small rant/looking for direction

so i bought my lgt with 100k miles in june 2013. it was pretty much exactly what i was looking for. records on the car were very clean and i got, what i think, was a great deal on the car. however in the year ive owned it, it just seems like shits failing as soon as i fix something else.

 

did my timing belt and water pump last fall ($650), knew i had to when i bought the car, no big deal. 2 months later both rear wheel bearings are shot ($385, found receipt). 2 months after that i get the death codes for the oem turbo. replaced that with vf52 ($1100). a month later both calipers locked up within 100miles of each other. replaces calipers/pads/rotors ($350). got a nice 4 month reprieve of nothing. replaced the stock up pipe with a catless one, again planned on it ($200) and find out 3 days after putting that in that i need a new head gasket which my cheapest quote so far has been $2000.

 

im just at a loss. its my DD, i dont beat on the car at all, obviously get the few times of spirited driving, but rarely for long. the amount ive spent on repairs in the last yr could have paid 80% of the remaining loan thats on the car. i really enjoy the car, but how much more can i expect?

 

 

guess im just looking for advice? thinking i might sell the car in the spring and get something else, or if i can make it though the winter without issues then maybe keep it.

so i bought my lgt with 100k miles in june 2013. it was pretty much exactly what i was looking for. records on the car were very clean and i got, what i think, was a great deal on the car. however in the year ive owned it, it just seems like shits failing as soon as i fix something else.

 

did my timing belt and water pump last fall ($650), knew i had to when i bought the car, no big deal. 2 months later both rear wheel bearings are shot ($450ish?). 2 months after that i get the death codes for the oem turbo. replaced that with vf52 ($1100). a month later both calipers locked up within 100miles of each other. replaces calipers/pads/rotors ($350). got a nice 4 month reprieve of nothing. replaced the stock up pipe with a catless one, again planned on it ($200) and find out 3 days after putting that in that i need a new head gasket which my cheapest quote so far has been $2000.

 

im just at a loss. its my DD, i dont beat on the car at all, obviously get the few times of spirited driving, but rarely for long. the amount ive spent on repairs in the last yr could have paid 80% of the remaining loan thats on the car. i really enjoy the car, but how much more can i expect?

 

 

guess im just looking for advice? thinking i might sell the car in the spring and get something else, or if i can make it though the winter without issues then maybe keep it.

 

Welcome to the club!

Welcome to the club!

 

haha seriously. i knew some OEM stuff was going to need replacing, just wasnt expect THAT much replacing.

They're not all that bad. Honestly, you just got some shit luck by every one of the major known issues is happening to you. Or maybe the guy before you did a terrible job for the first 100k. This is the risk you always run buying a used car. Think about what you saved over the price of a new car and remember that you got a car that nobody makes anymore. It may not be a 1970 Chevelle with an LS6, but it's a pretty awesome car. And trust me, there are those out there that have had your problems and worse. Ask Tris how he knows.

Keep it running and stay with us... Simple as that.

ya honestly when u buy one of these cars at or around the 100k mark you might as well plan on doing all of the above maintenance that you had to do. our cars are very needy when it comes to maintenance and is the price you pay for having such an awesome ride. and if you can learn to do a lot of it on your own then it makes it a lot more reasonable to afford.

Find me another AWD turbo sedan for under $15k and I would switch in a heartbeat...oh wait...

wagon

Find me another AWD turbo sedan for under $15k and I would switch in a heartbeat...oh wait...

 

 

Exactly...

Sounds about right. Now, those repairs should be good. You still have axles to replace, radiator will crack, TMIC will split, the list goes on.

 

But it is worth it.

 

Regarding the head gaskets, are you sure they are bad? What are your symptoms?

Sounds about right. Now, those repairs should be good. You still have axles to replace, radiator will crack, TMIC will split, the list goes on.

 

But it is worth it.

 

Regarding the head gaskets, are you sure they are bad? What are your symptoms?

