vtwinjunkie

In October of last year I purchased a brand new 2016 fully limited 6 spd wrx. I love the car, Its fast and fun and of course new! 2 months ago I got a ridiculous deal on a 2005 outback with auto trans (relatively low miles at 97k) that I just could not pass up. The original owner passed it to me with all service receipts and a relatively clean bill of health. After minimal work to get it on the road reliably I have hardly driven my WRX. I hate to say it but I have been strongly considering selling the WRX as it just sits! Don't get me wrong I love the car and it is beautiful to look at every day but when I need to drive places daily I find myself just grabbing the keys to the outback. It is of course older and I dont worry about getting it dirty or messy since it has had a great life up until this point and was well used! The struggle right now is that the outback is paid off and I just cant justify having a payment on a vehicle that I dont drive! Has anyone gone through this?

How many miles do you have? I cant get the pics to post you should double check your links. I also have a 2005 outback (I have 98k on it now) I purchased it a month ago with 97k and after getting into it I noticed a small seep coming from my head gasket area. I cleaned it up very good and it hasnt come back in the past 1000 miles but I still monitor it each week. I assume that in my case it is just a VERY slow leak (seep) that has been building up over time. If I were you I would get under there with a can of brake clean and go to town. It doesnt sound like you have done this yet. Here was my original post http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/158304-damn-small-oil-seep-look-like-head-gasketoptions/?hl=%2Bhead+%2Bgasket Edit....I noticed that you posted in my original post haha.

Dang. This is good, I will prob need this one day so I am commenting here to be able to find it! Thanks!

If you over tighten the battery top mount they seem to break before they strip a screw. (so watch for that) Its possible its buggered up now. I would like to 2nd on the possible corrosion issue. That can make things go haywire.

What a great idea. I will most certainly do this today!

Thanks! This is just what I was looking for. I also might need to replace my battery cable at some point. Spend about an hour yesterday removing from the vehicle, cleaning the entire area reinstalling. If the corrosion comes back I might just replace it (I think it was starting to creep down the main cable going to the starter). Its amazing how much brighter the interior lights seemed though once cleaned.

After doing a timing belt and thermostat replacement I read that I should have used the OEM subaru thermostat. Although I did not use the OEM subaru I did use an "oe exact" one. Gates 34012 Thermostat http://www.amazon.com/Gates-34012-Thermostat/dp/B001C97V4Q Will this suffice or is my engine doomed? Does anyone have real world experience with this outside of things read on the internet? Thanks!

Please elaborate? I Might need to do this and would like to save money over sending to a shop for this part.

Posting 2 pictures to the original post. Both on drivers side of car. I see oil at the valve cover seeping, the head gasket surface as well as the motor mount on that side of the car. I feel like it would run down and back so perhaps both the valve cover and the head gasket? After taking the picture I sprayed everything down to monitor the leak. The passenger side also has a small leak around the oil filter it seems. I am not worried about that. The car has also had the oil pan re sealed (its seeping again) as I see evidence of grey rtv coming out. not worried about this either.

2005 outback 2.5 SOHC. 98k miles, This weekend I decided to get under it for a closer look at what I thought was a very small leak in the power steering system. When I got a closer look I saw a little bit of oily residue on the lines and I followed it forward to the source which luckily was not the power steering system (rack and pinion was replaced by previous owner 10k miles ago). (Although I will get some pictures later today) It looked to be coming from the drivers side head gasket surface in the front most part of the engine and seeping back. After I get home this afternoon I am going to take pictures and clean it off to see how fast the leak is happening. The leak has not yet hit the ground and at this point seems to be a seep but it was still cause for concern.. I checked the passenger side and it was fine. How long do I have before this gets out of control? I just bought this car and was hoping to get at least 50k miles out of it before having to do anything major! Just posted 2 pictures. Both drivers side of car.

Just did the cabin filter on my 2005 outback today. it took about 30 min to get to it behind the glovebox (lots had to come out to get to it). When I got to it the box was dusty as hell with no filter in it.

I think there is a recall on that year (not sure but you should check), Brake line corrosion issue. My 05 has that recall as well. ------Brake light will only illuminate if the fluid is low (aka pads worn or leak) Your breaking system is hydraulic. So it consists of a piston (located in your master cylinder), lines, and another set of pistons in each caliper. Hydraulic fluid (break fluid) in the lines must be air and contaminate free for proper operation. Its possible that your fluid is contaminated. causing brake fade. I know you said the fluid was changed but maybe they goofed doing it or just said they did. If you had a leak it could be at the master cylinder, at any part of the brake lines running all over the car, or at the calipers. Any one of these would cause this issue.

if the window moves you know the window motor is good. The only other components are the switch and wiring. my vote is on the switch as well.

what does the top hose of the radiator feel like? hot? An Oldschool method of getting air out is unscrew the top hose and add fluid after filling radiator to get as much air out as possible.

if you are handy with a wrench you should buy it back. If it were me I would. Hell. Ill give you $400 bucks more than your buy back if you want. But I am a hoarder and will buy anything.

This! As a va resident I look for cars in (central or west) nc or sc mostly and they are always rust free. Stay away from the beach as the salt water from the ocean can eat them up too!

When I did my timing belt last weekend I stipped the top bolt on the water pump (2005 2.5i sohc)....I was pretty pissed because it wasnt even that much force!! Prob should have used a 1/4 inch drive socket!! haha Anyhow I used a longer bolt and it worked for me also. Good advice from all 3 people that suggested it here.

I find it hilarious how this person puts exclamation points after everything to make it seem happy and enthusiastic. A rebuilt title is rarely a good thing. Be careful my friend.

Sorry to hijack the thread....but is this still an issue in the 2005's ?

My 2005 calls for the tbelt to be done at 105k. Are you talking about an earlier model?

Just did my timing belt yesterday. It took me 2 hours and I have never done it before. replaced belt, all pullies, waterpump, tensioner, coolant flush and oil/filter change. The job is cake.

Today was a great day. oil /filter change, timing belt, water pump, pulleys, tensioner, coolant flush, shampoo interior!

Road tripping in the WRX And the most recent addition:

Yea I assumed it may have had something to do with the accident but it is just very strange how it almost feels like a different plastic all together. It really bugs the hell out of me so I will have to do something about it for sure.

I will try to take some more pictures when I get home to show you all what I mean. I do have a full carfax and the car has been in a fender bender (minor) and the trim on the left side was replaced (this is the similar color but textured paint that you can see in the pic) The bumper is also the same textured paint but I am not sure why as it has never been in an accident. The paint has a texture similar to rhino liner. It was also in a small fender bender on the other side that I know of but the trim paint works normal.