Maintenance required on 2003 H6 with 188k miles?

[roadsubiedog]

my son asked me what kind of maintenance he should perform on his 2003 h6 subaru with 188k miles. the obvious is regular oil changes , air filter change, possible radiator flush.

 

he asked about tranny flush ( auto ) but i heard that may cause more problems.

 

also not sure when last tune-up was done. he says he gets about 24mpg. 

 

aslo this has a timing chain and not a belt , right? is there a service for the timing chain he should perform?

 

the car runs great. so if anyone can think of anything he should do because he bought it from a dealer and of course they did not know previous repairs or maintenance records.

 

greatly appreciated.

[Numbchux]

Not much. I probably wouldn't bother with a transmission flush, but a drain-and-fill is probably a good idea (just pull the drain plug and let it drain, and then replace the ~5qts that came out). Replacing the transmission filter is probably a good idea, it's a spin-on, mounted in kind of a goofy place, behind the bumper, under the battery, probably best-accessed from the wheel well, or directly underneath.

 

Last year for the replaceable, external fuel filter.

 

Front and rear diff gear oil would be a good idea.

 

Something about the accessory belt drive on these cars seems to be prone to idler/tensioner failure with very little warning. The idler is bolted to an aluminum bracket that also supports the A/C compressor. We stock them, as they do get ruined more than occasionally. Subaru, and most aftermarket sources, will only list an entire tensioner assembly, even though you just need the pulley. I've heard that the idler pulley can be used on the tensioner, I know from experience that there's a cheap bearing available locally that can be pressed into the stock steel pulley. 

 

 

That's about it, really for preventative maintenance. It's fairly common for the valve covers to leak, so it may need those. Easiest to replace the spark plugs while the covers are off...

[1 Lucky Texan]

we have a 06 WRX and an 03 H6 Outback.

 

is the a/c working OK? any noise or problems with the steering? are all 4 tires the same brand/size/model/wear?

 

you might consider adjusting the parking brake shoes - there's a rubber plug on the rear backing plates for access.

 

I'd be tempted to replace the cap and o-ring on the fuel pump.

 

inspect the rear bushings on the front lower control arms. If original, the struts are certainly worn-out.

 

you can search for most of those issues here and at subaruoutback.org .

Edited February 16, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan

[roadsubiedog]

all great suggestions. thanks. 

 

i am sure if he brought it to a shop they would find 5000 dollars of work that he needs. i am surprised my son asked about preventive maintenance. in the past he was one of those " if it aint broke , dont mess with it " kind of guys.

 

i was the same way until i learned the hard way.

[1 Lucky Texan]

all of us pick some 'path' we're comfortable with, but, it needs to be done from a position of knowledge - at least he's asking questions.

 

"A Smart man learns from his mistakes, a Wise man learns from the mistakes of Others."

[idosubaru]

those H6 engines are awesome, they easily go very high miles. i favor 01-04 H6's when helping friends buy cars. 

 

1.  replace both serpentine pulley bearings.  they fail all the time.  i'd replace them every 60k - 100k.  they're only $10 or less and takes 30 minutes to replace.  get a high quality japanese 6203 bearing (i think it is) ,tap out the olds one, install the new ones.  DAYCO makes a pulley that's interchangeable 89007 pulley if you don't want to mess with bearings, just buy the pulley and swap.

2.  replace the ATF for sure.  great trans, don't leave oil in it for ever.  you do't have to do a flush you can just drain/refill like engine oil.  do it 3 times as it only get 33% or so of the fluid out each time. ;

3.  change the front diff gear oil and coolant.  rear diff gear oil is smart too but they almost never fail or leak or have issues so while they can incur issues most make it to 250,000 miles easily no matter what.  

 

Drive it another 100,000 miles. 

 

Common issues:

a.  A/C orings - i have a write up on how to fix that for a couple bucks. 

b.  fuel pump cap and oring - the tabs on the cap crack and the oring spits out.  nice to have a new oring and cap on hand just in case or replace them preventatively and keep the old cap as a back up.  easy job.  less than an hour. 

c.  valve cover and oil cooler gaskets leaking oil.  i replace spark plugs and valve cover gaskest at the same time when needed.  spark plugs are 10x easier to replace with the valve covers removed - which always eventually leak oil.  more than likely they've already been replaced if they aren't leaking.  this is a few hour job or half a day or more if you work slow/unfamiliar with SUbarus. 

 

alternator (and battery of course) is the most likely thing to leave you stranded.  they're so easy to replace a cheap plan is to just have a used one in the trunk ready to go just in case.  it's a cheap way to avoid getting stranded. 

i generally focus on alternators and fuel pumps to avoid getting stranded in high mileage vehicles. 

[screwbaru2]

Old thread I know but if the OP still looks at this my recommendation is to replace the steel by pass pipe at the gooseneck.  I lost a perfectly good motor because that pipe rusted through from the outside.  It looks like an easy job until you get to the bolt for the rear hanger.  Check it out you'll see what I mean.

[roadsubiedog]

Old thread I know but if the OP still looks at this my recommendation is to replace the steel by pass pipe at the gooseneck.  I lost a perfectly good motor because that pipe rusted through from the outside.  It looks like an easy job until you get to the bolt for the rear hanger.  Check it out you'll see what I mean.

thanks I will check that out. i'll check out everyone elses recommendations as well. thanks.