 

This. Pay for the diagnostics at a Subaru mechanic, not the dealership. (Stay away from the dealership!) Preferably a different mechanic, so as to get a second opinion. You'll need to perform a leakdown test and test the coolant for hydrocarbons. Both of those will yield definitive results as to what's going on in your engine.

 

Barring that, if you're the least bit handy, you can do this yourself in a weekend. You'll need some pretty basic metric sockets (10-14mm, 22mm, 24mm, 12pt 14mm in 3/8th drive; 10, 8, in 1/4 drive.), and engine crane and hoist.

 

Get the gasket kit for your year car (~$250 from Heuberger, lowest price you'll find) and you can get the headgaskets done, along with pretty much everything else. Good time replace vacuum and coolant lines (get a kit from msprank/Infamous Performance!), reseal the oil pump, replace the crank pulley with an aftermarket unit, do the rear main seal and replace the intake manifold gaskets, I'm sure others can chime in on what else you might want to do. Add $400 to have the heads rebuilt, leave yourself another $250-500 for misc stuff that you'll discover needs replacing along the way.

 

For that same $2000 quote, you can do alot more than just head gaskets!

head gasket is definitely shot/on its way out. noticed coolant getting low a couple weeks ago, filled it up and it dropped a bit again. had a leak down test done as well. as of now the mechanic said its minor.

 

ive done the up pipe and front brakes myself. was comfortable doing the bearings but for the life of me could not get the rear brakes off without an impact wrench. id like to say im pretty handy, but im not quite sure id be comfortable doing the head gaskets. im also on a 6 day work schedule so i just wouldnt have the time and cant afford to not have a car.

 

$1900 is the cheapest quote ive gotten out of the 5 closest shops ive called. i wish i could find someone cheaper.

On the other hand you could call yourself lucky that you had the turbo go on you and it didn't take it the engine out with it...

 

At 100,000 miles I'd consider doing a new set of pistons. The motor is coming out anyway. You've already put a bigger turbo on there. While I'm not one of those who believes the stock pistons are so weak as to be sure to fail, you should have some bore wear and increased blow-by by now and it might be prudent to bore to first oversize and drop some replacements in there.

If the head gasket leak is minimal you can baby the car along for quite a while. Mine have been failing for over 6 months and I've never seen the temp gauge above the middle mark, though if I get it on it the coolant will puke out of the overflow tank. You can probably get away with it for a while longer while you prepare to do the right thing with the shortblock.

^Same till I pushed it one day... Probably suspected 6 months or longer it was going to get worse. It did. Parked.

 

It's good insurance and you may be surprised how the bore may be once torn down.

 

Looking forward for the word on measurements and direction for my rebuild now.

From mere looks and feel, having cross hatch still visible from the original hone after 160K?

 

I hope to drop stock A/B piston dimensions in and keep rolling. Course these are going to be forged.

Find me another AWD turbo sedan for under $15k and I would switch in a heartbeat...oh wait...

 

Well you can't issue a challenge...

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/613221038/overview/

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/615105557/overview/

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/616059639/overview/

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/609291556/overview/

(you could probably haggle $400 off)

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/609767361/overview/

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/615953035/overview/

 

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/615830610/overview/

 

 

But, OP, I'm of the mindset: you've already gone this far, you've ironed out a lot of the common issues, how thrilled would you be to get this car after the previous owner had done all this maintenance for the price you'd likely sell it for?

You'll be hard pressed to find another car with 100k+ that doesn't need some major service.

From mere looks and feel, having cross hatch still visible from the original hone after 160K?

 

I hope to drop stock A/B piston dimensions in and keep rolling. Course these are going to be forged.

 

 

I wish you luck with that but IME the higher-milers like yours will show slight wear on the bore that is oval. Yes you can see the cross-hatch pattern but there's still up to a thou difference in thrust / non-thrust dimensions. The measurements tell the story.