The Dude

Jim, I would solicit this information from SOA, a SOA dealer, or a shop that specializes in servicing Subarus. Their opinion be should in writing. They do not have to say definitively that towing caused the damage, only that the damage to your transmission is consistant with damage normally found as a result of improper towing. My first choice would be a letter from a SOA dealership. OK, now you a letter from a qualified source attesting to the nature and probable cause of the damage. I'm assuming that you have an admission from the towing company that the car was towed on two wheels. Reseach filing in small claims court. You need to know what your are doing. I had a repair shop try to screw me on a replacement engine. I got no where with the guy until I had him served. Then he siced his lawyer on me. Big deal, I had all the evidence and documentation necessary to win my case. They denied, delayed, and had the court date postponed. In the end they caved, and I got a new engine. I made a point of filing in the small claims court that was in the same district as the repair shop. The repair shop had no case, was basically stiffing me, and I wanted the judge to see just what a piece of work this company was. I wanted the judge to have this repair shop pegged as a bad apple, and make it even easier in court for the next guy the shop screwed. Anyway, sometimes the system does work.

There is no question that towing a AWD MT Subaru by two wheels will cause damage. Indeed, it would be extremely unlikely that damage did not occur. Sounds like the towing company screwed up, big time. Unfortunately, the odds are that they going to try to screw you, big time, as well. See if you can get a letter form the Subaru dealer that the damage to the transmission IS CONSISTANT with damage that one would see from improper towing. Press the towing company for immediate and full payment for the necessary repairs. Chances are, they will DENY and DELAY. Don't screw with them. File a complaint in small claims court, and have them served. NOW there's deadline for these guys, because there's a court date. And, they know you mean business. Don't let this thing drag on and on. A library, or maybe even the state ABA, will have all the information you need on small cliams courts in Connecticut.

I would absolutely take the car to the dealer and put the problem "on record" during the warranty. This problem is NOT normal. It may very well be defective/prematurely worn hypoid gears in the diff. If so, the noise will likely get worse and worse. Eventually the noise may actually make you abandon the car, I'm not kidding. This is an expensive repair when out of warranty. You are always smart to have the car repaired during the warranty period. Dealers frequently say " let's wait and see what the problem is, and we can talk about repairing it then". Well, once the warranty period is over, things don't always work out that way. Bad hypoid gears frequently make a kind of "roaring" noise.

Dave, you're only a Google search away from more technical information on tires than you could ever want. Do a few minutes research, and see for yourself. BTW, "speed rating" means just what it says, nothing more, nothing less.

You Wio Did you get all the air out of the cooling system? Do a search, and follow the recommended pocedures. If the engine still overheats, read below.... The 1999 Outback has the infamous Phase I engine, so an internally blown head gasket is a real possibility. Look for sludge in the radiator expansion tank. Run the car up to operating temperature, climb a step hill and then immediately inspect the radiator expansion tank for bubbles. Or have your mechanic test for exhaust gases in the coolant. Check for blown head gaskets before overheating causes additional damage.

I'm very sorry to hear of your problem. It is possible, but very unlikely that your fuel injector was damaged during the servicing of your car. Please tell us a little more about the head gasket failure. Was it an INTERNAL head gasket failure? Was it repaired under warranty, I hope? That's pretty early for a radiator to be replaced. Was the radiator tied into the head gasket failure? It will interesting to see many 2.5L Phase II engines eventually develop internal head gasket failures.

Napa quoted $240 for a rebuilt. Still waiting on subaruparts for a quote on genuine Sube. I'm of the opinion, that 90% of the time, rebuilt usually means, new brushes, a new bearing, and maybe a diode set. Dip the alternator case in the Gunk tank, and then out the door.

167,000 miles, it looks like with some luck this car won't be dying anytime soon. So, I'm thinking about replacing the brushes, and maybe the diodes, in the alternator. Has anyone on this board done this? Any tips or leads on where to get rebuild parts? Given enough miles, every alternator is eventually going to die. Thanks.

