Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-105, 106-120, 121-135, 136-150, 151-165, 166-180, 181-195, 196
Blown head gasket at 88,000 miles and one warped head related to the incident ($2,000). My mechanic recommeded a whole new engine, but said it'd run OK with what he did. the mileage is still there, but it runs louder than ever and has a slight loss of power. My mechanic told me that it might burn some oil, but so far (2 tanks of gas later) it hasn't lost any oil. This is apparently a very very common problem on Outbacks. My mechanic told me that even the 2001's are blowing up. To my knowledge Subaru is not doing anything to help owners out.
Other than the $2,000 head gaskets and the fact that because of the internal engine damage the car will never drive the same it has been a great little car. Great MPG and All Wheel Drive system. This is my third Subaru and will likely be my last. Until this happened I thought I'd be a Subaru guy for life. I guess I'll have to pay up for Toyota reliability from now on. This kind of a problem is really unacceptable.
I also own a 1998 sub outback legacy, limited no less... at 60K miles it now needs the head gaskets replaced. I am new to the Subaru family and this will probably be my last. I bought the worst one out there it seems. I called Subaru directly and haven't gotten anywhere or at least a sincere "we know about this problem" I haven't given up yet. I will be paying over $3000 to fix this, without a guaranty that this will not happen again. Poor performance and outlook here. Very upset about the quality in the Subaru name.
I loved my 1998 Subaru, Baby, until it blew it's first head at 86,000 miles. The mechanic at the dealers went to bat for me because he knew how much I babied Baby. I ended up paying for the labor only to replace the first head and went on my way thinking it was just a flunk and all would be well. What a fool, I was. The second head blew at 36,000 miles and I was treated very poorly by the dealer's new mechanic. They damaged my radiator while replacing the head and lied about it. I had to pay full bore this time including a new radiator. I started going to all the machine shops in the area to find out the truth about Subaru's head problem. I live in a very small community, roughly 300,000 people in the whole county. I found out that each of these machine shops were replacing heads at a rate of one a week. The Corporate office in Illinois blew me off and blew off their responsibility. The third head blew on the right side and of course I had to pay full bore to replace it at my new mechanic's shop. The car is in the shop once again with the fourth head blown. This time it is the left side again. Why do they keep sending a faulty part for replacement when they know it is bad? Because they can and no one can do any thing about it. Why do I keep replacing it? Because I cannot afford a new car and payment. I really love my Baby, but she has a fatal flaw and her manufacturers should be ashamed of themselves for sending the same faulty part again and again. This is the last offense I can take from her. To me it is like living with a abusive mate. You may love them, but how much can a person take. I am leaving her for Toyota and Subaru will never hear a kind word come out of my mouth about them.
Our 1998 Outback Limited blew her head gasket at about 63,000 and we had never had a problem before. After spending a measly $1200 to repair it has made an annoying slight knocking sound when revving the engine. About one month after the head gasket repair - my front rotor threw a brake pad and voila - a new rotor job at $400. This was of course, after performing the 60,000 service at the dealer. This is my main transportation and I am terrified of driving it! We used to rave about Subaru, but now I am afraid of it, lurking in my driveway - waiting to break down some more.
We also bought a 1998 used Subaru Outback Legacy Limited, standard, 106000, motor replaced, never ran the same after that, louder, worse on gas, less power. Stuck with a lemon in Pa. (debgmeow@msn.com) Keep finding oil in the reservoir.
1998 Outback, 82,000 miles and a blown head gasket. Has anyone had any success getting Subaru to pay for this repair? Thank you.
Cameron.parkhurst@gmail.com.
My 4th Subaru, the three before were leases turned in at 45k miles. I loved my legacy gt so much I purchased it after the lease. My dohc 99 engine has a blown head gasket and radiator Subaru does not want to help or do anything about it. I owe almost 8k on the car and they want almost $3500. to repair. I feel sorry for the guy who buys this. Shame on Subaru. Check out the net and you will find hundreds of people with this problem. I just purchased a honda crvc to replace. Sub has lost a family.
