[SWKohnle08]

Hi

I'm the current owner of a 2004 Outback Ltd H4 that I purchased from my Mother-in-laws estate. It has 42K miles in excellent condition. I have always driven VW's and never owned a Japanese car much less a Subaru. I bought it thinking that I would use it as a winter car and pull my VW off the road till spring. Now that I have started driving the Outback, I love it and thinking of dumping my beloved VW and keeping the Subaru as a permanent daily driver. I took the Outback to the dealer and had them change all the fluids including transmission, cooling and transaxle. She runs great and wondering what are the things I should keep an eye on as I drive this Subaru? Anything anyone can tell me would be appreciated. Is there a cold air intake available for the H4 engine? Is there a good service manual available?

Thank you,

Steve

 

[cardoc]

Welcome to the club. Another convert among us.

You should be able to get a fair price for the VW. Should sell quick.

You are on the service manual. We're here to learn, teach and provide.

 

[Storkiln]

General advice we tell all new owners of late model Subaru’s with a non-turbo H4 engine is to keep an eye on your coolant levels. In the grand scheme of all Subaru’s on the road, very few will suffer from leaking head gaskets. But they can happen, and it’s best to catch it early.

So keep an eye on your coolant levels (bottle right behind the radiator). If you notice fast decrease in your coolant levels, something’s afoot. Same with outright smelling coolant while the car is running.

Aside from that, congrats on the car! 9 years old and only 42k miles. Amazing.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

it comes stock with a cold air intake. There are mods available that increase intake noise, but I doubt there's any performance increase.

take extremely good car of your tires. never mix different brands/sizes and keep all 4 the same wear. research ' torque bind ' for more info.

low miles/usage stop-n-go driving, is considered severe duty so, if the previous owner did not use the time side of the maintenance schedule, other items may need a close inspection. (cabin air filter, axle boots, parking brake adjustment, throttlebody cleaning, etc.) likely the dealer covered much of this, but you can learn to do quite a bit by reading here. There are also youtube videos for some Outback services.

 

[nipper]

YOur going to be due for a timing belt and all the seals. I would also do the pullies and the tensioner. 106,000 miles or 106 months.

Change all the fluids

Check all the rubber parts.

Drive and be happy, though wished you could have gotten the gem under better cirumstances.