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My car began vibrating about a year ago. (Dec 2010) I have had Subaru look at it 4 times and another independent mechanic look at it too, bringing me up to last week, Jan. 28, 2012. He looked it over. The independent mechanic looked at engine and transition mounts. He felt they looked good. He and Subaru basically said my car was “old.” Independent guy said Subarus have a tendency to vibrate more than some other cars. I have not noticed this prior to this issue.

Back to the vibration problem which no one seems to be able to diagnose. What I have discovered is when I come to a stop; the car is in gear (drive or reverse) and I have my foot on the brake, the car vibrates. If I put the car in neutral or park, the vibration stops.

I would like to sell my car b/c I drive many miles over the course of a week and need a car with higher gas mileage. You know, gas is getting expensive. I don’t want to sell it with this problem. Or at least with a problem I can’t explain.

What could be some possible causes of this problem? Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Carol

Traced coolant drips from A/C idler pulley body back up the lower A/C bracket to the top of the engine and then to the 90 degree bypass coolant hose located under the compressor and in the return line to the water pump suction. Squeeze the 90, coolant squirted out. Inspection inside revealed a hole and severly failing wall. I was on borrowed time!

Also observed coolant coming out of radiator cap. New cap to be installed.

Will go from there with keeping tabs on coolant level.

Thank you.

Thanks for the Feedback.

I feel that the 2.0l DOHC should be relatively immune from the Head gasket issue due to a larger surface area around the cylinder liners. I do however want to point out that it is just to early to tell and would feel it irresponsible to not point that out.

The 2010 to current 2.5l in the Outback and legacy utilize a semi closed deck block and MLS gasket that should be ok, and so far so good.

Hope that helps.

Justin

You will spend more and should expect to in a turbo car VS a NA one. I dont know enough about the cars in your part of the world to tell you if an evo is better than a Subaru, we dont even get the B4 TT in the US.

Justin

I plan to purchase a Subaru and I would be interested in your advice. I was told the new model Impreza and Forester have the engines with a metal timing chain but the Outback has a rubber belt.

Any advice on the new engine designs for the head gasket problems and other repair problems you mention on your site?

Any help for my Subaru buying decision would be helpful. Thank you.

I came across ur website while researching head gasket problems on Subarus. I recently have been looking at buying a car, one of the choices I had in mind was a 2001 Liberty (Legacy) B4 Twin Turbo.

I almost bought one, until I got it inspected by a Subaru specialist. The pre purchase inspection raised a few more issues than I had hoped and I subsequently turned the car down. Included in the list of problems was: Leaking HG’s both left and right, Crankshaft Oil Seal Leak, tiny leak from left hand side turbo and also compression was down 15-20psi on 2 cylinders compared with the other 2. These issues raised too many questions and unknowns about the car and now I’m a bit wary about buying Subaru.

I was told by Subaru specialists that the leaks were quite common and nothing to worry about. However for me the leaking turbo and compression issues were enough for me to walk away. The car had also had bit of performance work done to it: CAI, TMIC, ECU tune and Exhaust all making about 256hp atw. It had also traveled just over 100,000 km’s (62,000 miles). The car had only been serviced strictly at a Subaru dealer and oil changes done every 5000km.

What is ur opinion on this example and on B4′s TT’s in general? I’m really fond of these cars and the mix of power and luxury that they possess. I’m just a bit worried about long term reliability (esp. being TT) and extracting more power in the long run. I was hoping to buy a car that wouldn’t need any money spent on it, let alone expensive problems that could lead to more serious problems later! Should I still look at the Twin Turbo B4′s or go something a bit more tried and true (such an an Evo?). Ur opinion and any light u could shed on the situation would be greatly appreciated!

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you have had, I would as I am sure you would have as well that you only dealt with the HG thing once, unfortunately that’s just not the case here and is also not going to be the case for every one repaired either.

Subaru of America sold you the car and had profit, and to help make the sale they offered a 5 year 60k powertrain warranty.

Industry standard for most mechanical repairs is 1 year 12k because its a “repair” and warrantied by the franchised dealer and not Subaru. The only way to up the warranty would be to increase the level of repair above industry standard and then you would price your self out of the market as a business. Thats the reality of the industry, the service department is not going to pay to work on your car, the gasket manufacture wont do anything post warranty expiration to help the service department. The 1997 Outback while known for internal HG failure most dont occur until well over 100k, and many dont ever have a second failure.

I understand that 45k isn’t as long as you would like but it cost you 3 cents a mile. I am afraid I don’t have any thing else to offer to help numb the pain of the expense.

The conditioner for an internal issue is a terrible idea by the way.

If your worried about the expense, it will cost less to repair this than move on. If you have lost confidence in the vehicle and move on only time will tell many years from now when you look back at the experience you have with a replacement vehicle if that was the correct one.

My advice, based on what you have provided me would be to try and remove the emotion form the process and make the best decision based on your finances and weather or not the car still suits your needs.

I hope that helps

Justin

I am frustrated and I’m not sure what to do about my 1997 Outback wagon with 177,000 miles. I live on the east coast outside of Philadelphia and have my Subaru regularly serviced at my local Subaru dealer for almost 8 years since I purchased the Outback used at 91,000 miles in 2004.

I was aware after I purchased the Outback that this car had problems with head gaskets. I was hoping my Subaru would excape this problem, but that was not to be. In the fall of 2008, with
with 132,000 miles on my Outback, I experienced my temperature guage rising in the red zone. I wasn’t sure what it was, but of course the Subaru dealer told me my head gaskets had failed after some testing. Thank goodness I didn’t damage the engine. I belive I paid over $1,500 to service and replace both head gaskets.

This past Friday I noticed some unusal movement on the temperature guage. It moved up very quickly into the nornal range and was starting to climb a little higher at idle. I decided to take my
Subaru into the dealer right away without an appointment. After waiting about a hour the service manager told me the news – I need head gaskets! I’m sure the service manager didn’t remember I had the head gaskets replaced only 45,000 miles ago in his shop. He looked up the computer record to confirm the repair. He said the head gasket repair is only garanteed for a year and Subaru would not do anything because the repair was done some 4 years ago. I said this was a major repair and his answer didn’t seem satisfactory to me. The service manager then asked a mechanic which head was bad. After that I was sent back to the waiting room.

After about 20 minutes I was called back to the service desk. Another service guy, not the manager I spoke with earlier, handed me an estimated head gasket repair of $1,750 plus tax and told me it’s a 2 day repair. He told me they put a conditioner in the coolent to try to stabilize the gaskets (no charge) and sent me on my way.

Of course, I’m not happy with the treatment I received by my Subaru dealer, and feel I should not be paying for new head gaskets after only 45,000 miles since the previous repair. I have been spending many thousands of dollars at that dealer on all regular maintenace and all repairs.

I still really like my 1997 Outback wagon, but I’m not sure what I should do. I don’t really want to spend almost 2 thousand on this second head gasket repair, but I’m not sure what I should do.

Recomendations?