[Timdog]

Hello all, new to the forum and this is my first post. My GF has a 96 Legacy Outback Wagon with the 2.5, automatic. She brought the car here from Oregon when she moved a few years back. It has about 164k on it and has a few issues (though it did make it all the way across the US loaded with luggage without any major problems). Firstly it leaks oil, from everything I've read and just my own observations, the head gasket and perhaps the rear main seal? It loses a tiny bit of brake fluid (very little) from the round seal on the brake fluid distributor (front pass side engine compartment) with all the brake lines coming out of it. It also loses a small amount of p/s fluid from the seal between the reservoir and the pump (something I'll fix on my own when I get free time). And recently its developed a shimmy in the front end over 50mph. She barely uses the car and when she does its always on SI so none of this has ever really been an issue but she would like to start fixing the problems with the car before they get worse. I have taken the front wheels in and had them balanced to see if that would fix the shimmy but no luck. Not knowing a good place for subaru repair on SI we thought we would try the dealership (manfredi) for an alignment. What an absolute mistake. To make a long story short they were pretty much useless. They said the head gasket would be a $2500 job requirinf a complete breakdown of the motor, and then after waiting 2 hours for them to put the car on the lift they immediately brought it back out and said they couldn't do the alignment. They stated that everything on the front end (tie rods etc) was frozen. We took the car and left. I threw it up on the ramps at home and looked myself and it doesn't look bad at all (about as rusty as my 04 gti which gets aligned every year) and there were also no scrape marks or wrench marks on anything which leads my to believe they never even tried, most likely seeing it make take a little longer than a brand new car and decided it wasn't cost effective. The car spent its life in Oregon where they use very little road salt and in the 3 1/2 years its been here has done about 2000 miles so I find it very hard to believe that everything is seized. Needless to say I need a decent shop that knows Subaru's in the SI or trisate area that I can go to for some repairs and was hoping that I may be able to get some suggestions on here. In Oregon Subaru's are very popular and she never had a problem finding a shop that specialized in them. Any info would be greatly appreciated. :29:

 

[SuperSingh]

Brothers Auto Repair
2151 Forest Ave Staten Island, NY 10303‎

They specialize in foreign cars. Give them a shot.

 

[pixies852]

I strongly recommend Olympia Auto Repair Center
167 Olympia Blvd
Staten Island, NY 10305

They replaced the rear sway bar on my 2011 Outback. They're good honest people, you shouldn't go wrong with them.

Just a word to the wise...I recommend you go to the Staten Island Subaru website to print the coupon for a $20 oil change and tire rotation. I know you have a bitter taste in your mouth for Manfredi due to your previous experience, but for $20 I think it's worth it. If they tell you that your car needs any type of repair, just take your car a short way over to Olympia for honest labor. I have to admit, Manfredi is not the place to go to for labor. They will take every cent out of you.

 

[Timdog]

I strongly recommend Olympia Auto Repair Center
167 Olympia Blvd
Staten Island, NY 10305

They replaced the rear sway bar on my 2011 Outback. They're good honest people, you shouldn't go wrong with them.

I've used Olympia several times now and they seem like a honest solid repair shop. :29: