[yacobid]

My 2012 Legacy (new car Ive eve owned and my baby) has about 96k miles on it and its time to do the timing belt, spark plugs, and wiper motor recall. I'm debating if I want to take it to a dealer or a local repair shop. I have always done work on my own car but this is outside my skill level.

Can anyone speak to the benefit of dealerships vs private shop? Also anyone recommend a shop in Connecticut?

thanks in advance

 

[eagleeye]

congrats on getting the last year of the good old EJ253 engines.

you can call around the dealers, and ask for pricing, the smart ones will quote for a whole timing belt kit. and not just the rubber belt.

(the rubber belt might outlast the timing components in the kit,... kits have pulleys/ idlers/ tensioner,
and maybe a water pump, the subaru waterpump itself lasts a long long long time in a subaru, though).

and you might get 10 different quotes from 10 different dealers.

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do get them to change the CVT fluid. if it has not been done recently.

_______

as far as independent shops, plenty in CT would know and love subarus. (most popular car bought there is a forester).
you can ask they use only OEM parts,...some will let you buy your own and give it to them.

 

[idosubaru]

Dealers typically don't replace the pulleys and tensioner. All of that should be replaced on an interference engine. The lower sprocket is more failure prone than the belt itself.

If you request all of that at the dealer it can get expensive really fast.

A good indpedendnt with subaru experience can replace it all for substantially less but then you run the risk of them using lower quality parts. As important as it is to replace those pulleys it's also important to know that most aftermarket ones are not as high quality as the Subaru OEM. You don't want to just blindly replace them with whatever parts the local place has in stock or kit you find online.

 

[Shadynasty]

My 2012 Legacy (new car Ive eve owned and my baby) has about 96k miles on it and its time to do the timing belt, spark plugs, and wiper motor recall. I'm debating if I want to take it to a dealer or a local repair shop. I have always done work on my own car but this is outside my skill level.

Can anyone speak to the benefit of dealerships vs private shop? Also anyone recommend a shop in Connecticut?

thanks in advance

Go to Wrenchrite in Branford. Great shop, good pricing. Getting my timing belt done there today

 

[rasterman]

Obviously you'll use the dealer for the recall work, since that's the only place where it's covered for free.

As for the timing belt I have to follow in suggesting the use of an independent shop. Shops like that do timing belt changes all day long. There's nothing unusual about the belt job in a Subaru, to the point where I would still feel comfortable letting a familiar and reputable indy shop do it even if it was their first Subaru.

You can save a lot vs. the dealer AND get a better end result if (as already mentioned) they replace all the idler bearings with quality parts in addition to the belt itself.

 

[Roadrunner2.5l]

Where in CT are you?

I know of an excellent independent shop in Greenwich that I use excluisvely to do maintenance work on my '14 OB and my '07 STi.

 

[eagleeye]

this thread was last typed on by the op looking for the answer back in August. ...so hopefully the timing belt job has been done,...or they bought a ferrari testarosa with up to date maint. (we may never know as this was their last post).


while we wait for a update:

CT fun facts quiz: How 'Connecticut' are you? - Connecticut Post

 

[Roadrunner2.5l]

this thread was last typed on by the op looking for the answer back in August. ...so hopefully the timing belt job has been done,...or they bought a ferrari testarosa with up to date maint. (we may never know as this was their last post).


while we wait for a update:

CT fun facts quiz: How 'Connecticut' are you? - Connecticut Post

I failed lol