Sounds just like my story of my 2000 2.5 RS. My head gasket blew at 62,000mi. Only 2,000 out of warranty. It was going to cost me over $3000 to get both sides done. I took the easy way out and made it my dealer's problem. I just detailed the whole car and traded it in on a WRX wagon. Let them take it up with Subaru when that time bomb starts barfing antifreeze all over their parking lot.

The head gasket thing is a common problem. You could try and see if SOA will take pity on you, but my guess is they've heard this same story enough that if they were to "give in" every time they'd be bankrupt.

I personally felt like a fool buying into what could be another 60,000 mile car when most of today's vehicles are capable of well over 100,000 without major engine problems. To make myself feel better about the purchase, I'm hoping that the head gasket issue was addressed for the 2.0 liter motor.

The WRX is fun, but I'm pretty sure I'll be looking for a replacement when the 60,000 mark comes around.

Good luck, and let us know the outcome.

 

Honestly.. as we all know 'sh*t' happens to the best of us. I would see what subaru says about it. If the car was 100% dealer serviced, 100% stock, I'm sure they would at least look into it for you. On the other hand; 3g's for a head gasket service.. crikkey. Thats redonkulous. If you are in the tri-state area.. I could for a small fee do the service for you. I'd need your vehicle for at the very least ~6 hours.. thats rushing it.. closer to 8-10... not even. All i have to do is lift the motor out. and go from there. Its really quite simple.

Anywho; was that a private mechanic that quoted that much or a dealer?

-G

P.S. You can get a set of headgaskets... hell they better be doin both for that price.. anywho you can get a set of felpro gaskets for ~60 bucks..

And.. at least around here.. going labor rate = 85$... so call that 10 hours of labor.. 850 bucks.. plus 60.. so 910.. heck.. honestly. It shouldn't cost more than 1000$. And yes that is expensive.. but thats the MAXIMUM it should really be.

I could do it for the price of the gaskets, a good home cooked meal and say.. 150 each side?

That is.. if you are in the tri-state area..

 

I definitely agree, it should not cost more than $1000.

 

Without going into too much detail (a bit OT in this thread), the only motor with the head gasket problem is the 2.5L n/a. I'd worry about your tranny before I worry about the headgasket.

 

Fortunately for you, there is a recall for that head gasket failure!

The fix they have is that they add a treatment to your coolant which will condition the gasket. However, i have no clue as to weather you can fight for $ from SOA for this, as your car was out of the warranty range. This is something that at 60,000 miles the service tech's should have known and added in.

I'm car has 130k miles (1999 RS), which means on this engine (50k- replaced for valve knock) there is about 80k miles. I do not have a blown gasket, and I race my car in SCCA Solo2. I'm also a very hard driver in my everyday driving. I don't think there is any easy way out of this for you. And for that, I am very sorry. I would seek out a shop that does regular work on subarus, something like a performance shop, and see if they can help you out. Here in the SF bay area (California) we have a shop that would give you a good labor rate for a job like this, and are a top notch staff. (GB- Motorsports in Hayward, CA)

Things you can do to minimize such failure again:

-Once the gaskets are replaced, go to subaru and get the service recall additive added.
- Always let your car warm up to normal water/operating temps before driving. This can help a lot in terms of stress and heat to the gaskets.

Regualr oil changes and fuild checks. Typical maintinence. I know that you've stated that you do these things, and that is great! However, the 25.L N/A design has this flaw of the head gaskets. I'm sorry that you were caught up in this.

-Gagan

 

Add additive.

 

When you are replacing the head gaskets isn't there a chance that the heads have been warped due to the overheating. I replaced a head gasket on a mazda 626 and had a machinist machine the head perfectly flat and adjust all the valves to factory spec. The higher repair cost of that expensive shop may include the head work as well as a pressure test to see if the heads are sealing properly. This is not a one day job. Even with the head work, that price is still on the high side.