98 Forester - yes, no, or maybe?

[heartless]

bumped into some old acquaintances at the grocery store this afternoon, got to chatting and discovered they have a 98 Forester they may be interested in getting rid of...

 

the good - body is in decent shape (for Wisconsin), interior needs a good cleaning, but otherwise is intact and complete, including the cargo cover and rubber cargo mat. has 149,595 on the clock...it starts right up, but needs some exhaust work.

 

the bad - has the dual overhead cam 2.5 & they said it recently started to overheat.

He wants to yank the thermostat and toss it (he is a Chevy man...) I told him he would destroy the engine doing that, the problem is failing head-gaskets, not the T-stat.

 

so anyway... I may have a chance at picking this up... the big question is - would it be worth picking it up?

How much would you be willing to give for it?

and how much of a pain in the backside is it to fix the head-gaskets?

or would it be more worthwhile to swap it out for a 2.2? (keeping in mind I have a running 95 Legacy donor car)

 

Or should I just skip it all together?

 

will post up a few pics shortly

 

[idosubaru]

i don't buy anything pre-2000 any more unless there's a really compelling reason.  

Rusty knuckles, exhaust, brakes, suspension, brake lines, fuel linkes, 20 year old struts have wasted too much of my time.

 

you can generally find 2000+ now easily well under $1,000 needing some work and most people are going to want that for a 95-99.  some people will sell their subaru for $50 (happened last week), some people want top dollar for one with issues, you just never know til you ask.  if he thinks it's only a tstat it makes me think he'll want more than it's worth. 

 

but - if you've got the time and get a decent enough deal it can easily be a great fit - a reliable 100,000 mile vehicle. 

 

EJ22, new timing kit, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, wires, knock sensor (the ebay jobbies are so cheap i just install one while it's out), and don't think about it again for 100,000 miles.

 

 

Or yeah - repair it!

 

resurface the heads (and the block if you can) and install new Subaru headgaskets and you're golden. 

 

the main suspicion with those EJ25's is how badly have they actually been overheated in their lifetime, not just the most recent event?

has the current owner been the only driver in the past year?

limped it around and driven hotter than they would guess?

maybe there's been multiple owners over the years and it was repaired before.

they were failiing under warranty in the 90's with 30,000 miles on them, so without compelling information it can be hard to verify if they are the original gaskets and it's never been overheated signfiicantly. 

[wtdash]

^+1

 

If power isn't an issue - hauling/towing/3 linemen @ your dinner table - the 2.2 will do.

 

Otherwise, R&R that 2.5 and hope for the best. As stated, there are MANY (including me) that have replaced the HG only to have a rod pop out of the block shortly thereafter due to failed rod bearings.

 

Or throw in the '95 EJ22 - if it's from an Auto trans it'll have the EGR you need; if not, you'll need @ least an IM w/EGR from a '95-'98 SOHC 2.2 and do that 'Non-EGR mod' on here.

 

Keep the 2.5's flexplate if the Fozzie is an AT, and then sell that ticking time-bomb (aka EJ25D) as is for $300-500? They're getting rarer and someone may want it.

 

 

Td

Edited May 4, 2016 by wtdash

[heartless]

i do know these folks are not the original owners of this car. But I do know them well enough to trust that they have not overheated it badly - prior to them getting the car, however, that is a complete unknown...

 

both the Foz and the 95 Lego are autos, so compatibility should be no problem as far as that goes.

 

I will be completely honest about not being real keen on the idea of rebuilding the EJ25D - just dont care for the motor at all... so it
would probably be best to yank it and sell if anyone wants it.

 

around my area, however, there is zero market for that engine.

Subaru's of the older vintages are relatively rare here - most are newer (mid 2000's & up) and even those are not super common.

 

anyway - pics of the car...

last pic is the worst of the rust that is visible - drivers side rear wheel well and the corner of the rear cargo area window...

 

[idosubaru]

very little rust for that era, granted it'll only get worse but so far looks like nothing big over the next 5 years which is 100,000 miles if you drive 20k/year. 

 

it's the same around here - pre-2000 is a dying market due to rust taking them out early and that adds the perceptive aging of nicer ones of the same vintage, they just seem old when there's fewer and fewer of them and more and more of them are rusty, holy, in disrepair.  people dont' want them. 

[Markuss]

Last year I bought a 1999 Forester for 500 bucks with bad head gaskets,Installed head gaskets twice,Then assumed it was so overheated so much the short block was warped.So I pitched the EJ25 and installed a low mileage 2001 EJ 22 from an Imprenza for 350 bucks.And  after 14k miles It is still running Great!