Forester NIGHTMARE-- 1 overheating = NEW ENGINE

angrysubaruman
Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:29:24 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

Hello car people, I’m a new owner but I’ve visited the site many times for advice. I know there are many threads regarding my issue but mine might be a bit different once I get into it.

Hope you’re comfortable…

03 Forrster with only 85k miles. Was passed down to me from a deceased relative. First free car ever! It was amazing! Drove it for a little over a year. Took good care of it. Oil changed every 5k or so. Didn’t take it to a dealership to have done but they were well known places. Put new 80k mile tires on. Little did I know I wouldn’t make it 50 miles on it.

One summer day I noticed my air-conditioned wouldn’t put out cold air anymore. I had an old Chevy truck that did that too and I figured it just needed to be recharged. Shut it off, put it on the to do list and moved on.

Then one day driving with 2 others in the car I happen to look at the temp gauge. It’s full on peaking hot! I pull over, pop the hood and smoke bellows out. I see coolant sprayed everywhere. Get it towed to a reputable shop where they tell me the radiator is busted. I say “ok, fix it up”. Then I get the call,. “OK, your radiator is fixed, that’ll be 300$ but…your head gasket is broken and we don’t do HG’s. Likely that’s what caused the overheat to begin with”

So I pay the $300 and have it towed to my house. I then begin to do research on the INFAMOUS head gasket problem. I educate myself on the entire problem and decide to call Subaru of America and open a case. I explain my situation and they say to have the car inspected at a Sube dealership. I get it towed down, they look, and say, “yep it’s the HG, it’ll be $1,200 to fix and we’ll talk to SOA and tell confirm”. SOA calls back and says, “OK, of that $1,200, we’ll give you $400.”OK…random number but sure better than nothing.

I’m bummed out but I’m feeling good, it’ll be fixed. They wind up doing HG, temp gauge, timing belt. I go to pick it up, plop down $1,200 bones and go on my way. Not 3 days later, I’m in Boston traffic and my temp gauge is peaking hard. I have no way of pulling over and I’m super late for a work gig. I finally get driving again and temp goes down. I get to my destination and pop the hood. The coolant in the reservoir is very high up and boiling hot…literally boiling bubbles. But no actual overheat. No steam, no weird noises, nothing like that.

I leave it and go to work. That night I check it and it’s good. Drive it home with no temp change whatsoever. Call the Sube dealership that fixed it and explain the problem. They say send it back down . So once again I tow it on down.

Few days go by…not looking good. I get the call. “OK, it’s the short block in the engine, it has a pin hole crack in it. Best thing to do is to find a low mileage used engine”…REPLACE THE ENTIRE ENGINE!!!

So apparently the very first time my car overheated for that short amount of time, it resulted in a broken radiator ($300) timing belt,temp gauge and head gasket ($1,200) and now an entire new motor ($2-$3k)! = possibly $4,500 !!!

I say, “OK, say I buy the used motor…wouldn’t the SAME COMMON Subaru Forester problem happen to me again down the line, HG, short block etc??” He says…”it’s likely, yes”

So I gave Subaru of America one last try and they basically told me “tough luck, you still want the $400?”

So hear I am…carless for almost 2 weeks. Affecting my work and livelihood. On the fence as to what to do with this freekin car!

Options being–(keep in mind I own this car and don’t owe a dime on it…payment wise)

***buy the used engine for maybe 2-3k {I would have spent a total of $4,500 to fix it, but it’s still less than buying a new or used car. Plus no payments. BUT risking the same problem happening again sooner or later}

***They offered me $4,500 for the car as is. So take that and get a new used car? Either a Junker that I don’t know what I’m getting or put towards a new car and have PAYMENTS.

***Commit murder so that I can be thrown in jail and never have to worry about cars, bills, money again.

Thank you so much for reading this all the way. Any advice you may have is so very much appreciated.

-Tyler

26 posts - 14 participants