Fixing 2010 Suburu Forester engine in Maryland

[Anonymous]

Anyone know a good shop to work with?

I have the dreaded engine gasket leak. (2010 model with 75,000 miles)

Apparently is plagues all suburu boxer engines from 2008 to 2013 due to the composite gasket used between the head and cylinder block.

[Anonymous]

If you are in Rockville I really like the work of Robert at Liberty Gas station on the corner of Rockville Pike and Twinbrook Parkway. Honest, kind and smart with cars.

[Anonymous]

I had this on my 2005 Forester. It was 8 years old with only about 60,000 miles. I loved my Forester but ended up selling it and buying a Honda. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had this on my 2005 Forester. It was 8 years old with only about 60,000 miles. I loved my Forester but ended up selling it and buying a Honda. Good luck, OP.

+1

I wouldn't put a lot of money into an 11/12 year old car.

[Anonymous]

It’s a fairly straightforward repair. They pull the engine, pull the heads, and do the gaskets. About $1,200, and you can usually work out a deal on doing other stuff (plugs, valve springs, serpentine belt, water pump) while they’ve got the motor out.

For maybe $1,500 you get practically a new engine in a still very serviceable car.

When you show me a ten year old car with a fresh motor for less than $1,500 then I’ll say it’s not worth doing. Until then (never) it’s a good deal.

[Anonymous]

Go see Mike at Kensington Auto Clinic (301-929-0355). He's an expert on Subarus. The work is good, done in a timely fashion and the prices are excellent.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 22:29 that you should just get it fixed. The only reason I wouldn't is if the car is really rusty (like, maybe you lived in NY or MA for most of the car's life), or if you generally haven't taken care of it (ie, you've had no service done except 3 or 4 oil changes in 75k miles).

Even if it's $2k, it will still be less than a down payment on a new car.

[Anonymous]

Op here.

I took the car to Carmax to get a trade in value. $6000. I was a bit surprised for such an old car. But Sub's hold their value and people are really into cheap used cars now.

I then took it to a local place, Mastertech, Gaithersburg.

They said they used to to do this work about once a month until recently.

They put it on a lift and found that there was a tiny bit of stickiness coming from the bolt, but not enough of a problem yet to warrant a full replacement yet. (We were both under the lift. Nice owner. We found some rust spots on the frame/muffler. Said the rebuild would be about $2000, compared to $3200 at the dealer.

I will bring in the car to this shop from now on starting at the end of the summer for oil changes and to keep an eye on things.

It is worth it to me to keep the car. I love having an old car to beat up on. Cheaper than a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I took the car to Carmax to get a trade in value. $6000. I was a bit surprised for such an old car. But Sub's hold their value and people are really into cheap used cars now.

I then took it to a local place, Mastertech, Gaithersburg.

They said they used to to do this work about once a month until recently.

They put it on a lift and found that there was a tiny bit of stickiness coming from the bolt, but not enough of a problem yet to warrant a full replacement yet. (We were both under the lift. Nice owner. We found some rust spots on the frame/muffler. Said the rebuild would be about $2000, compared to $3200 at the dealer.

I will bring in the car to this shop from now on starting at the end of the summer for oil changes and to keep an eye on things.

It is worth it to me to keep the car. I love having an old car to beat up on. Cheaper than a new one.

THIS!!!!

There is a HUGE intangible value to having an older, paid-for car that you can just not give a F about other than occasional repairs. It’s so much stress off the mind. Worrying about all little annoying things like door dings, scratches, dirt, wear and tear and other stuff that people with new(er) cars sweat over. It all just goes away.

An old car is like a pair of scuffed up workboots. Stuff just doesn’t matter. They still work.

[Anonymous]

Former Subaru owner here. OP, you're wrong about the range of years the affects. I had a 2001 Impreza and it had the same thing at 75k miles. It cost me about $2,200 to get fixed. After that was fixed, the car lasted another 100k miles before more engine problems occurred and I traded it in. I won't buy another Subaru because they know this is a problem and do nothing about it. Getting the head gaskets fixed at 75k is not "standard maintenance" for any other brand. This is why, when I see people asking about buying a Subaru, I tell them not to do it. Just get a Toyota or Honda next time. They have timing chains while the Subaru has a timing belt. This means you don't need a timing belt change at 100k miles. They also don't have the head gasket problems of Subaru or the transmission problems of Chevy.

[Anonymous]

We also had a 2010 Subaru. When this happened for the *second* time for us last year we were done. Traded it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also had a 2010 Subaru. When this happened for the *second* time for us last year we were done. Traded it in.

I don't understand why they insist on making their engines like this. It can't be good for customer loyalty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also had a 2010 Subaru. When this happened for the *second* time for us last year we were done. Traded it in.

I don't understand why they insist on making their engines like this. It can't be good for customer loyalty.

Do they still?

[Anonymous]

Had a 2000 Subaru Forester, head gasket went around 110k miles. Common for these engines, that and regular CV boot replacements. Otherwise great car maintenance wise. Drove it another 50k miles before selling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There is a HUGE intangible value to having an older, paid-for car that you can just not give a F about other than occasional repairs. It’s so much stress off the mind. Worrying about all little annoying things like door dings, scratches, dirt, wear and tear and other stuff that people with new(er) cars sweat over. It all just goes away.

An old car is like a pair of scuffed up workboots. Stuff just doesn’t matter. They still work.

There's also a huge value in having a car that is safe. Technology has moved by leaps and bounds in the last couple yeasrs. Buy this year's model of teh same Subaru and you get blind spot monitoring, front collisison avoidance, rear collission warning, rear backup camera, and more.