My 2017 Outback has 38k miles and is in excellent condition.
I went in dealership for multi-point inspection and the Subaru maintenance person said that there is a right cam carrier oil leak problem. They quoted me ~$4000 to reseal it. Due to covid, I didn’t drive much but the 5-year/60k power train warranty has already expired. I called Subaru America and was told that they can’t do anything for me at this moment due to expired warranty, so I have to cover all the $4000 repair cost myself. This sounds ridiculous to me especially after I found out online that so many Subaru owners share the same pain as me. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to further push Subaru to cover some repair cost? or should I ignore this stupid cam carrier oil leak problem and continue to drive as is? Thanks a lot!
I can’t understand why Subaru just ignore it without taking any meaningful actions such as recall or extending the warranty. Did anyone think of taking legal action to sue Subaru on this?
That seems a reasonable compromise if you’re willing to accept a car w/an oil leak. As long as it isn’t leaking too much, and you monitor in the engine oil level and top off as required frequently. Presuming this car doesn’t use a timing belt, or if it does it isn’t in the path of the oil leak.
I wouldn’t take that approach myself btw. I prefer no appreciable oil leaks and would go to the effort/expense necessary to fix it. I might however only replace the seal on the side that’s leaking, and not replace anything other than that seal, provided there no obvious problems with the other stuff. Suggest to price this out a minimalist seal-only job at a well-recommended inde shop, might not be as expensive as you think.
If it costs $4k to repair the oil leak, and it costs about $6k to repair/replace the engine when the timing belt fails, and about $1200 for a proactive timing belt replacement, it is an interesting question if the smart course of action would be to just drive the car until the timing belt eventually fails, making sure to keep the oil and coolant topped off at all times. By the time the timing belt fails, if the body is still in decent condition, it might make sense to repair/replace the engine, otherwise time to junk the car or sell as a mechanic’s special.
+1
A good mechanic–especially one who is a foreign car specialist–can do this repair, and would likely be considerably less expensive than the dealership.
With the exception of the STI model, Subaru switched over to timing chains in 2014.