jvopal

Acually I am giving up on the JDM engine option after reading some more rippoff stories about them (more than about Southwest Engines). For example: http://jdmenginedepot.blog.com/jdm-engine-depot-review/ http://forums.automotive.com/70/6434925/engine/liars-and-cheets-jdm-engine-depot-new-jersey-probl/

Very good Grossgary. Thanks. FYI - I called JDM. The shipping is about $400 and their engines have 90-100Km - he claims. But there is no VIN or other reference number to verify this. I am now really considering this option. -- Ivans: I am looking for the whole engine, not parts.

Thanks for the advice grossgary.. I'll let the mechanic find me an engine. At this point, if someone is willing to give me CDN $1000 for this car I would accept it. I just feel it would be shame to dump it into a junk yard.

Well, after some more searching it looks like www.qualityusedengines.com/ (also known as Southwest Engines and can be found also at www.swengines.com, wwww.gotengines.com or www.engineandtransmissionworld.com) does not have a good reputation. One ex-client is still really unhappy with their Grade "A" used engine - which turned out to be a re-built engine instead. See http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Southwest-Engines-Inc/Cudahy-Wisconsin-53110/Southwest-Engines-Inc-gotenginescom-sent-me-a-defective-engine-Cudahy-Wisconsin-977615. Anyone else knows anything about this company?

Thanks for your understanding and advice Gloyale. Yes, the salt is hell on cars here. That is why I was doing annual rust protection (with Protectoil at http://www.cobra1.com/appearance-services/rust-prevention/protectoil-detail). But obviously that did not seem to help much most of the rubber hoses and wires under the car. In fact, early this year I had the break line repaired since it was leaking due to rust. I should have had the cooling hoses and wires also replaced then.

Thanks again Fairtax4me. Here is an update on my car's situation: Last week I managed to find an independent mechanic who seems honest and knowledgeable about Subaru cars (he drives one himself). He suspects my engine problem started when the radiator hose or clamp came loose (or broke off) - most likely during my highway drive home. I just did not notice this overheating fast enough on the highway to stop. Apparently, in the older days these coolant/radiator hoses & clamps were being replaced more often than now (like once a year). But since now these hoses last longer, mechanics sometimes forget to change them. Given that rest of my car is in relative good shape, I am now considering getting a used H6 engine with under 100 miles. I received two quotes from http://www.qualityusedengines.com/ - one for up to 3 year warranty for grade "A" engine. But no mileage was specified. Does anyone have any experience with this company and their used engines? I just do not want another H6 engine which will have head gasket issues - which are common in H4 engines but they are appearing in H6 engines with higher mileage (for example as I read at http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-head-gaskets-problems-explained-part-ii/ and its comments). Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Also thanks FairTax for the advice. But I am sure I cannot drive it for 100 miles. Maybe for 5 or 10. I just drove it to a scrap yard for 6 city blocks to see what they will give me. (It was not much.) The engine did not reach the red line, but it was getting close. I will see if some independent can do what you suggest - get an oil sample and have it analyzed. And yes, the dealer explained to me that the (newer) aluminum engines cannot tolerate the heat as much as the old (cast?) iron engines. He said it was difficult to tell what caused this failure: a damage in the cooling system, or something in the engine cracked and that broke off the radiator hose, and hence stoped the engine cooling to work.

Thanks Shawn for asking. Yes, I believe they did fill the radiator up (with water and coolant), and put back the hose. They also left the radiator cap off to see how much pressure was there. They told me the pressure was so much after few minutes that the water was coming out like a geyser.

Thanks for your suggestions and questions 'grossgary'. Today I went back to the dealer and asked them your questions. Here are his replies (as best as I can recall) with some of my comments: 1. No, the radiator was not full of coolant, since the hose was off or leaking. According to the dealer it was the pressure from the engine that blew of this hose off. 2. Do not know. According to the dealer, the coolant did not get that far. 3. Nothing special was done to the cooling system, except for the usual tune up. I assume the dealer did change the coolant at that time. I also bought a coolant when I noticed this issue. Except that did not help, since it was just leaking from the bottom of the container. (But I had the dealer check the car and replace the rear brakes and calipers before leaving for this trip.) 4. I believe so. The dealer did not answer this question though. 5. This is very interesting question. Now that you mention it, I recall that while doing short driving (< 15 mins) at the campground the day before, I sensed there was not much heat coming from the engine into the cabin. I thought this was because the engine was not that warm yet. But now I suspect something must have happened then. Now when I ran the engine, the air coming into the cabin seems cool even when the car is close to red mark. Also note that: a) I noticed the CHECK engine light only while driving back home. The day before there was a major thunderstorm and we had to take cover in the car and drive to a closes restaurant (that is the 15 mins driving I was talking about). I was more concerned with the floods outside the car than with what was going inside the car. Therefore, it is possible this CHECK engine light was on then. I did not do any tests when the CHECK light came on and then the car shutdown. I only noticed the coolant was dripping from the radiator and that the engine was hot. It did not steam, but it smell differently. Later on the dealer confirmed the hose from the coolant container to the radiator broke off. c) My car is equivalent to the LL Bean version in USA. Therefore it is not VDC, I believe. I can give you my car's VIN if that helps.

Similarly to chrisw's issue at http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/140703-repair-the-engine-or-buy-another-car/, I am also not sure if I should repair/replace the engine in my 2001 H6 Outback, or just send it to scrap yard (as the dealer suggests). The car just died on me last weekend on my way back from a camping trip. It showed first "CHECK ENGINE" and then I noticed it started to overheat and eventually the engine shut donw. I did not expect this to happen, since my car has only about 130,000 km on it and I cared for it well for 12 years. The Toronto dealer shop (where I usually go to) told me basically the engine is gone - it caused the coolent system not to work properly due to some presure issue. I am not sure of all the details, but that is the gist of what I understood. He said it might be a head gasket, but he suspects that some other part of the engine was broken. I can drive the car fine for about 15 minutes, before I need to stop and let it cool. Has anyone heard of this H6 3.0L engine issue? From what I've been reading these engines should last longer than the 2.5 (H4) engines - since they should not have that many head gasket issues. I allso looked at the used H6 refurbished on http://www.ccrengines.com/, and see they are not cheap (over $6000). This, plus shipping to Canada, makes my feel such a repair is definitely not worh the car's value - assuming it is in good running order (which is not more than $5000). If anyone of you know of good independent mechanic in Toronto (Canada) area who could give me a second opinion, I would be very greatfull. Thanks

This is a great discussion and sugestions. I have same dilema with my H6 2001 Outback. The car just died last weekend on my way back from a camping trip. It overheated for no apparent reason. I did not expect this to happen, since my car has only about 130,000 km on it and I cared for it well for 12 years. The Toronto dealer shop (where I usually go to) told me basically the engine is gone - it caused the coolent system not to work properly due to some presure issue. I can drive the car fine for about 15 minutes, before I need to stop and let it cool. Has anyone heard of this H6 3.0L engine issue? From what I've been reading these engines should last longer than the 2.5 (H4) engines - since they should not have that many head gasket issues. I allso looked at the used H6 refurbished on http://www.ccrengines.com/, and see they are not cheap (over $6000). This, plus shipping to Canada, makes my feel such a repair is definitely not worh the car's value - assuming it is in good running order (which is not more than $5000). If anyone of you know of good independent mechanic in Toronto (Canada) area who could give me a second opinion, I would be very greatfull. Thanks