suebee60

This is probably an easy question for someone who understands engine repair. About a year ago the engine on my 04 Baja was destroyed when the belt jumped time after a bad timing belt replacement. The car was driven less than 1K miles since then, during the holidays we were preparing to take it for an extended trip and checked the oil only to find it empty! I took it back to the place where I had the rebuild done, and they told me it was the rings. Ok, so my question is does it make sense that the rings were not done, or at least checked to see if they were leaking when they rebuilt the engine? They did the valves "Grind (complete) valve-both" would this not include replacing rings? I just can't believe I spent 5K having an engine rebuilt and now it is leaking oil, with less than 1K miles. Would the rings not have been part of this job? I just don't understand enough about engine repair to know. Thanks for all the information and help

Thanks guys, I think I am going to look for a used engine. I'll start with car-parts.com. I don't think at this point I can do much worse. I still can't believe however, that Subaru doesn't require their dealerships to have a certified Subaru mechanic on staff. That's rediculous. I also realize that the failure to replace the idler pulleys while probably stupid is within the realm of acceptability, but destroying the surface of my cylinder heads is NOT. Unfortunately there are no small claims courts in Tx. Any action requires an attorney and I just am not sure it would be worth it considering I could lose. Then I could add legal bills to the injury. Blah.

Several people have mentioned the idea of a used rebuilt engine. I am sure that the engine I would need would not necessarily need to be from a Baja. Someone sent a link to a Forrester in Dallas. Is there a way for me to know which engines would be a match? Probably a silly question, but I am clueless when it comes to something like this. My mechanic has had no luck locating one and I would like to start looking myself. Thanks all.

Thanks 1997reduxe. I appreicate the information. The trouble is I have already taken it to a shop where they have removed the engine. To have someone else fix it now would mean having it towed yet a 3rd time, at pretty great expense and still having to pay for the work already done. I did suggest looking for a rebuilt or used engine in good condition rather than trying to do anything with the current one. Would this be a good idea in your opinion? I just feel like this engine has been trashed and I would be better off with another one, even a fairly high mileage used one. Do you agree? I should also clarify, I was living in the Panhandle when this work was done. It was not a central Texas Subaru Dealer. It is a drive, but my daughter gets good service at Subaru of Round Rock and I am acutally pretty impressed with this independent shop that my car is currently at. At the very least they seem both knowledgable and honest. I guess I could have come on and asked some questions prior to getting the original work done, I wish I had now. I just stupidly assumed if I was taking it to a dealership they would know what they were doing. Live and learn I guess.

So, I wanted to provide an update. First, I did contact Subaru of America and while "sympathetic" they essentially let me know they would register my complaint but that was all they could do. The shop, naturally, refused to take any responsibility for the problem. The shop manager actually told me they were trying to "save me money" by not replaceing the pulleys. Gee, I guess I think that should have been my decision. Now for the real update. I think I mentioned they also resurfaced my heads and replaced my head gaskets when they did this job. Well, when they pulled the motor and started repairs they asked me to come in and bring a camera. Apparently when the dealer resurfaced the head, instead of sanding/grinding it down to a fine smooth finish, they left it scratched and uneven. The machine shop guy said he guessed they used a snap on grinding tool so they could get to it without having to actually pull the engine out. He said he always does it by hand because he feels it's too easy to take off too much metal too quickely with those tools, plus you have to pull the engine to get to it by hand. I don't know, that is just a guess but what isn't a guess is how beat up my cylinder head looks. He said he could not guarantee at this point that he could smooth the head out well enough for the gasket to seal correctly. He thinks he can try filling in the scratches with jb weld then smoothing it down so that the weld is only filling in the scratches and buffing it out to a smooth finish, but no guarantees. I'm really at a loss. I just can't believe this Licensed Dealership screwed up my car sooooo bad. I'm just sick.

