altrocker1 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 So I became a subaru owner for the first time 2 weeks ago....my girlfriend and i were set on an impreza, but after test driving one we decided to look at the legacy. the first legacy we found was 2005 legacy limited GT...needless to say we fell in love from the moment we sat in it. we chose subaru for thier reputation and the awd system. we drove the car off the lot that day, and although i was uncomfortable with the idea of purchasing a turbo charged car without a warranty, i thought with 62,000 miles on a subaru that we would be just fine....i have never owned a car with a turbo but after some research and some thought i decided it would be okay.... fast forward two weeks to last night we were on our way home from my brothers and suddenly on the interstate there were some weird sputtering and klunking coming from the general area of the turbo....we got off the road as fast as we could, but by then the noise was horrible. i looked under the car and discovered it was pooling some oil under where the turbo was located and my heart sank as my worst fear came true only two weeks and less than 1000 miles into owning the car. now i am left with a car without a warranty with a blown turbo and we havent made a payment on it yet. i'll be honest, i really love this car and i want to try to make it work out, but we don't have a lot of money right now. we are trying to work a deal with the dealer, but i am open to suggestions and advice as to where to go and who else i need to contact. the car is currently in iowa and we are back in chicago after some car shuffling with my parents. we were lucky to get to an import shop right off the interstate and that is currently where the car is located. the guys at the shop seem really great and also extremely knowledgeable. they are ready to help us out anyway they can. before i made any moves though, i wanted to hear thoughts of people who know this car better than me and who may have had to deal with this problem. i am good with cars, but have never worked on an import let alone a turbo charged vehicle....i am open to suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 The cat broke up and blew your turbo contact subaru of america and they will fix it no questions asked, just make sure after they replace it with another catted uppipe to order and install a catless one of any brand name. You are only 2,000 miles out of your powertrain warranty. They will make an exception for you. This just happend to me this month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyrm98 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Get back with the dealer you bough it from...they should back you on your car purchase. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ih8vtec13 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 If you have tools and are not afraid to get your hands dirty you can probably take care of it for a few hundred bucks with a used turbo. There are plenty of turbo swaps on here with walkthroughs on them, just search. I am sorry to hear about your turbo and really dont get too crazy its a pretty common issue and there are plenty of people on here that can help. I have not done a swap but it looks fairly easy, and may be a good excuse to go stage 2 because its only a few extra bolts to install the parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 i was thinking about calling subaru of america tomorrow...i was working all day and couldnt do it. i know they have a great reputation of helping out their car owners. the car was unfortunately purchased from a chevy dealer so they were very bull headed at first, but after a little grumbling today they are starting to come around. my main concern is having a car that works again without having to break the bank. that, and sadly, even after only having the car for two weeks, after only being without it for a day...i really missed driving it:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 got ahold of subaru, they are going to back it if we can get the service records for the car...the chevy dealer we bought it from is being a pain in the ass about helping us though just because we didn't buy their extended warranty...i'm sorry that i didn't want to pay an extra 5000 dollars over the course of the loan to buy a warranty that was only good for 36000 miles and that only covers work done in a chevy shop...umm no thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmfuse87 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Tell the chevy dealer that they have to listen to you. WE OWN THEM!!! Goodluck with the repair, SOA has been great about fixing things and their warranty program. My parent's car had wheel bearing problems (2nd Set) just outside the warranty and they fixed them free of charge with a little coaxing. Goodluck, sorry to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adidasoutback Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Usually when you buy a used car at a dealer they offer a 30 day 1000 or 3000 mile warenteee with it. Did you get and sign the voucher that said no warentee was implied? Its required by law to be on the car on the lot and also for you to sign it when you purchase the car stating it does or does not have a warentee. If you didn't sign it you can sue them for the full value of the car and also for fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cino135 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 sorry to hear OP. i really hope this matter gets resolved and you and your wife come out on top of this with shiny new parts and your new baby purrin again. this is why im still hesitant in trading my 07 2.5i in for a sportier LGT with more miles and more years, although i entertain the idea daily. GL and thus far, ive had nothing but great assistance from SOA (had wheel bearing go out with 9K on her, rplcd no cost, no fuss) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 we did sign a no warranty because the only thing they would offer us was the 3 year 36000 that didn't have a detailed list of covered work and it would only cover work done in their shop...didn't seem worth the cash to me. even if i have to drop the money to replace the turbo myself, still will be less than that and it will be done at a Subaru specialist or dealer with an amazing service history....right now its at a really great shop with an amazing reputation, but we are towing it to the dealer tomorrow so we can get to work with subaru to work out a deal. right now all i want is for the chevy dealer to at least call the original owner of the car to see where he had it serviced so we can get the records. its fairly obvious that the car was well maintained and there are no mods that myself or the service center could see. legally i cant contact the original owner, but for petes sake, if it only takes a phone call to help save someone 2 g's, then imo they should at least make an effort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 ps...its awesome to own a car that is so widely supported by its owners...one of the reasons i bought a subaru. my last 2 vehicles were jeep cherokee xj's which are also vehicles that the owners put a lot of faith behind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ih8vtec13 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I hope you realize that you didnt buy a car, you joined a cult! BTW whos on Koolaide for the next meet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adidasoutback Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 we did sign a no warranty because the only thing they would offer us was the 3 year 36000 that didn't have a detailed list of covered work and it would only cover work done in their shop...didn't seem worth the cash to me. even if i have to drop the money to replace the turbo myself, still will be less than that and it will be done at a Subaru specialist or dealer with an amazing service history....right now its at a really great shop with