Susie K Decides to Sell car...Excellent 1999 Legacy Outback

[bearbalu]

Glen,

 

I agree Subaru doesn't have to do anything based on their warranty contracts. But companies must go beyond normal warranty contracts in exceptional situations - it just makes good business sense for Subaru to retain customer loyalty - no body expects a Subaru engine to blow at 75K - only 15K over the normal 60K powertrain warranty. Specially not one that was taken care of at dealership by Susie! If it had blown at 120K, I would say it is way outside.

 

Now, they agreed to pay for head gasket based on what they find at tear down. Why head gasket? Because mechanic could visually see anti-freeze in oil and mentioned the head gasket? If mechanic could look into the car with an x-ray and find a shattered idler bearing or a cracked block, he would have pointed that out upfront too. What would have inspector said then? So I think a fair thing to do is to do a tear down at Subaru cost so that Subaru knows why an engine failed so early and have owner pay some fraction of the cost of total repair. It would benefit Subaru as well...

[Dr. RX]

Thanks, Dr. RX for your advise. Subaru told me that they are a small company and their cars are actually made by Fuji Motorswork and their reputation is important to them...But it seems that in this situation, theory and practise are not the same. Tonight, I will draft a strong letter telling them that I'm not interested in owning another Subaru due to their lack of customer service. Let's see what happens... Susie K

That is too funny, of course their cars are built by Fuji Motorworks, that is their parent company and is part of Fuji Heavy Industies, who also builds parts for Boeing. This is like saying, I'm sorry, but your Chevy is built by GM and there isn't much we can do about that. Yes they are a small company, but so if Mitsubishi (I think Mitsubishi is smaller), they would compare to a BMW or Porsche size car manufacturer if Europe. Wait, you have a Legacy right? I'll bet it is built right here in the good old US of A, does the VIN begin with S or J? If S it is built here, if J it is built in Japan. I'm not sure where the engines come from, maybe that is what they are talking about coming from Fuji Motorworks, but still that is all part of that same family.

[Dr. RX]

I may be the only one that thinks this, beside the Subaru inspector, but it seems to me that what they offered to do on this incident seems pretty fair. The car is way out of standard warranty, so it seems to me Subaru really didn't have to do anything in this matter. Even though all the maintenance was done it still was way beyond the normal warranty period. What other car company would have an inspector take the time to look at a car so far out of warranty. The fact that they did this speaks pretty good in my book. I don't see how they can be made to pay for this problem even as sad as it is.

What other company, try Mitsubishi, My 1991 3000 GT VR4 had an oil starvation problem after warranty, they had the engine torn down and inspected at their cost. My cost was fifty percent of the parts and labor to get it running again.

[Susie K]

Thanks, ShawnW. I'm giving up and I'll be selling the car to whoever needs it...Susie K

You would be a lot better off money and durability wise going with a rebuilt engine for that price.

 

It sounds to me like the timing belt broke, probably due to re-use of the belt tensioner. These tensioners are re-useable but they cant be slammed into a vise and pressed back to position and pinned like the old ones would tollerate. If that happened you likely need more than a head gasket job, including a valve job and new cams and possibly a piston or two.

 

A head gasket failure doesnt smell like oil, it might smell like coolant and a sweet nasty smell but not oily. Oily smell indicates something inside the engine broke and in a bad way. This engine is interference meaning if the belt breaks, internal parts collide. In this case the valves and piston kiss each other and it usually screws up the cylander walls, rings, piston, cams, etc.

 

Its probably going to be cheaper to get a rebuilt engine from www.ccrengines.com and pay the dealer to remove and replace your bad one with the fully rebuilt one. They give ya a brand new timing belt, valve job, head surfacing, etc for about what you are expecting to pay for the engine work and won't be giving you a 3 year 36k warranty or replacing every part in the engine like CCR does.

This would also help you avoid the chance that the dealer is going to be saying "now we found this wrong with the engine its going to be X more" cuz the repair becomes a cut and dry case of remove old and install new.

[Susie K]

Dr. RX, I've drafted my letter and I'll send it off by e-mail in the tomorrow (Friday) morning. I'll keep you all updated. Susie K

I know that you are too polite to do this, but you should write a letter to Subaru telling them that you are selling the car rather then put up with their lack of customer support. If they want the engine torn down, they should pay for it. I wish I was closer, I'd stop by a look it over, but I think that a few closer have expressed interest already.

[Susie K]

Thanks, Ballitch. I won't be repairing this car - I've given up; someone else will need to repair it. Susie K

If you do decide to put an engine in from CCR, you might want to think of putting in the EJ22, less power, but way better reliability.

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

[Susie K]

Thanks Cougar. I found Marketplace and posted my thread there. Susie K

I may be the only one that thinks this, beside the Subaru inspector, but it seems to me that what they offered to do on this incident seems pretty fair. The car is way out of standard warranty, so it seems to me Subaru really didn't have to do anything in this matter. Even though all the maintenance was done it still was way beyond the normal warranty period. What other car company would have an inspector take the time to look at a car so far out of warranty. The fact that they did this speaks pretty good in my book. I don't see how they can be made to pay for this problem even as sad as it is.

 

If there was an extended warranty then that would be different. You take your chances when you don't purchase one. By the way, you can get a policy from your insurance company usually for a lot less than the dealer charges for one. Put yourself in their shoes, would cover your product when a problem occurs almost twice the normal time limit.

 

Again Suzie, I think you should reconsider the CCR engine but that is just the opinion of an avid Soob owner. Whatever happened to the engine is not real common.

 

To get to the Marketplace, just click on the arrow in the box below these posts, titled Forum Jump. The list of areas to choose from will pop up.

 

P.S. Look how much interest this car is getting even broken. This wouldn't happen with a Ford or Chevy.