Your car has a private party value of between $4800 to $5500 without engine problems. If a mechanically inclined Subaru enthusiast comes along, $2k off that would be a really good deal, for others, it would be break even.
If you could get $5 K if it had no head gasket problems – this would assume the other systems in the car are working well and have no issues – I’d guess you’d be dollars ahead by having the head gasket fixed first, then selling the vehicle. If your cash flow situation simply doesn’t allow that, then there’s nothing else you can do but sell it as is. But for maximum dollars in your wallet, if you can swing it, suggest to fix the head gasket first before selling the vehicle.
Did you ask the shop if they’d be willing to allow you to pay for part of the head gasket job by you doing work for them instead of a cash payment? This assumes you have time to do such a thing of coruse. But if you do , shop owners like to have a neat and tidy shop but rarely have time for their staff to focus on organization and cleaning tasks; so this one might well be happy to have you come in and assist w/that. Sweep, degrease, clean the floors, organize the spare parts, etc. Or maybe they just need someone to sand the finish on something that requires hand-sanding before they can paint it. There’s tons of time-tedious but otherwise undemanding jobs needing doing in auto repair shops.
If I was the shop owner, I would not consider such a thing
There’s a lot of expensive equipment around, not to mention other customer’s cars
It would get ugly if something were missing and/or damaged
I’d be curious to know if any of the shop owners on this website have ever allowed this, or would even consider it
No offense to George, but it seems to be a potential recipe for disaster
@db4690 makes some good points, but still I’d put this in the “it doesn’t hurt to ask, the worse they can say is no” category.
We had HG failure at 119,000 miles on our 2004 Forester. Researched online and found out that Foresters had HG problems that go back to 1998. My wife contacted corporate and suggested Subaru give us a “substantial” write down on the dealer repair, because Subaru should know this an ongoing design problem. After much back and forth we received 50% off the repair. Mostly I think we got the savings because we had the 30/60/90,000 mile maintenance work done and the paperwork to prove this.
Secondly, I talked with the Dealer’s Service manager and stated that now would be a good time to replace the water pump. And, since they were removing the engine for the HG repairs, “could they do this for the parts cost?” They said yes, and, this gets better, they replaced the tensioners and timing belt for the cost of the parts. When I picked up the car they had replaced the battery for free. The fact that this dealer was located in Van Nuys CA, and I spoke Spanish may have helped with their generosity.
Because of the great customer service from Subaru, we just bought a new Outback, and sold the Forrester with 185,000 miles.
According to your photos and your description, you were a touch low in the radiator and a little high (which does not hurt) in the reservoir. After you started the engine the coolant level in the radiator went up a little. That’s to be expected since the coolant expands as it gets hot.
BUT, I see no evidence that you are having a problem. I think you would be better off starting from scratch. Top off the coolant when the engine is cold. Then mark the level of coolant in the reservoir and drive it for a few days. Then let’s see what, if anything, has changed. If you “fix” all the things that are being suggested here, you might as well get a new car.