Thanks for all of your input. I had really tried to put the bad experience at this dealership behind me, unfortunately this new issue has made that impossible. The more I read and think the angrier I become. I guess I really feel like either the service technicians who worked on my car just didn't know what they were doing, or the service supervisor was just so fed up with my complaints about the oil loss not being fixed that they just didn't care about doing the job right. Realistically probably the first, but either way I feel kind of ripped off. I don't necessarily expect anything to come of it, but I do think I am going to contact Subaru of America through there CDS department. Even if they can't do anything to help me, I think they should know the kind of service I recieved at one of their dealerships, I just can't see how anyone could defend this service. My daughter recently paid 1,000K for a timing belt replacement on her Outback and they changed EVERYTHING. She was also told that if she would not authorize them to change the pulleys that they would not do the service as the pulleys would not outlive the new belt. I've gone from sick to livid, though when I have to take money out of my retirement account to pay for my new engine, I'll no doubt go back to sick again. I apprecieat all of the advice on what to do/ask for to be sure everything that needs to be checked or worked on this time around it done. Please let me know if anyone knows of something else I should ask about in terms of the repair. One other thing, my gut tells me that Baja's are holding their value and it is worth fixing. Am I wrong? Is this car worth putting 4-4.5k into? It's sitting right now at 190k miles.

Wow, afterbang. I wish I had gone to you with my original oil leak issue. I never felt like the shop was able to adequately address the cause of the leak even after changing a number of seals, head gasket etc. I will say though that I have allways changed my oil regularly and always use fully synthetic oil. (Please tell me the synthetic oil is not a mistake) I really have been trying to take care of the car. I should also mention that included in that price they also changed the water pump. They did quite a bit of work and I guess I believed they were changing everything that needed changing, I just took it on faith that they weren't leaving anything routine undone, as I mentioned, I'm not a mechanic and I did not know there were 3 pulleys to change. I thought by taking it to a Subaru dealership that I was doing the right thing in order to be certain that the job was done correctly, even if it meant I had to pay more for it. Of course I was a little shocked when at some point into the job they "confessed" that as a new dealer they did not yet have any Subaru Certified Technicians, but assured me that their technicians were capable of doing the job correctly. UGGG. That was another thing, it never occured to me to ask at the Subaru dealership if they had certified Subaru Technicians before taking my car to them. Live and learn I guess.

Ok, I need a gut check here. I was recently driving my 03 Baja when, according to the mechanic, one of the timing belt idler pulleys locked down causing the belt to break causing catastrophic engine damage to the tune of 4-4.5k. What's making this really tough for me is that about 15 months ago and less than 30k miles I had the timing belt replaced along with a new water pump, seal kit to the engine, plugs, resurfacing the head and then some. I believe all in I spent about 3.5k. Some background is when I took the vehicle in I felt I was either using or losing oil as I was having to add oil about every 2 weeks. After having the car in the shop about 3 times, I was never really satisfied the leak problem was fixed as I was still putting in about a half quart a week, but oddly the amount of loss would vary, some weeks a half quart, another week none, the next week 1. The shop manager was obviously aggrivated with me and so I just gave up and kept pouring oil in it when needed. Fast forward to now. When I had my Baja towed in, I was shocked when the mechanic told me that when the belt was changed, they failed to change the idler pullies with the exception of 1. He seemed a little lost for an explanation as to why they would have done it that way himself stating to me that he ALLWAYS changed the idler pullies when he did a timing belt replacement. He said that even if they looked ok, the odds of them outliving the new timing belt were slim and so replacement was a must. When I spoke to a friend who had her Outback in a different dealshiper around the same time, she told me that they told her they would not do the timing belt without changing the idler pulleys. So here I am, I'm no mechanic and honestly when I spent $3500 dollars trying to get my vehicle into good condition, hoping it would last me at least into my quickly approaching retirement, feeling like I was being responsible and getting the necessary maintenance done to keep my car in good working order, I just took it on faith that everything that needed to be done with regard to the timing belt was being done. I had no idea to be honest there were 3 idler pulleys that needed to be replaced so I didn't question it when I got the invoice. Afterall, they are the experts. So I'm just sick. I really can't afford the extra 4k to fix something that I feel llike I already spent the money to prevent having happen in the first place. I don't want to be a B; but I really feel like this problem was caused by a failure on the part of the shop that did the original job to do it correctly. Am I wrong? Is it possible that this is just bad luck and could not be forseen by the mechanics that changed the belt originally? I'm at a loss and just need the opinion of some folks with a little more experience and understanding of the system at play here. I'm hesitant to go back to the dealership, as I said I think I wore out my welcome with them over the oil leak never being resolved to my satisfaction, yet I really feel in my gut that this is their mistake. Any advice? Should I complain, just let it go? I'm just not sure.