The 2000 OBW has the Phase II 2.5L engine, so an internal HG failure is somewhat unlikely. "Cheap" fixes for a missing cylinder would include the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and coil pack. I would at least check the radiator expansion tank for sludge and bubbles after a good, long run. Both are telltale signs of internal HG failure. Every car purchase, and particularly a used car purchase, entails a certain degree of risk. If the car was well mantained, the seller appears to be forthright, and the final price is attractive, you may find the car to be an acceptable risk. On the other hand, it might be worth a few dollars to have YOUR own mechanic give the car a once over.

John, I would also cross post your problem on the "Older Generation Of Subarus Board". They have some really good shade tree mechanics over there. Most of the guys on that board do all their own wrenching.

Frankly, there are people on this board more experienced on early 90's Subarus than me. But, I know that on the later Subarus the O2 sensors sometimes can be ineffective for weeks before they throw an error code. You can easily measure the O2 sensor output with a multimeter. Make sure the voltage is well within the specified values. It'll take just a few minutes, and then you will know for certain that the sensor is or isn't part of the problem.

You know that you have a problem with the transmission. I would wait to have the the transmission straightened out before I went any further with the engine. The problem could be in the transmission. And it's much, much tougher to troubleshoot two problems simultaneously.

I own a 99 Forester, which now has 167,000 miles. This car has the Phase II engine, so it should be very unlikely to suffer from a internal head gasket failure. The 2.5L Phase II is an inteference type engine. That means, if your timing belt breaks, kiss your valves and about $3,000 goobye. So, replace the timing belt if it hasn't already been done. READ and understand the operator's manual. Subarus generally are tough, capable and dependable vehicles, but they MUST be maintained properly.

So, ah, you're in the Parts Department at a Subaru dealership. Cool. Maybe you can tell me how many REVISIONS there have been on the 2.5 L Phase I head gasket. I'm thinking there have been six, but you know, it could be seven. Gee, why have there been so many head gasket revisions to solve a problem that hardly ever, ever happens to anyone? You'd think the genius engineers at Subaru would've whipped that puppy in only one or two revisions. I know. Everytime there's a slow day at Fuju Heavy Industries HQ Toshe, the head engineer, decides to kill some time by redesigning the Phase I head gasket one more time. Not that it really needs it, but you know, it's Japan, and company men are kind of expected to look busy. So, its redesign the Phase I HG one more time, and then off for a night of drinking sake and singing company songs with the other guys in the office. It's a far East thing. I understand. I really do.

Is that a compliment or a criticism? Just checking.

With all due respect, if there were so few HG failures, you would think that Subaru would be willing to make some accomadation for the very small number of affected customers. I don't believe that is case. I have been reading this Subaru board, and others, for over five years. There has been a relentless litany of Phase I HG failures during that time. Several posters claim to be on their FOURTH HG replacements. Worst of all, in my view, is the fact that Subaru has decided to ignore this issue. There are Subaru customers, then there are Subaru fans. The fans are going to defend Subaru no matter what. Hey, that's what fans do. Well, fine, but filling up thousands of cars with stop leak in order to cover up an external head gasket failure issue is not the hallmark of a responsible company. And comparing the Subaru HG problem to problems with other cars, doesn't get it for me either. Hey, I'm a thief, but at least I'm not a murderer. AND I'm not even going to mention the clutch shuddering/ smoking situation that went UNRESOLVED for years. Yeah, yeah, I know, at least it isn't an Edsel. Now that was a bad car.

I own a 99 Forester AT. So far, with 167,000 miles, it has been an excellent vehicle. I do NOT recommend the purchase of the a 98 Forester with the 2.5L Phase I engine. Be aware that the rear seating is somewhat tight in the Forester. It varies from car to car, but expect about 25 mpg with this car on the highway. If you have not owned an AWD car before, READ and understand the operator's manual before you even put the key in the ignition. Good luck.

