My daughter drives a 2006 Subaru legacy outback with 140k miles. The car itself is in great shape. She missed an oil change, topped it off then didn’t check it for 5k miles. Car stopped dead a few nights ago and sounds like it threw a rod. We have one quote at $5k for replacement engine and labor. ($2k for “new” engine, $3k labor) Just wondering how to gage costs as we look around at options. Thank you for your thoughts.
$2K is not for a new engine, that is too low. $3k for labor seem OK but we don’t know, nor care where you live, so our estimates are useless to you. Call around for other estimates.
I hope your daughter is paying for this new engine so she learns NOT to go 10k miles between oil changes and to check the level often.
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yep, have your daughter call around her area and get multiple estimates on replacing an engine in her car.
Engine options will be important to note here:
She can get a new engine (possibly- if it is available from the dealer)
She can get a rebuilt engine (rebuild quality can determine price)
She can get a used engine out of a similar car, that she will have no idea on the maintenance history of.
But I totally agree with @Mustangman- she needs to be paying for this, and in my opinion, doing as much of the research as possible.,
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Wow…I thought this was an advice forum for repairs and performance issues. I guess it’s for parenting…
sometimes you get both. 
too funny! 