My Subaru deals recommends that I replace the “spark plug tube seals” on my 2001 Outback with 68k miles. I don’t recall that this has been necessary on any other car I have ever owned,so I am a little suspicious. He says I need to do it within 10 k miles. He estimates it will cost $501. Is all of this reasonable? I am a little suspicious, because I also own a 2002 Acura, and the Subaru dealer always seems to be pushing some expensive work, while the Acura dealer is more reasonable.
Does your owner’s manual have this listed as regular maintenance? If it doesn’t, as I seriously doubt it will, you don’t have to do it.
Not to say that these don’t ever need replacing, but there’s usually not a set replacement interval. The only time when you need to change them is when you start getting oil in the spark plug tubes and additionally it’s probably a good idea to change them when the valve covers have to come off anyways.
I will also mention that this car is plenty old enough to start taking it to an independent mechanic. It’ll be cheaper, the work will usually be just as good if not better and they usually aren’t as bad about upselling you on work you don’t need. Same thing with the Acura, although if you’re happy with the service you get at the dealership that’s fine too.
The dealer says they are beginning to leak. He has not said this is regular maintenance. But if they are leaking, 10k seems like a long time to wait?
Thanks for your helpful comment.
Hmm, well in that case you should eventually get around to replacing them as eventually the oil will start shorting out the plugs and cause misfiring. But it’ll generally take a while for the problem to get that bad, especially if your spark plug wires are relatively new.
I’m not all that familiar with this car, so maybe there’s some clearance issues, but $501 for this job seems awful high to me so this might be a good opportunity to ask around for a good independent mechanic.