What would you do?

Hi Guys - Would like your advice. Here is the situation:

Pearl, my 05 SWP LGT, is nearing 135K. She has been running a Cobb AP Stage 2 setup since 20K. Believe it or not, she is still running strong on the original turbo (we did lots of highway miles). She recently threw a CEL - which turned out to be the MAF or air/fuel mix or something - but continues to run fine with the CEL. If the CEL is cleared, she stalls and stuff until the CEL comes back - and then she runs great again. I am thinking it may be related to that "CEL fix" built in to the modding - but not sure.

More importantly (perhaps), she is burning a qt of oil every 1K miles these days. Tires are good, brakes are good but I am concerned about looking at some relatively expensive repairs in the near future - turbo, clutch (about due), and maybe some other things that the oil consumption may be hinting at.

My wife now drives her and I am mostly concerned about her experiencing a catastrophic turbo failure while on the road out of town (though she has been educated about symptoms and what to do- i.e. shut the car down!) and of course the expense associated with future repairs.

So, I am thinking about parting ways with her after all these years - and trading her in. I think our options are as follows: 1) be pre-emptive and part ways with her now in order to avoid potential expenses and the hassle that will come with those expenses; 2) keep running her until something significant and expensive occurs and then part ways; 3) keep running her until something significant and expensive occurs and then shell out the money - because she is a great car (as we all know); or 4) be pre-emptive and put the money in to to her now to replace the turbo and address the CEL, etc.

OK - thoughts?

SWP 5mt, how many of those did they make ?

What's it costing you to keep it, insurance, taxes.

If you buy a new car, you more insurance and more taxes.

I spent over $7000 on my wagon last May and June 2012.

I glad I did.

Mine was basically doing the same thing yours was. I replaced the turbo (before it blew)and had the tranny rebuilt and replaced the rear diff in April - Aug 2011. New shocks and springs Jan 13.

Find a good Subaru shop and stay away from the dealership with the car. Sounds like you can't do much of the work yourself. I did most of mine.


Here's my thread from last year. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...-r-184106.html

Fix the problems now before they become more expensive to repair later down the road. Putting $1,000-$4,000 into her is a lot cheaper than buying a newer used or new car.

Originally Posted by Max Capacity

SWP 5mt, how many of those did they make ?
Don't know.

What's it costing you to keep it, insurance, taxes.
Don't know

If you buy a new car, you more insurance and more taxes.
I'm sure you are right

I spent over $7000 on my wagon last May and June 2012.
OMG! I think that would be a hard sell to my wife - despite it being "cheaper"

I glad I did.

Mine was basically doing the same thing yours was. I replaced the turbo (before it blew)and had the tranny rebuilt and replaced the rear diff in April - Aug 2011. New shocks and springs Jan 13.

Find a good Subaru shop and stay away from the dealership with the car. Sounds like you can't do much of the work yourself. I did most of mine.
Right - I can't do the work so it would be quite a bit more expensive.


Here's my thread from last year. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...-r-184106.html

I read through the thread - glad you could do that yourself. I am...well...helpless...so an overhaul like that would have to be done by a shop - and the cost and inconvenience would probably not make it an weasy sell to my wife.

Bring the car to a shop and have them do a compression / leak down test and replace the PCV valve.

If the compression / leak down tests come back good and replacing the PCV valve fixes the oil consumption, continue to drive it while keeping an eye on the turbo.

Also, you might want to drop the downpipe just to check the turbo for play and to check if oil exists back there. If so I think it's not a bad idea to just replace the turbo preemptively--or dump it if you don't want to deal with that.

yes what Peter and BMB said,

It's cheaper to have the minor test done, have the easy problems fixed.

Then have the turbo checked for shaft play.

As I did back in Aug 11 replace the turbo before it goes and takes the engine with it.

Oil is cheap, you can always keep it topped off and check it twice a week if needed.

Check the local forum and ask the guys who to take the car to that is near to you.

Report back and we'll help you.

Running the figures it's almost always cheaper to fix the car you have then to buy a new/used one - taxes alone are a reasonable repair.

I'd fix, do the work myself and drive it for a few weeks while the wife drives something else. When all is good, give it back to her

Couple of questions first:
1. Is it paid for?
2. Do you still like the car?
3. Shape of the stuff that you see everyday-seats, dash, door cards, interior in general all good and do you still like them?
4. Do you want a larger, longer car payment if it's not paid off? If it is paid off, do you want to have ANY car payment and as Max said, much higher insurance?
5. Does your family like the car still?

These are the questions to ask yourself to keep it. The pre-emptive questions could be to either keep it or sell it. If you keep it, then these are peace of mind things that need to be done and to bring the car back into solid shape. If you want to sell it, then they make it much more attractive to a potential buyer and give you more money on the sale, but, and this is a BIG BUT, you generally won't get the money you put into it, out of it.

I'm going to keep mine basically forever unless I crash it, and at that point, it will be determined as to severity of the crash. Newer is no better, and contains a LOT more crap to go wrong. You know the car now, know how you've treated it, know that it's not let you down, and know what it needs.

All things to consider. Hope I helped to make that decision clear as mud...LOL

BTW should go without saying that if the oil thing isn't rings it's your PCV. PCV is $30 part

Leaning towards following BMB's suggestions because we love the car, other than what I indicated were concerns are in good shape. No loan, car is paid for but we would not take out a loan if we were to trade so no new payment just cash outlay.
How would you know if the oil issue was symptomatic of a ring or more serious problem? And thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

Originally Posted by emlevins

Leaning towards following BMB's suggestions because we love the car, other than what I indicted were concerns are in good shape. No loan, car is paid for but we would not take out a loan if we were to trade so no new payment just case outlay.
How would you know if the oil issue was symptomatic of a ring or more serious problem? And thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

Oil gets past the 'rings' to be able to be burned. As failures go it's not 'serious' but the work can be costly. This is call blow by and is common in high hp boosted motors because the rings are not as tight as in N/A motors.

A compression test will tell you if it's your rings. If you test a cyl and get low PSI, you add oil to that cyl - if the PSI rises you have a failing ring. If it stays the same, a valve is the problem.

It's PCV related if you have good compression, but still get burning oil. Based on your miles and care, it's more likely the PCV then bad rings. If you're running lots of extra boost you can still get oil in your intake.

Checking to see if you're getting blow by is pretty simple. Pull off your BOV/BPV and look in your TMIC. If there is much oil you're burning it because it's getting pumped back into your intake.