possible purchase bad head gasket good idea?

[islehiker]

Hello,

I am new to the Subarus but sold my truck and want to get Subaru legacy outback. I have been kicking around the idea of buying a subie with bad gaskets and having them replaced.

I have 2 options possibly:
1 97 146K has loaded like ltd w/o leather seats private person
2 98 156K Ltd from a dealer

I would try to purchase either for 2000 and have the head gaskets replaced is this a good idea? Any speculations on how long the engines will last? Also besides having the HD replaced at a Subie dealer any suggestions what should be done?

Thanks for any thoughts!
Eric

[Reason]

I don't see them lasting much longer, mine went at 65k. Would I buy another BD and replace the gaskets? HELL YEA!!! I would do some head work and do up the internals. If the body is good shape I dont see anything wrong with 2G's

[Pwise2326]

I agree, only thing you are risking buying one with blown gaskets is if the person failed to notice the car overheating and blew the engine. If you buy it from the dealer chances are they will replace the gaskets and fix everything wrong with the engine but it can turn out to be pretty expensive. If you go the private party route you may be able to save some money by changing them yourself which would allow you to really clean out the block and fix everything thats wrong, but if you did all that only to find that the engine was blown, your stuck. At least with the dealership find out if there is any warranty on the engine, meaning if it is blown or something happens soon after getting it they will replace the block for you tahts the way to go. Subaru hasn't been the best when it comes to gaskets blowing, but if you can get a 97 or 98 with 150k for 2 grand your doing extremely well, seeing that same car with a perfectly running motor is worth 6 grand still. If you do the work yourself, the gaskets cost about 80-100 bucks, and if you have your personal mechanic change them it will cost you between 500-1000 bucks, at the dealer can run you up to 2g. Either way you come out ahead! Hope to see some pictures of your new car soon!

[islehiker]

Thanks for your input! I wish I could replace the HD myself but I do have the tools or the knowledge to perform such a repair.

One more question, would a local shop do just as good of a repair as dealer would?

[Reason]

One more question, would a local shop do just as good of a repair as dealer would?

I had a local shop with "Subaru knowledge" do the repair. They only did 1 side and after a year the other 1 went. If I were you, I would have any major repair done at Subaru! Don't waste your time or money elsewhere.

[Pwise2326]

Agreed, only go to a shop if they have worked with Subaru's before, luckily for me my mechanic used to work for Subaru so it worked out pretty well and only cost me $500! Otherwise I'd say go to the dealership.

[2deadlegs]

I'm going to have to reinforce what everyone else is saying. If you know for a fact that the shop has done plent of roopairs then I would go there, if not trust only the dealer. It might run you $1,500.00 for the HG's but there will be a warranty when it's done.

[SubaruGenki]

If the engine is not blown and you replace the headgaskets you should be able to get at least 300k miles out of the car. Side note: not all dealerships are created equal. Make sure they do good work before you shell out extra cash, just beacue they are a dealer.