2001 Subaru Outback LX from North America - Comments

In Nov 2004 at about 45,000 head gasket blew.

Then Nov 2005 - August 2006 parts started being replaced in this order: thermostat.

Radiator.

Head gasket again.

Ignition coil.

Air conditioner.

Tire bolts replaced (2 broke while traveling)

And the check engine light has come on numerous times in the past 3 weeks.

We bought this car as a family vehicle hoping to get 200,000 miles and well over 10 years. I gave in to my husband wanting leather seats, and the dual moon roof and agreed to splurge. While we have always kept up on maintenance and not abused the car I keep hoping that the next repair will be the last. Not so…

The Outback is a great wagon. I work for a college in automotive tech, and have owned four outbacks and have had no problems with any of them (except for basic tire and brake and oil change). They would not commonly break down with all the problems listed. On all the cars owned they have all exceeded 300,000 miles. So don't take the advice of this review for it is rare that the owners of this car liked their car. I have had the same model as listed in the review, and I have no problems at all with it.

Although Subaru makes good cars, the 4 Cyl 2.5L DOHC (1996-97) and 1998-2003 SOHC 2.5L Phase II engines are well known to be a pain in the arse with factory headgaskets.

Sadly, the replacing of your thermostat and radiator was both unneeded and unecessary.

The problem with this engine is simply.. poor quality headgaskets made poorly for Subaru.

Subaru didnt make them.. they bought them from a supplier they expected to build them decently.

Subaru installed them with a weakness that started showing up a few years after production began for this new motor.

The common symptom of headgasket failure, true of ALL ENGINES (in addition of overheating on your gauge followed by a sudden cooling) is always an excessive overflow of coolant into the overflow tank typically spilling onto the ground as well as a deposit of nasty "brownish colored goo" in the overflow tank which also sits on the top of your radiator cap when opened and looked at where the caps rubber with spring seal meets the radiator fill mouth.

For some Subaru owners, they have experienced coolant leaks occuring at the cylinder heads themselves resulting in overheating due to lack of coolant causing additional headgasket and cylinderhead warpage (in most but not all cases).

If caught late, the coolant level will be zero in the tank and the radiator will be very low.

Simply adding the proper mix of coolant and water into the tank and radiator will, during warm up, begin "bubbling".

Most noticable if you leave the radiator cap off during cool running the first few minutes.

Reinstall the cap, and continue running.

Normally, the amount of coolant in the tank and then soon begin overflowing and when the engine heats up will frequently cause odd irratic "idling" due to the odd temperatures at the each individual cylinder causing combustion "leaning"(less fuel, more air) due to heat spots from lack of coolant and excessive air.

This indicates exhaust gases entering the cooling system.

Remember engines dont cool well with only air and no coolant to carry away the heat of the searing hot combustion.

Coolant/water is a far superior conductor of heat than air is.

This process causes massive "air bubbles" that converge and cause rapid overheating, then, suddenly cooling and purging of coolant and steam into the overflow tank.

Subsequent heating and cooling cycles with reduced coolant levels due to continued coolant loss result in faster and more violent overheating usually resulting in warped cylinder heads.

Using "stop leak" or "alumaseal" is always temporary and will stop the problem in some early cases, (faster failure in later cases) but will fail again in short order due to the damaged combustion gasket.

The gasses leak into the cooling system from the rapid succession of pumping cycles of the piston in the cylinder as well as expansion and contraction from heating and shut down cooling (this is called "heatsoak) causing a another rise in engine temprature which causes the size of the leak to expand the gasket doing more damage.

AKA.. Its not going to miraculously "Cure" itself with stop leak.

Keep in mind, you may get a "check engine light" due to the engine detecting odd "O2 sensor signals", coolant temperature sensor might go nuts due to air in coolant, and the engine computer will over compensate and run like crap sensing all the rising and falling oxygen levels in the combustion gases leaving the engine.

Another tell tale sign of head gasket failure is "sweet smelling" exhaust, with plumes of white smoke.

Total solution:

Aftermarket Headgaskets with improved sealing.. Felpro (there are others, but Felpro is excellent and some off brands are not up to snuff.

