BuffaloDave

Wait a minute. Back in the day you could buy a used car with 90K on it for a couple of hundred bucks because, like you said, they were expected to die after 100k or so. These days used cars go for thousands of dollars and it isn't just because of inflation. It is because the myth states that certain cars are of better quality and will run for 200k miles with just minor repairs. That's why when something major goes out on it even at 120k it starts to look like more of a rip off. I just spent $1,300 on repairs for this piece of crap in November. Now they want another $1,800. What's it going to be next month? Also a 10 year old refrigerator won't kill you for trusting it with your life on a snowy highway. If Subaru can't live up to its reputation it is up to the jaded, exploited masses to lower their reputation for them, and not just pollyanna it away with an "oh its okay, it's only another couple of grand down the drain." attitude. Plus I am wondering if the dealer mechanics didn't some how screw it up when they were monkeying around with the new water pump and timing belt in November. I doubt it, but I'm not sure. Who knows what these guys got up to when they were in there.

Yep, sounds like the exact same problem I now have on my 97' Legacy outback limited wagon. I originally took it to the dealer in November, 2005 for a new water pump. About a month later I had those weird temp fluctuations in my car too. I had just driven about 90 miles away and everything was great. I parked the car for about 2 hours and when I came back it started overheating right away. The thing was pegged into the Hot zone, but I couldn't get any warm air out of the heater. I stayed over night at a friends house and pondered how I was going to get an over heating car a 100 miles back home. The next morning I added about a quart of water to the radiator and the engine seemed to be cooling okay so I drove it back home. It stayed in the mid cool to hot zone all the way home until I got off the highway, when it started to get hot again. As long as I drove 45 mph or more it stayed cool, or if I dropped it into 2nd the higher rpms seemed to cool it off too. I took it immediately to the dealer and they suspected air in the coolant from when they changed the water pump. Now I told them specifically that I had just added a quart or more of water to the radiator, so they should have known that it may be more than just air from before, and that there was a leak occuring somewhere. Well they didn't figure it out. All they did was "burp" the air out of the coolant and give me back the car. Now here's where fun starts. Saturday night I drove 45 miles to New Haven CT. This was about 3 weeks from when they burped the car. Everything seemed fine on the way there, and upon driving home it was working okay on the parkway. Unfortunately we got hit by an ice storm and the highway patrol pulled everyone off the Merritt Parkway while they cleared the trees. Meanwhile the storm was worsening and snow was falling in blizzard conditions. I thought, "no problem, I have a Subaru, I can get home through any snow storm, just get the trees off the road." Then I looked at my temp gauge and saw that it was pegged into H again! It's 1:30 AM in a howling, freezing snow storm and I am pulled off the road, parked alongside 15 other cars in a Park n Ride parking lot and I am freezing my rump roast off in a car that is overheating!! I get the state trooper to call in a tow, but it isn't going to get there until about 4 AM. At 2:30 AM they clear the trees and people start following a plow going 20 mph on the parkway towards home. I am about the only left in the parking lot in a blizzard, and I am wondering if I am going to freeze to death in this piece-o-crap Subaru, that if I survive in, I am ready to spray paint yellow, stencil the word "LEMON" on it and park it in front of the dealer. I turn the engine on one more time and pray to god, Jehovah, Vishnu, Wankantankan, you name it, that the damn thing starts blowing some hot air out of the defroster so I can see... it does! I chance making the drive home. I get on the parkway and as long as I drive over 45 mph it stays cool. The parkway, even though it was just plowed 15 minutes ago, is a blanket of white. I couldn't tell which lane I was in but I was heading home. Right before my exit I caught up to the plow and had to slow down so of course it started pegging into high again until I down shifted into 2nd. I just dropped the car off at the dealer yesterday and I am expecting an outrageous estimate, well over $2,500 to replace a head gasket this morning. I am tired of throwing good money after bad and disagree heartily with whoever said "Toyotas and Hondas blow gaskets too." My car only has 120k miles on it and I have had Toyotas and Hondas with more miles then that, that never blew a gasket. This is a design flaw that Subaru refuses to own up too. My research from this site has proven to me that these type engines are just ticking time bombs that Subaru refuses to own up to. Here is a site you can go to and sign a quest book registering your complaint on this exact issue. It is being down to I believe bolster a much needed class action suit and to stop Subaru from lying when they repeatedly say; "Oh, ahhh, err, we've never had any problems with head gaskets before." Which is what the lying *astards have been telling everyone to date. http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/guestlog.html http://home.comcast.net/cgi-bin/MFEntry?owner=skipnospam Sorry if I've gotten a little emotional here, but almost freezing to death in a vehicle that everyone touts as a "great snow car." has left me a little pissed. My only question to you all out there in Subaru Cyberland is; should I bother fixing this thing, or is it time to sell it, dump it, or trade it in for something better? If I fix the HG I now am seeing that there may also be some kind of bottom seals or something that can go next. I know most of you are biased and pro-Subaru or you probably wouldn't be on this site, but I feel like I am just throwing good money after bad and that Subaru's reputation is like the emperors new clothes... all talk and no substance.