My 1998 Outback has been a fun and highly reliable car. It's been great in Minnesota winters. At 92K miles, the brakes pads and rotors (the originals) were replaced along with the clutch master and slave cylinders. That didn't seem unreasonable. Now--3,000 miles later--it is parked at a shop with a blown head gasket. I don't yet know whether the heads are damaged. After reading so many on-line reports of head gasket failures, I've lost confidence in the car.
When the engine starts to overheat, shut it off. 9 times out of ten, a new head gasket is all that is needed. Also ask your dealer for "Cooling System Conditioner" We call it liquid head gasket. It helps seal the engine before the head gasket goes out. Very cheap too.
I was one of the greatest sources of free advertising for Subaru, was would be the key word here. At 90K I blew a head Gasket and now I find that thousands of others have the same problem on their 2.5 liter outbacks. I'm through with Subaru and can't believe that the company is not going to support its customer base. If it were not for this inherent problem I would be a Subaru repeat customer. Take this car and shove it. Where is your sense of honor Subaru? My next car is a Toyota or Honda and I will tell everyone I know not to buy from the Stupidru company.
2000 Subaru Legacy Outback had the head gaskets replaced under a recall 2 years ago. Now the cooling system (126k miles) is acting badly with random overheating. Makes me wonder what is going on inside the engine: blown gasket, cracked head or block, or something else. The miss behaving cooling system and a new transmission leak mean the thing is getting traded soon. Very soon.
I bought a 1998 Subaru Outback, my second Subaru. The first one was a 97 and the lifters stuck, but the car was reliable, I went to Joshua Tree, and never had any major issues with it. I bought the 98 with less than 20K on it. The 98 was a great car until the timing belt was replaced. It has been all downhill from there. I had the belt replaced at 90K, which is great. The car overheated suddenly on I-5 in the middle of nowhere. I paid $500 or so to have the water pump replaced, and the thermostat. This last week the thermostat went. The head gasket went with it. The cost is going to be $1700 to get it replaced as long as the heads are not cracked, if they are.. add more. I have 110K on it, and am going to trade it in for a Toyota, which I know does not have these reliability issues, and who I know will stand behind their brand and customers. Too bad to see such a nice car end up being so poorly designed for the long haul.. Subaru should take a page from Toyota and Honda's books. Having read the other stories here, I feel fortunate I made it this long without major issues, should have sold it at 70K. ADIOS SUBARU!
I was feeling badly about the blown head gasket on our 99 Outback wagon until I saw here that making it 160K before the failure was pretty good. It is nice to know that it is not due to my driving or maintenance.
My 1998 Subaru Outback, impeccably maintained, blew the head gaskets at 57,000 miles and warped the engine block, total cost $5,000,which included new engine, and this was only a month after paying $1,800 to do the 60,000 miles. maintenance. Subaru of America completely unsympathetic. Definite problem with these cars. Car Talk recommends calling our state's attorney general, local TV news, 60 minutes, etc. Might be worthwhile to do that, but enough people need to make formal complaints because to date, Subaru is not making any effort to help their customers out. Have also heard there is a possible class action suit in the making.
We just got the same bad news as reported here yesterday for our 1998 Subaru outback with 90K, with absolutely no comment as to how common it is to need this repair. Shame on Subaru! I'm sure glad that I checked the web before just deciding to give up. Just last week we had to replace the circuit that operates the power windows... we thought that was steep at $500, now they want $3500 for the gasket and I guess we must have a warped head too.
I have a 1998 Subaru Legacy with 112,000 and went through a lot of the same as I have been reading. Random overheating, replaced thermostat, water pump, timing belt at cost of over $550.00 and it's clearly now a warped head, cracked head gaskets. This is my third and last Subaru. I am extremely disappointed and will never buy another or recommend anyone else do so either. I will be looking at Honda and Toyota as the car is not worth much at this point as I will not invest $3,000 in this car. I expected much more from Subaru. Pay attention Subaru.