# Looking for a viable workaround the exorbitant labor costs for the 60K tuneup **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** subaru\ **Created:** [September 15, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378 "2022-09-15T19:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/21 "2022-09-16T00:50:38Z")
More Subaru powered aircraft: [Foxcon - Subaru EA81](http://www.foxcon.com/Subaru-EA81.html) But these aren’t using the engine in the OP’s car. And it’s more ‘let’s try Subaru engines in planes’ than ‘Subaru makes airplane engines.’ Folks tried the same thing with the Porsche 911 aircooled engines, then dropped it. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 2:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/22 "2022-09-16T02:49:55Z")
I knew this rang a bell: [Help Ed Build His Plane - Maintenance/Repairs - Car Talk Community](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-ed-build-his-plane/45961) ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/23 "2022-09-16T03:50:32Z")
Car repair costs are always denigrated as being too high no matter how fair they are. So would 800 in labor get dissed if the repairs were done by a HVAC guy who fixed the outside condenser or the heat exchanger… What about 800 for some plumber to come and replace a section of collapsed sewer line or a water heater that decided to wave the white flag… Or 800 from a tree service company for chain sawing and hauling off that large tree that fell on the house… ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/24 "2022-09-16T05:40:35Z")
> [@bcohen2010](#): > > cook a great dinner for my family of 3 for less than $20, _no_ We did that last night, the night before, and the night before as well. Sometimes you just gotta live a little. > [@bcohen2010](#): > > food and non-alcoholic drinks (usually lemonade or orange juice). That reminds me, I’m out of gin. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/25 "2022-09-16T11:22:15Z")
This is why— **The Subaru all alloy water cooled boxer engine was originally developed by Fuiji heavy industries for use as an aircraft engine**. When company policy changed and their own aircraft turned out to need larger engines, the engine was reconfigured to be fitted in their cars. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/26 "2022-09-16T11:50:42Z")
… and they are still in the aviation business: > **[Aerospace Company | Subaru Corporation](https://www.subaru.co.jp/en/outline/business_aero.html)** > > Subaru Corporation - Corporate Information ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/27 "2022-09-16T12:10:06Z")
Be a bummer to have a head gasket failure at 10,000 feet. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/28 "2022-09-16T14:07:05Z")
> [@jenniferjonesmedia\_182300](#): > > if I DIY I can void my warranty? WRONG. You can do any and all repairs yourself or have a good independent (usually cheaper) to do it for you and it can NOT void warranty. The labor cost is probably because of the back plugs on a v6. On many vehicles they are a pain to get to and you have to remove many parts (like intake manifold) to reach them. This usually isn’t a job for most weekend warriors. 60k plug replacement interval is returning with direct-injection engines. Is this a direct-injection engine? ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/29 "2022-09-16T14:08:19Z")
> [@Purebred](#): > > **The Subaru all alloy water cooled boxer engine was originally developed by Fuiji heavy industries for use as an aircraft engine** I didn’t know that. Any link to a history of that? I can’t find any. Long before Subaru the predecessor of Fuji was Nakajima, maker of WWII aircraft. I’m thinking this is a good ‘story’, often repeated, that might not be true. All Fuji Heavy Industry planes I can find from the '50s and '60s had typical flat four air cooled aviation engines (Lycoming, etc.), not water cooled. ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/30 "2022-09-16T15:54:23Z")
Www.Prakas.nl is the website. Prakas is a Netherlands company that provides parts for conversion of Subaru engines for home built aircraft. Engines coming full circle! I googled “did Subaru ever build aircraft engines” that is when it came up. They found their water cooled boxer was not suited for their aircraft, went with Lycoming engines. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/31 "2022-09-16T16:07:47Z")
That web site doesn’t work. Edit - but ‘Prekas.nl’ does. They state ‘the water cooled boxer was not suited for aircraft’, but this is just a statement from a modern engine conversion company (founded in 1995). It’s inconsistent with the history of the Subaru water cooled flat four, because the EA engine (the first water cooled Subaru flat four) went into their model 1000 car in 1965, long after another branch of Fuji built their first plane using Lycoming engines. ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/32 "2022-09-16T17:02:55Z")
Yes, it is strange, you have to use the request I made on Google to get the quote I posted. But as you suggested, they might just be repeating a myth. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/33 "2022-09-16T21:59:24Z")
As a plane hobbyist, this got me curious, so I posted a question over on an airplane forum. Turns out the Subaru flat four has been used in a number of conversions, but the folks there agree it didn’t originate as an airplane engine. Part of the confusion may have started when the parent company made the ‘Fuji Aero Subaru’ airplane, which had a normal Lycoming engine in it. [Subaru aircraft engines | Come for the cars, stay for the anarchy (opposite-lock.com)](https://opposite-lock.com/topic/56643/subaru-aircraft-engines/24?_=1663365369489) [Fuji FA-200 Aero Subaru - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji_FA-200_Aero_Subaru) ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/34 "2022-09-16T23:48:21Z")
> [@asemaster](#): > > dinner to the local Mexican restaurant where a margarita is $8.50 and a plate of fajitas is $19.99. Life is expensive. Haven’t gone to restaurant for dinner since covid, but just before gf & I went to Mexican restaurant, and indeed got a bit of sticker shock. I said it was pretty good food, and wanted to go back the next weekend. Gf agreed food was good, but “too expensive”, and since fairly easy to make, better value to just make at home. Big pot of cooked mexican-style beans in fridge … lol … ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/35 "2022-09-17T02:52:19Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > Haven’t gone to restaurant for dinner since covid Almost 3 years without a meal out? I couldn’t imagine that. Even when covid was still in full swing we would go out to eat whenever we would find a place that was open. But then again I take more pleasure in eating than most people do. Probably explains why I keep getting bigger as I get older. It’s not the dryer that’s shrinking my clothes, it’s the refrigerator. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/36 "2022-09-17T13:10:20Z")
We continued our customary Friday carry out. I just wore a mask when I picked it up and didn’t spend a lot of time in the restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/37 "2022-09-17T13:27:12Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > We continued our customary Friday carry out. Same here. But we do go to restaurants that during the summer that have outside seating. ---
**Author:** ![Cavell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cavell/32/43396_2.png) [@Cavell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cavell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/38 "2022-09-17T13:43:16Z")
Do you have warranty that requires scheduled tuneups? Maybe I missed that? Or is query about doing services to make you feel better? But at low cost? ---
**Author:** ![old\_mopar\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6bbea6/32.png) [@old\_mopar\_guy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/old_mopar_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/39 "2022-09-17T19:55:27Z")
We simply use Doordash or Uber Eats for our friday and saturday night take out dinners. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378/40 "2022-09-17T22:26:52Z")
> [@asemaster](#): > > Almost 3 years without a meal out? Carry-out restaurant food from time to time. But only items that I can re-heat to steaming temps. Italian & Asian foods good for this purpose, but no salads, etc. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/looking-for-a-viable-workaround-the-exorbitant-labor-costs-for-the-60k-tuneup/186378.md?page=3)