LGT hopeful owner with questions

Hello all,

 

I'm hoping to join the LGT crew soon with my very first Subaru. I'm not new to cars (had an N/A FWD car that I turbo'd, and a trans am after I parted out the turbo FWD car, both cars have been sold) and do most of my own maintenance/modifications, but Subarus are a new world to me.

 

Today I went to look at a 2008 LGT Spec B with 117k on the clock.

 

I called beforehand and the owner of the dealership (very small dealership) answered the phone. I spoke to him for awhile about the car and one of the very first things he told me after I introduced myself and told him I was interested in the car was that it had a new short block in it (direct from Subaru, brand new with receipt).

 

I was told that they picked the car up at auction thinking it would be an easy flip, but soon found out that it needed a motor. Rather than sell it at auction again, they decided to fix it right and at least make their money back on it.

 

For some people, this might have been a deal breaker, but I decided to check it out anyway.

 

3 hours later I was standing next to the car. It's clean for an 08, some scratches here and there but no deal breakers.

 

I started it up completely cold, it cranked slow so I'm pretty sure it was sitting for a while. I didn't hear any funny noises or anything out of the ordinary, and it idled great with no blue smoke out the exhaust.

 

I got in, turned on the heat and was hit with a terrible smell of burning oil or some kind of fluid.

 

Once I was out on the road with it, the smell went away almost completely. We got back to the dealer and I asked them to put it on the lift. While I was waiting for the guy to open the garage door, the smell returned (idling, sitting still with the heat on).

 

We got it inside and on the lift. I was shown the originals, and given copies of all the receipts for the work that was done to the car. No fuss about "finding the paperwork" or anything.

 

A couple things jumped out at me;

 

There was oil on the bottom of the pan. It appeared to be fresh and I was told that someone might have missed when filling it at the filler neck and gotten some down the block (I just nodded my head when he told me this, I didn't completely agree).

 

I also asked about the burning oil smell and was told that when the short block was replaced, they got oil everywhere and it's still burning off. There's ~500 miles on the new block. Heads were resurfaced with new bolts and gaskets throughout, timing belt was also done at this time (receipts for this too).

 

The underside was very clean, minimal surface rust here and there but nothing major. The carfax didn't show any accidents and I didn't see any evidence of it being hit, nothing was crushed underneath and the door gaps lined up and were the same.

 

I'm trying to put a deal together where I can take the car to Innovative tuning in Buffalo for a pre-purchase inspection, they are literally right around the corner from me.

 

Thoughts and opinions are welcomed. Thank you in advance everyone!

Welcome to the site and glad you could join us.

 

I'm hoping this is a Subaru dealership and that this work was done by Subaru technicians. Also, what was the cause of the engine failure..., i.e., turbo failed and was replaced, then engine failed?

 

If this was not done by a Subaru shop, by Subaru techs,or at least someone with a lot of Subaru engine experience, then, I'd discount the engine and figure on replacing it at some point in the near future, especially if there's a failed turbo somewhere in this mix.

 

And, that seems like a lot of miles for an 08... would expect something closer to 70K

Definitely get a PPI done by a 3rd party. I would also suggest to have a friend drive behind you and when the car warms up to its operating temperature, do a few WOT pulls (when condition/traffic permits of course) and see if he sees any smokes. Any smoke (especially ones with a little blue tint...those are usually burnt engine oil) would be a sign of troubles and you might want to avoid the car all together.

My experience is that the burning smell usually go away within 50 miles if not earlier. At 500 miles I would think its has another oil leak.

I dont know what your price range is, but there is a spec. b for sale with auctiondirectusa, its at their florida location, but they do ship between their dealers. Might be better off with one a little less broken in. Oh and welcome from Buffalo, NY. I am in search of a LGT or Spec. B as well, but still trying to offload my SRT8 Jeep first.

And I stand corrected, it may have sold already, however they are listing a '06 at their Rochester store now though. http://www.auctiondirectusa.com/vehicle-details/2006-subaru-legacy-2-5-gt-limited-rochester-ny-id-4302038 But no pictures or details yet, maybe they already transfered it up b/c the carfax (clean by the way) shows it at their Florida store. Happy hunting

Run and don't go any further

I ran far, far away and scratched it off my list completely.

 

I now have a deposit on a local 05 saabaru