k will be ~$700 at a dealer. But you can do alot of the items yourself or have an independent shop do everything for less. At 60k the warranty is gone anyway so having the dealer do it doesn't really have any benefits.

Welcome to the forums and enjoy your Subaru!

 

[JTrujillo86]

Yeah, I was shocked to find one with as few miles as this one. It was a one owner and the body looks like they just drove it off the line. (literally the only flaw was a little rub on the wheel well) Must have been an old lady that kept it in a garage and drove it to church and the doctors.

The 60K maintenance calls for all those fluid changes and the plugs. I got it last Thursday and planned on making an appointment for that work to be done. I really hope that I don't have to deal with HG problems, I thought that was more of a Forester issue like the transmission thing.

But so far we're impressed with the handling and comfort. I live in Cleveland so we get snow so we knew we wanted an AWD. We just weren't sure if we were going to go CRV, RAV4, Subaru or something like an AWD Volvo. Less than a week in and it's so far so good.

Unfortunately the HG issues are on all naturally aspirated 2.5s up to 2009. A lot of people -- and Subaru -- say the problem was fixed by 2005, but that's just not the case.

As a word of caution, I would suggest checking diff and trans fluid levels immediately after leaving the shop. Just before we moved to WA from CO, I paid a shop to change all of that. They drained the diff gear oil in the front, but didn't replace it...blew my differential and damaged the clutch packs in the transmission That was fun to deal with...

- Jeremy.

 

[jesseP]

Unfortunately the HG issues are on all naturally aspirated 2.5s up to 2009. A lot of people -- and Subaru -- say the problem was fixed by 2005, but that's just not the case.

As a word of caution, I would suggest checking diff and trans fluid levels immediately after leaving the shop. Just before we moved to WA from CO, I paid a shop to change all of that. They drained the diff gear oil in the front, but didn't replace it...blew my differential and damaged the clutch packs in the transmission That was fun to deal with...

- Jeremy.

I just did the transmission, power steering (not sure if that was on the list but it was pretty dark), and coolant this morning. Haven't gotten around to the differential fluids. My other car had the catalytic converter go this morning so that's going to be some money to fix that. The full maintenance will have to wait on my new(er) outback.