an amazing reputation, but we are towing it to the dealer tomorrow so we can get to work with subaru to work out a deal. right now all i want is for the chevy dealer to at least call the original owner of the car to see where he had it serviced so we can get the records. its fairly obvious that the car was well maintained and there are no mods that myself or the service center could see. legally i cant contact the original owner, but for petes sake, if it only takes a phone call to help save someone 2 g's, then imo they should at least make an effort! You dont need to get ahold of the previos owner for any reason. If you go to a subaru dealer they can print out your service history with just the vin they dont even need the old customers name, but you do need a service writer to access it. You may want to check the glovebox and see if the original window sticker is in there, it will have the dealer it was ship to and sold and prob serviced at listed there, or ask the chevy dealer if it was an auction car or an actual trade in. Also if the dealer was trying to sell a warentee they are required by law to disclose whats is included and its not viable to buy one where you can only get it serviced at a GM dealer, which is going bankrupt and re-structuring because GM makes such garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 so subaru will not cover the full repair under a good will...we also cant get any sort of service records for the car. i have been on the phone almost nonstop since this happened. looks like the dealer wants to charge $3400 for the repair, then Subaru can cover $1000, but that still leaves us at $2400 for repairs at the dealer and quite frankly, we can't afford that right now. I'm sort of at a loss now as to what to do, I am going to talk to the manager of the chevy dealership we bought it from tomorrow, but I don't expect him to be useful at all. Right now I am hanging my head, and I am not sure what else I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balrock Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 What exactly does the dealer want to do for $3400 other than put on another craptastic VF-40. It is true they want to be sure the oil changes were done. Do a search for Banjo Bolt and you will understand why they want to be sure oil changes were done. True there are pleanty of modded VF-40's pushing high boost levels, but as a general rule it is a ticking time bomb. I hope you get things worked out but WOW on the $3400!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Go to the powertrain and tuner forums here and find a good shop in your area for help. There are plenty of guy's here that could walk you through what you can do to fix it for a lot less money. Take a deep breath count to ten and read... Good Luck 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegacyFuture Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 --- just PMed you this--- How much did you buy the car for? Did you take out a loan for the car? If it was a direct payment to the dealer that you have to make... I would just drop of the car there and leave it with a note... you can have it back... Otherwise..i would call subaru and try to get supervisors... dont talk to the little people... Also it is a very bad idea to get cars without warranty.. I was paranoid about that with my car... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altrocker1 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 --- just PMed you this--- Also it is a very bad idea to get cars without warranty.. I was paranoid about that with my car... about the warranty...got into an argument with the dealer we bought it from on the phone today. i asked if he knew if his shop would have been able to fix it...his reply was, "I don't know that for sure..." then I proceeded to ask if this had been under warranty if they would have been able to fix it in the shop...he stated "well i don't work in the service department, so i don't know what they would do. maybe they would send it out to a subaru dealer...i can't be sure though because i don't work in service...." this is from the used car manager. if he doesn't know what happens with the warranties that they have, then it doesn't surprise me that they didn't give us any info about what it would cover...i would have been surprised if they would have even covered it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Hey man the problem was caused by an engineering disaster that took place at FHI they put the cat before the turbo and thats why you are in the situation you are in DO NOT BACK DOWN UNTIL THEY FIX IT FOR FREE. It doesnt matter if you were using kool aid for lube the problem is because subaru put an oil screen in the banjo bolt or because the uppipe cat or both PERIOD do not settle for anything less than full coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djkxgo0k Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 $3400?!?!? tell the dealership to shove a stick up their a**. i got mine used at a ford dealer with a 30 day risk free warranty on it and wouldn't have settled for anything less. but that's water under the bridge. i hope you work something out with SOA, they're your best bet at this point. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Yeah man I would hate to see you have to pay a cent pm me if you have any issues, Im sure I have no pull but I would be willing to try... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex--TheGreek Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 To OP: I feel sorry to hear that your first experience with a Subaru is so bad... As others have said, push them till they bleed and do not accept anything else than a free repair! They sure know how to deal with a customer! Good luck man, and i hope everything works out for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegacyFuture Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 about the warranty...got into an argument with the dealer we bought it from on the phone today. i asked if he knew if his shop would have been able to fix it...his reply was, "I don't know that for sure..." then I proceeded to ask if this had been under warranty if they would have been able to fix it in the shop...he stated "well i don't work in the service department, so i don't know what they would do. maybe they would send it out to a subaru dealer...i can't be sure though because i don't work in service...." this is from the used car manager. if he doesn't know what happens with the warranties that they have, then it doesn't surprise me that they didn't give us any info about what it would cover...i would have been surprised if they would have even covered it. dude why are you talking to a sales manager? They have nothing to do with your warranty... get the car to a subaru dealer...drop it of there, and work with that subaru dealer...explain the situation... why is ur car not in a subbie service dept? I know its gonna cost to tow the car... its better than seating in that non-subaru dealer.. they not gonna fix it...you are stuck in an endless loop. I had a lot of experience with stuff like that. I dont like to go through 3rd party, middle man.. i try to reach the person directly... and deal with them... why are you people not giving this guy advises...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcas Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Yup LegacyFuture is definately right - bring it to a Subaru dealer and then call Subaru and they will in all probability help you out and work with the dealer to get you going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Had I lived in the Chicago area, I would have helped you replace the turbo for free I bet you we could have had it done for under $500 or so, up-pipe and turbo. There is one additional concern, not trying to freak you out but hope the engine did not ingest any debris, that would be very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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