John you must be a newbie to this board, otherwise you would already know about the infamous 2.5 DOHC "Phase 1" engine. Boy, if you had a dollar for every person that has posted on this board about the head gaskets failing on their Phase 1 engine, you could afford to buy a new car!! What can can you expect from Subaru? Nada, zippo, null set, goose egg, and, of course, squat. The Phase 1 was not the greatest engine. I hope you, and all the others didn't mind being beta testers for the engine that eventually lead to the much improved Phase II. Honesty, I am sorry to hear of your trouble, because it is not fair. It seems that short of a successfull class action suit, Subaru will do very little to help customers with failed 2.5L Phase I engines, once they are out of warranty.

I'm pretty sure if one cylinder in a four cylinder engine wasn't firing you'd know about it. If the engine isn't running like an out-of-blance washing machine, you're probably OK.

I like my 99 Forester, but it's no SUV. Actually, for most people, the Forester is a much, much smarter purchase than a SUV. Anyway, it seems Subaru wants to market the Forester as a quasi-suv. So, mine came with a set of Dueler tires, and some kind of wanna-be plastic skid pan. Other than giving the illusion of a skid pan, exactly what does that plastic piece of crap do? I mean you have real metal swords, and then you have the plastic swords that kids dressed up as pirates carry around on Halloween. Maybe Forester owners should drive around on a real rocky mountain road with that plastic skid pan this Halloween, and make believe that it's a real metal skid plate. That would be really scary, wouldn't it? Not only is the plastic skid plate as worthless as Janet Reno at a charity kissing booth, but the yo-yos at the quick lube place wanted to charge me an extra five bucks to deal with the thing. I took the plastic skid plate off my car. NOTHING HAPPENED. The engine didn't fall out. The tranny still works. Changing my oil and filter is a breeze. And those off road SUV-esque Dueler tires? They didn't even last twenty thousand miles. The set I have on now have over 85,000 miles on them, and they still have plenty of tread. Like I say, an illusion can cost alot.

Hi Jeff, This is an interesting problem. We all learn from the experience of other posters. Please post the results when you have the car serviced. Thanks.

A well known complaint among Subaru owners. The following may help a little: Check the oil level in the morning, before starting the car Check both sides of the dipstick. One side is usually more dependable Repeat the process several times to be sure that you have an accurate reading Fortunately, Subarus typically burn very little oil.

Hey, I'm sorry to hear that you have a blown head gasket. But, if you had the car checked out like you said, then the head gasket wasn't blown when the owner sold it to you. So what's your beef? Your original post implies the owner KNEW that the car had blown head gaskets and "stuck" you with the car. The only way that would happen is if you didn't have the car thoroughly checked out. Head gasket failure is a well known problem for the 2.5 DOHC engine. Anyone that researched the car would have either 1. Walked away from the car 2. Beat down the sales price in case the car had, or would develop, blown head gaskest 3. Had the coolant tested for exhaust gases. I can ONLY comment on what you have posted. You posted that you had been screwed.

I think it's just human nature, but I am amazed by the number of people that buy a Subaru FIRST, THEN log onto this board to see if they made a smart purchase. BUY first, then do the rearch. Did you have a mechanic check over the car? Did you check this board for problems with the 2.5 DOHC engine before buying? Did you check the car out in Consumer's Reports? Would you let a stranger just walk in off the street and baby sit one of your kids? Why would you hand over $7,200 to a stranger without at least making some effort to cover your rump roast? BTW, if you didn't buy it "as is" you may have some recourse against the seller. I feel your pain. There's a principle called due diligence or "let the buyer beware". Two grand isnt all that much if you learned a valuable lesson from this. You can't change the fact that the world is filled with a certain percentage of amoral subhumans, so you HAVE to learn to protect yourself.