I bought a lemon

Hello! I bought my first car earlier today. A 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback.

 

During the test drive, everything looked and felt normal. All was well.

 

It wasn't until I started the trip back home when the check engine light came on.

 

I also checked the engine compartment and noticed that the coolant wasn't green but red. The overflow reservoir was all dirt red. Rust. Great.

 

I also noticed that I had little to no coolant in the radiator. So I filled it with some. I later checked it again after idling and all the coolant had disappeared. I noticed a tiny leak, but it was only 1 or 2 drops. The overflow tank I believe started rising? Would this call for a OEM radiator cap to solve my issue? Can I still drive around? I have not noticed any overheating.

 

And of course, when I went to the store to pick up things, the turn signals stopped working. I checked the fuse next to the driver side leg. It looked fine.

 

I feel like this car is hopeless and I bought a lemon. I knew it was too good to be true. Please help!

Depending on where you are from, and if you bought from a dealer, does your sgate have a lemon law?

Depending on where you are from, and if you bought from a dealer, does your sgate have a lemon law?

 

California.

 

And from a Private seller.

 

So no, no rights or law for me.

That sucks. Best of luck to you and hope you get it sorted out without spending a ton of money and get to enjoy the car

fixed the turn signal issue. Turns out the hazards button mount was broken and the button was constantly pressed which caused the no turn signal issue.

 

I hope the coolant just needs a flush, clean, and new OEM cap to solve my issue.

 

And for that Check engine light to be something minor

is there a good shop you trust to take it to? have them flush all the fluids and look it over good. when i bought my 2000 outback a few years ago i had to put $900 into it, $700 of that was because it needed a drive shaft the rest was little stuff, all the fluids new brakes etc but its been perfict ever since,

also did you get any maintenance records? check the head gaskets and try to find out if/when the timing belt was done. how many miles are on it?

Update.

 

Headgasket issue. Had them replaced. Coolant flush and clean.

 

All is well. Car currently drives strong. Fingers crossed.

Every sub-$5000 car I've bought I had to throw $1,000 at it in the first month. One I had to throw $1,800 at and it was still a piece of sh*t. I learned a valuable lesson from that one, but felt mildly guilty fleecing the guy I sold it to.

Car just came up with starting issues. I think the Alternator is done.

A 16 year old car with issues isn't a lemon.

 

It's a 16 year old car.

You can generally tell by how much you pay for a car how much you're going to have to throw at it to make things right.