Most things were just the scheduled maintenance, but they did find “an oil leak from the timing cover and left head gasket area” which they were not able to service, and recommended several other shops to check.
I am not sure what that means. If this shop can’t even do the work, I assume it’s not a trivial fix?
ChatGPT says this leak isn’t the same as the major head gasket issues of older Subarus, but may end up costing a few thousand dollars to repair nonetheless (on top of the previous $2k or so just for the scheduled maintenance). I’m waiting for an appointment with a real mechanic to double-check that, but if it’s true, that would put the total repair bill just at about 50% of the car’s remaining value.
That’s the exact kind of thing I don’t want to keep dealing with over time if I can help it, so maybe a used Leaf it is…
Only question now is whether I should get everything repaired before selling it, or just sell it as-is and let the other party (or a dealership) fix everything on their own. I’d be upfront about the problems, of course, and expect to get less for the car because of them.
Maybe if you were a bit gentler on her accelerator
Could you give us a list of the price for each component of this $2K scheduled maintenance? This is a lot of money and frankly I don’t think many people do many expensive things just for scheduled maintenance on old vehicles. So if you give us a list some of the experts here may tell you some of these things are not necessary.
(This is the one that found the oil leak, and suggested getting it taken care of at mechanic #2 before the other work)
Mechanic 2:
(This is the one I was referred to for the oil leak. They also offered to do the 100k service. Their quote is half the price and doesn’t include the “tune-up” and spark plugs, gaskets, etc.).
The $2k figure was my rounding up after the $200 detailed inspection I had mechanic #1 do, separate from the scheduled maintenance, just to catch potential issues like the oil leak before I spent the big bucks.
And regarding the oil leak, mechanic #2 said they won’t have time to service it anytime soon, but that maybe it’s not necessary to fix it right away (if ever):
it sounds like a motor pull and engine tear down. Most Subaru FB25 motors leak from the factory at the cam carriers and timing cover where they are glued together. It’s usually a really slow sweat and takes a long time to build up. My advice for that would be to remove the under tray and clean the oil up and monitor it. It may take another 10 years to build up to what it is now if that makes sense. It’s an expensive fix otherwise.
I think the best solution is just keep the vehicle and have the second mechanic do the repairs he recommended. The gas mileage doesn’t matter because you are driving it so few miles a year. It is a good idea to have a second vehicle for backup–in case your wife’s car get totaled or there is a natural disaster. Buying a new car would cost a lot of money. I suggest you drop collision/comprehensive insurance and just keep liability–they are not worth it on older cars.
After much thought and further inspections, I ended up selling the car today. The oil leak repair was going to cost anywhere from $2k - $4k, more if there was a head gasket issue (unlikely but possible) on top of the other scheduled maintenance.
It’s entirely possible that car would’ve kept going for another decade with or without maintenance, but I think I was just ready to move on… between the maintenance, gas, and insurance costs and the various quirks (terrible acceleration, bad rear view camera, and other minor things not worth mentioning it), I was ready to let her go. She did her job admirably for a decade, and I’m very grateful for it.
But now, I’m looking forward to a simpler life, more time on the bicycle, and the ease of using Lyft and not having to deal with parking anymore. I’m going to put the sale proceeds and monthly savings aside into a transportation fund that will pay for the occasional ride. I’ll also keep an eye out for any cheap used EVs that might show up. But for now, it’s a huge relief and one less stressor in our lives, yay!
And if a volcano explodes next week and we don’t have the range to get out of town, well, you know what happened!
My attitude is keep it as long as you feel safe driving it. If it’s becoming unreliable, get rid of it.
If the repair bills are becoming far more than a new car’s payment would be, get rid of it.
We had our Dodge Caravan for about 10 years and 125K miles, when one little thing after another started going wrong with the electrical system. I couldn’t trust that the problem had been resolved, so we sold it and got the CRV which we now own (19 years old, 190K miles). That wants the occasional high-ish repair - just spent about 1500 on brake work etc. - but is still reliable enough. Our other car was a Honda CIVIC - nearly 22 years old, 230K miles, and when it needed a repair that was five times its resale value, we donated it and got a new car. While the payment for the new car was more than the average repairs had been for the Civic, it had already had other expensive fixes.
That was part of it. Before I learned about the oil leak, I thought it was fine and would probably have leaned towards keeping it. Once I discovered that, and how much variability there was in its potential repair cost, I balked.
One mechanic told me to get it fixed ASAP and don’t even bother with the scheduled maintenance until it was dealt with. Another said (without looking at it) that it’s probably just a slow leak, and don’t bother fixing it right now. A third said just to properly diagnose it would require taking apart a lot of stuff and cost $2k which would only maybe fix it, maybe not, and it would cost at least $4k to be sure of the repair. It’s entirely possible it would’ve lasted another 100k-200k miles without that repair, but in my mind, that’s the same level of probability as the car suddenly fireballing on the next grocery trip run. I have no idea who is right, and Russian car roulette just isn’t something I have the mental capacity to deal with.
I exaggerate, but only slightly. I truly know nothing about cars (and don’t have much interest in learning — too much other complicated stuff in my life already), and it was only going to get more complicated from here on out. I’m not one of those hobbyist drivers who loves cars as fun machines; a car is just an appliance that goes from point A to B for me, and I’d much, MUCH prefer to take public transit or bike or walk whenever possible. When I lived in Chicago, the car would sit unused for months, and in one instance it sat the entire winter without being driven at all and accumulated a huge mountain of snow on its roof. If it were up to me, cities and suburbs wouldn’t need cars at all…
Realistically we do need one car in this semi-rural area we live in. Hopefully we don’t need two. I’m going to try this out for a few months and hopefully just adjust to a cleaner, simpler lifestyle. We’ll see, lol.
I see that you’ve already made your decision and based on your situation, it appears you didn’t actually need the car.
But I just wanted to say that 100K miles on a 2016 Subaru is nothing. I expect to get at least 220K-250K miles out of my vehicles (Subarus and Toyotas).
I have a 2015 Toyota 4Runner with 180K miles and the vehicle still feels new to me. There is literally nothing currently wrong with it (knock on wood). Even the suspension is still taut.
If your Crosstrek had been mine, I would have done the recommended maintenance and watched-and-waited on the potential oil leak. Especially with the price of new vehicles. But if you don’t actually need a vehicle, it makes the most sense to sell it.
