Bad news bears!! Bad compression!! What to do, where to go

Well one of my cylinders tested out at sixty psi. I was told this is bad compression and the rings are going. Part of me wants to trade my 05 legacy gt limited in with 147,000 miles for a 2011 wrx. I can't part with her though. I just had a new clutch, flywheel, belts, pulleys, coil packs, spark plugs and valve cover gaskets replaced. And now this with bad compression. Not sure how spendy a rebuild is, or who would do it in the central mn St. Cloud area for a reasonable price. i am turning to you guys for that, and maybe some insight on what I should do. I can't find another car like mine.... Black leather interior, obsidian black, manual. I love love love this car and personally don't think there is a better looking Subaru out there. The interior is way better than a wrx in my opinion, and alot more roomy. I look at legacys as grown up wrx's lol. I'm torn, high miles and bad compression, but lots of money invested. Any input would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.

Buy a new short block for $1500 and do a swap.

 

Who did the compression? Are they sure it's not valve related?

It could be valve related, but i doubt it. I had the same mechanic just do valve cover gaskets 600 miles ago, and he said the valves looked fine. At the same time im sure thats something that cant just be an observation. My car misses when it idols. The mechanic that fixed my valve cover gaskets also replaced one coil pack in the #4 cylinder. I wanted him to replce all four coil packs, but he said it was a waste of money. I disagreed but in the end one got replaced. I also had new plugs put in. If i go forward with fixing the compression issue im just going to have a bored out boosted sleeper monster built. The rest of the car is pretty well brand new with the parts i have had replaced. It would be pretty sweet to wax an sti with a stock looking legacy. A dealership is going to give me no more than fifty five hundred im sure with the compression issue. Trading it in for a twenty thousand dollar wrx as is, ill be losing close to the same with the money finance for a newer vehicle, so idk, its a toss up really. Anyone know of a good performance mechanic in MN/central mn/twin cities area that can put all the right parts into the motor? block, heads, head studs, injectors, coil packs, cams, turbo, intercooler. If i fix the compression issue its go big or go home. I just listed about seven grand worth of of parts. im leaning towards trading it in.

FWIW, Here's may thread about my new short block.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/got-some-new-stuff-engine-r-r-184106.html

 

It should give you a idea what involved and thought's of things you should also do if you plan to keep it for a long time.

It could be valve related, but i doubt it. I had the same mechanic just do valve cover gaskets 600 miles ago, and he said the valves looked fine. At the same time im sure thats something that cant just be an observation. My car misses when it idols. The mechanic that fixed my valve cover gaskets also replaced one coil pack in the #4 cylinder. I wanted him to replce all four coil packs, but he said it was a waste of money. I disagreed but in the end one got replaced. I also had new plugs put in. If i go forward with fixing the compression issue im just going to have a bored out boosted sleeper monster built. The rest of the car is pretty well brand new with the parts i have had replaced. It would be pretty sweet to wax an sti with a stock looking legacy. A dealership is going to give me no more than fifty five hundred im sure with the compression issue. Trading it in for a twenty thousand dollar wrx as is, ill be losing close to the same with the money finance for a newer vehicle, so idk, its a toss up really. Anyone know of a good performance mechanic in MN/central mn/twin cities area that can put all the right parts into the motor? block, heads, head studs, injectors, coil packs, cams, turbo, intercooler. If i fix the compression issue its go big or go home. I just listed about seven grand worth of of parts. im leaning towards trading it in.

 

Two ways to go about this in my mind, if you keep the car:

 

1. Pull the motor and determine if just rings can be replaced - least expensive

 

2. Buy a short block and swap

 

I wouldn't throw 7 grand into a car of this age or miles, it's lost money in my eyes.

From what I read on the forums, etc., NF Performance is the place to go in the Twin Cities.

I wouldn't throw 7 grand into a car of this age or miles, it's lost money in my eyes.

 

 

 

Oh dear, what did I do last year ???

 

In fact the short block turned 20,000 miles old today.

 

Yes, I know I did a lot of the stuff myself.

 

I'm begining to like the idea of what I did more and more. The car is fun to drive and reliable. knock on wood....

 

 

Besides, it was paid for years ago.

Rob I think you have short-term owners mentality.

 

Besides, it was paid for years ago.

 

^This. Everyone thinks its obscene how much money I have "lost" on my car but the truth is, I've just bascaiily never stopped paying a car payment for a car I love and the more I put into it, the more I love it.

 

Could I get something else? Sure I could have sold my car for a couple of dollars at stage two and spent much more than I put into it to get much less performance, happiness and fun.

 

Would the resale value make more sense in a fiscal sense? Yes but honestly the offset is less than you would think as I am the type to get a new car suffering the new car purchase price penalty.

 

Ex.

 

My car 25k paid off in 08, 25k more "lost" in it by 2013

My car 25k paid off in 08, sell for 13k, buy something 35k+ (G37s) tht would have devalued 5k the moment I drove off the lot. Would keep it for years and end up selling it for 15k less than I paid.

Pretty sure I could get $25k for my car in a heartbeat. I was offered $28k at the Infamous Performance and Tuning Toys for Tots fundraiser 4 months ago.

 

Somebody with a math major sort this out for me.

I look at it this way. My car payment x 12mos.= about $5k a yr. Car been payed offed scene, 10/2006. That about 6.5 yrs. @ $5k a yr.=$32.5k in saving, by not buy a new car. That's leaves me $5k a yr. I can dump in my car just to break even. I don't count maintenance & wear items, because you have that no matter what your drive. I don't know about you, I don't stick $5k in my car every yr.

 

IMO, if the body is solid, cheaper to keep fixing it. Then keep buying new & forever maintaining a car payment & paying interest.

 

Mike

Like Mike said, if the body is solid...

 

I am impressed with how well the body is holding up.

^^^^^What they said. If you still LIKE the car, and it's in nice shape, then it's worth keeping. If you got 144K out of it already and can get another 144K out of it with some money invested ($5-7K) and it took you 8 years to do it, then the payoff is astronomical in what you'll save in car payments, maintenance on the new car you have to buy, insurance costs, and the fact that you'll have to drive around in an Impreza which will have it's own foibles.

 

Keep it, spend the money, drive the hell out of it, enjoy it, save some money in the long run.

I'm going to fix it. Like you guys said the money I finance on a new car would be more than the money it would cost to fix it. Since the whole motor is going to be out of the car I think I'm going to roll with performance injectors, a bigger turbo (I'm sure that opens up a whole new can of worms with piping and intercooler) and head studs. Depending on what the pistons look like idk If I should hone the block and get new pistons, but I would like to save the block if possible. I'm sure it's the best route to get a new one, but budget is in mind. I'm supposed to close on a house soon

FORGE IT!! there have been a few memebers that toasted brand new EJ257 pistons. not worth the risk not to

FORGE IT!! there have been a few memebers that toasted brand new EJ257 pistons. not worth the risk not to

 

Mine turned 20,000 miles the other day. Mine is tuned by tuningalliance.com Hint hint.