Have heads CHECKED for warpage.. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL for long term quality sealing from a fresh set of NON FACTORY headgaskets!

When fresh coolant/water is installed be sure to bleed the air from the cooling system and/or be sure to ask your mechanic to make sure this process is done to reduce the chances of any additional potential overheating even with the headgasket fix completed.

Good Luck!

It's interesting to read all the negative reviews. I have a 2001 Outback, which I bought new. It now has over 93,000 miles. I have had the head gaskets replaced this year, by the dealer, for free. Subaru has taken the high road on this and has extended the coverage for the problem, so even after 7 years and over 90k, they did both sides and gave me a free rental car. I took advantage of the chance to have my timing belt changed for the price of the part.

The only parts I've had replaced are the battery, at 89k, the starter at about the same time, and one cv boot recently. I have no rattles or leaks, and the car runs like new. My friends have a 97, and it too is running like a top. I'm sorry for other's bad experiences, but I don't think they are the norm.

I think I see a trend forming here... The thing is most people won't take the time to sit down and write a long story about how great their car has been...it's the exact opposite, when something goes wrong people always feel compelled to share their woe's and grief, hoping that someone else has experienced the same negative problems. I own a 2000 Outback and have not had any major problems with it, (as I knock on my wooden leg) so for now I will not trash Subaru (yet) but when the time comes, I'm sure I will be here reading and adding to the comment section expressing my disappointment with my vehicle. This is my 3rd Subi, last 2 were great, but they were pre-96 models, so I hope that this 2000 will not be one of the many lemons I have read about here...

Hi all,

I'm just in the process of buying a 2001 Subaru Outback AWP. It has high kilometers on it, about 225,000 kms or 120,000 miles. The thing looks rock solid and has had the timing belt and some other stuff done at 175,000 kms. The people seem very honest and they have 2 other Subarus and swear by them. Is there anything that I should look out for on these., I'm getting out of a 1991 Olds Cutlass Supreme which for me has been grief. I'm hoping to not fall into another bad news thing.

Any input would be great.

Thanks.

Craig.

I didn't feel too bad, given other people's comments, that my 2001 needed a new head gasket at 130K, but then when I heard the additional bad news that I had a bad piston/ burned cylinder I was not happy.

I looked at the parts myself and the skirt of the piston was definitely scored on one side and the cylinder wall scorched. this may have been part of the noise that I had been attributing to piston slap.

With so many miles on the car I thought about just fixing the head gasket and letting the rest of the motor be, but I ended up going for broke, as it were, and buying a rebuilt short block to resolve all of the issues. I wonder, though, what would have happened if I had just done the head gaskets?

Subarus are well known for cooling system problems, and might start off as a partially plugged radiator, bad water pump, thermostat or rad cap and cause the car to run hot or overheat. If the driver doesn't pull over and let the car cool down or call a tow truck, the engine will overheat to the point of blown head gasket (s), warped or cracked cylinder head (s).

And to make things worse, penny pinching owners will try to keep driving the car after a head gasket failure with low coolant and contaminated oil. Then they're surprised at the news from their mechanic.

Anyone who works on or sells Subaru's knows how common it is to find blown head gaskets (sometimes driven to the point of seizing the engine), bad ring and pinion, both automatic and manual transmissions have a higher than average failure rate, and it's not easy finding good ones in junk yards or JDM auto parts. Quite a few shops I know won't use used parts because the replacement parts are so questionable. It's not worth dealing with angry unsatisfied customers, or replacing the parts again without billing for labor. Preventative maintenance like flushing the cooling system every year, following owners manual for other service and performing tune ups that include a leakdown test. It will keep your car running longer, and you'll find problems earlier before they become bigger more expensive repairs.

Replace the head bolts or the nuts on studded engines when the head gasket is replaced. I've had better luck with re-torquing head bolts on problem engines every 25 K miles or two years, over using gaskets that manufactures claim never need to be re-torqued. Never use stop leak, block seal or head gasket leak stopper products in an aluminum engine (especially Subaru and Cadillac) or you'll screw it up even more and the engine rebuilder will charge you extra (a core charge for another engine).