I have a 2002 Subaru Outback Legacy. I bought it in 2004 and the previous owner transferred the manufacturer’s extended warranty to me. I had several things repaired (for free) on the warranty:
(1) 5/2004 @ 49198 miles: The engine sounded like a sewing machine so they “Replaced engine shortblock. Found #3 and #4 cylindrs out of round.”
(2) 10/2005 @ 62791 miles: Struts were leaking. They replaced them.
(3) 5/2007 @ 72657 miles: The check engine light stayed on. They replaced the catalytic converter.
*****7/2007: Extended warranty expires!
12/2007 @ 78315 miles: headgaskets leaking internally. Replaced them and the timing belt to the tune of $1350!
3/2008 purchased an after market extended warranty for 48 months or 60,000 miles. Haven’t used it because haven’t had any major problems or repairs! Car now has 103200 miles…
Can I even get another extended warranty on a car this old with this many miles? If I can, is it worth it?
Many after market warranties fail to pay for claims, so you were lucky. I wouldn’t push my luck by buying another. And the cat would have been replaced under factory warranty.
Are you absolutely sure they replaced the short block at approx. 50k miles?
Only 28k miles later and both head gaskets were leaking? This means the short block was not replaced, the head gasket job was not done properly, or you overheated the engine and caused the head gasket failure. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt on the latter and assuming it was not overheated.
Extended warranties are seldom worth the cost and this is especially true of aftermarket warranties. The fine print can be a killer.
All I know is I took it to the dealer and the repair paperwork says they replaced the engine shortblock. I was also skeptical about head gaskets leaking so soon after the engine thing. I took it back to the dealer who had done the engine work and was told that any warranty on the engine block work was expired since it was 3.5 years and 28k miles prior. I assume the dealer is trustworthy… perhaps I’m wrong?
what would i have had to do to overheat the engine? I do mostly in-town driving and change my oil every April and October…
The fine print on my current extended warranty makes my eyes roll back in my head…
Don’t you need another driver or putter? Extended warranties cost so much that you could really upgrade your golf equipment with the money you didn’t spned on the extended warranty.
Use the money you would spend on an extended warranty and take a trip to Las Vegas. The gambling houses return about 95 cents on the dollar you spend. The extended warrenty probably returns less that 50 cents on each dollar.
Ummm - just have to say that 2002 Subarus were also prone to some of the headgasket failures that plague some models. However, there was a special coolant to use - if you used it, Subaru would have paid for at least part of the repair, or so I understand. I point this out because no abuse on your part was required for this failure, so you didn’t necessarily cause it by overheating the engine.
Hmmm… I never paid attention to the type of coolant… since the headgaskets have been replaced, are the new ones still prone to this failure? it would really irritate me to have that happen again! should I use the special coolant? presumably only available at the dealer…???