How long do soobies last?

[DaveSluder]

I have been into aircooled VW's for years and am just getting into soobies for winter transportation. I have 2 98's a legacy ej22 and forester ej 25d (head gaskets just done) they have 209,000 and 205,000. How long can these last? I know a lot of it has to do with rust etc. but, when I did do the head gaskets the cylinders looked great. Can I get 300,000 from these cars? What kind of total mileages do you folks have on your cars? Thanks

[zyewdall]

I know several people with over 300k on their EJ22's. I personally got around 250k on several older models and could probably have gotten more -- when I redid the head gaskets on one of them at 220k, I could still see the original hatch marks on the cylinders. It was peripheral stuff like rust, carburetors, etc that eventually killed them.

[MilesFox]

1986 BRAT, 287,000 mi, sold

 

92 subaru legacy, 250,000 miles, previous owner had head gasket and lost half the parts, i tossed in a 181,000 mi motor on the 250,ooo mi trans

 

1995 subaru lagacy, 258,000 mi, replaced 5spd trans, original motor and head gaskets

 

in the older gars, the head gaskets will hold out als long as the cooling system does.

 

single most reliable thing you can do is have a tip-top cooling system

 

other than that, expect the occasional axle boot or wheel bearing

 

i had an ea82 with over 300,000 miles, 1/8 inch crank play, ran and drove, used the heads on another motor

 

there are a few 400,000+ mi examples out there

 

depending on your region, rust will have a play in overall longevity. in the rust belt, the cars rust away before they quit running, will succumb to brake or fuel line failures if the rust is bad enough, on any make of car

[idosubaru]

there's really no answer to the title question.

 

to your vehicles - they have a significant chance of making 300,000. 300,000 highway miles is nothing. 300,000 city miles is terrible on vehicle.

 

there are tons of wear items on any vehicle - alternators, starters, calipers, rotors, pads, bearings, axles, boots, ujoints, fluids, struts, radiators, relays, et.al...these things don't last forever. it's all up to the owner and personal discretion to decide when is enough in terms of replacing and costs.

 

if you want to keep replacing parts any car can make 1,000,000 miles.

[danbennett2u]

One thing to make note of is that both of your engines are interference... so make sure your timing belt and pulleys are in good condition or you will risk a premature engine failure.

[MilesFox]

properly maintained you'll get 300,000 miles all day long. a long block can last well into 350,000 miles without a bottom end rebuild, so long as the motor has not been abused(overheated or ran out of oil)

 

aside from subaru, my 78 toyota 1/2 ton camper has over 300,000 miles on its original water pump and timing chain so far that i know.

[bheinen74]

most ej22 first series will outlast everything else on the car. There are many i have seen evidence of getting to over 400,000 miles.

 

I cannot say that about the ej25

every soob I see in the junkyard with a ej22 in the hood is not there due to an engine failing, the car is there due to rust, or a wreck.

Edited February 5, 2010 by bheinen74

[idosubaru]

"andover" doesn't tell me much but if you mean 300,000 km, that's chump change for any subaru.

 

outside of the motors pretty much all Subaru's are very similar, if not identical, in terms of component part reliability. most of the time subaru uses many of the same parts, so differences essentially come down to the motor in terms of longevity.

 

which leads to a +1 the EJ22 is far more reliable than the EJ25. EJ25's are easy to find with headgasket and bearing issues. but even still, that's fixable/replaceable.

[allwheeldad]

My 99 Legacy has 382,000kms and runs like a clock. Mind you, I have been diligent on servicing and have used Subaru parts for most everything. I rebuilt the suspension at 350,000 and just this weekend did the alternator. The motor and transmission is original (except for the headgaskets...damned ej25). You get what you pay for and it you want to take care of your car you are going to get alot out of them.

[johnceggleston]

How long do soobies last?

 

until you sell 'em, wreck 'em or use 'em for parts!!

[GeneralDisorder]

Mileage is a poor measure of an engine's wear. Religiously maintained, never driven till warmed up, nearly all freeway miles, etc, etc - the EJ22 could easily push well into the 500,000 to 800,000 or more range. They are very well designed.

 

As an example - I just resealed an EA82 (1.8, Throttle Body Injection) from a '94 Loyale. It was quite literally "little old lady" owned for it's entire life - I met the original owner, and she sold it at about 225k to her neighbor who put another 25k on it. It overheated (once) and the shop told her it was head gaskets. It was actually a blown water pump bypass hose - but it was due for a reseal anyway as it was leaking oil from the front crank seal, etc.

 

Upon tear-down though - it's the cleanest EA82 I've ever seen on the inside. The oil pump was pristine, cylinder's still have factory hone marks, etc. It probably never saw over 4,000 RPM in it's life.

 

I could easily see this engine making another 200k with the condition it's in. And that's a 3-main bearing EA82 - not the superior 5-main EJ22 - which tend to last longer under most circumstances.

 

It's all about maintenance and how they are driven. Poorly maintained - none of them will last 100k. I had an EA81 throw a rod at 145k due to poor maintenance - didn't keep up on oil changes and the oil pump wore out.

 

I have a customer with a '90 Legacy. Orginal owner. He runs Mobil 1 through it. I removed it for a clutch (it's FIRST clutch job) at 253k and resealed it at that time. It looks brand new inside and runs like a frieght train. He loves that car - it's never had a major mechanical failure. Just timing belts and seals.

 

GD

Edited February 5, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[subaru360]

In my part of the country they run until they rust in half. Literally sometimes.

 

Almost every one in the junkyards here is over 200,000 miles. We see 300,000 often.

[DaveSluder]

Sweet, as I said I have been into aircooled VW's for years. My summer driver is a 72 beetle with seriously a ton of mile I have put nearly 100,000 on it in the 11 years i have had it, and it was 27 years old then. So I am no stranger to keeping them going for a long while. will do what I can to get at least 350,000 out of these cars then look for southern replacements.

 

Thanks for all the info...

 

PS My 73vw bus needs an engine, I am strongly considering an ej22 conversion, I am bit by the Subaru bug, afterall subaru is just urabus backwards.

 

Dave