Subaru Head Gasket, Will Subaru pay for repair?
Have you been a victim of this?
Many Subaru owners have been faced with the dreaded head gasket failure on their Subaru. There has been much discussion about what the problem is, why it happened etc. I would like to discuss another subject that doesn’t come up often.
Is there any way Subaru will pay for my head gasket repair and how do I get them to do it?
Let’s start out with a few basics and work from there. When you first purchase your Subaru it comes with a factory backed warranty. A 3 year/36,000 mile bumper to bumper and a 5 year 60,000 mile powertrain warranty is standard. If you have head gasket failure within that time you are one of the lucky ones. Once that warranty expires you’re on your own.
Now I would like to share some of my experiences on how Subaru owners whose warranty expired did their homework and were fortunate enough to have Subaru pay for the repair.
For the most part I’ve found that dealing with Subaru of America is a pleasant experience. They are very straight forward reasonable people that want you to be happy with their Subaru. Unfortunately they have to draw a line somewhere or Subaru would have limitless requests of persons wanting their Subarus repaired way outside of warranty.
In the old days of the automotive industry, we wouldn’t think twice if a car had a major mechanical failure at 60,000 miles or more. At 100,000 we thought it was a major milestone and were ready to trade it in on the next car before it broke down.
With advancements in engineering and higher quality control, we’re seeing Subarus and many other makes go well over 300,000 without any major failures as long as a person has kept up on their maintenance.
Now that our expectations have been raised on how long a car should last, we’re thrown a bit of a curve ball when our head gaskets fail before we think they should. Especially if one has been meticulous about their maintenance.
If you happen to be a victim of failing head gaskets on your Subaru there are some things that some of our customers have shared with us that were helpful in getting Subaru to pay for the repair even though the cars were technically out of the warranty period.
1. Check with the dealer for any outstanding campaigns or recalls.
A simple call to any Subaru service department with your VIN # will reveal if there are any outstanding recalls or campaigns relating to your head gaskets. There was a campaign ( WWP-99 ) in which Subaru added a coolant additive and would then provide a 8 year 100,000 mile warranty for external head gasket coolant leakage. Most of those cars are now beyond the limits of the campaign but it never hurts to check.
2. Keep your Subaru maintained and save every receipt.
Even under the factory warranty, Subaru can deny a claim if they believe lack of maintenance contributed to the problem. It’s within your rights to have your maintenance done anywhere you like so don’t let them use that as a reason, but you must be able to provide them with documentation that you have met their minimum maintenance requirements as defined in the warranty manual that came with your Subaru.
3. Put together a history of all the Subarus that you and your family may have purchased over the years.
This may be very good leverage to show them that you are a very loyal client. It may even help on a local level with a Subaru dealer you’ve purchased your car through.
4. Call 1-800-SUBARU3
This is the customer service hotline to begin your effort to get help from Subaru. Once you’ve done all of the above, call Subaru and explain your situation. They will likely refer you to a local Subaru dealer to confirm the issue before discussing things further. They will also likely be in close contact with that dealer.You may even want to ask for an appointment with the regional Subaru rep. for that dealer. It may make sense for him/her to be present when your car is being looked at.
From there things can go in many different directions. Here’s a few examples I’ve heard of.
A customer schedules their appointment with the dealer. The dealer confirms the issue then relays the info to Subaru. From there a decision is made whether or not Subaru the dealer will participate in the repair.
Whether they offer to help will usually be related to all of the above items I discussed. Once it’s been decided you’ll either be told no, or they will offer to fix the car. The level of participation can vary . In some cases the whole repair will be covered by Subaru. In other cases Subaru may say no but the dealer decides to use some of their own discretionary good will fund to help you out. Most dealerships have a fund set aside just for this kind of situation. You may be offered some kind of partial help also. An example may be either a discounted price or a split between you and the dealer.
Keep in mind that if they do opt to help, they will only repair the very minimum that is necessary. If only one head gasket is failing they will only repair one. If that is the case you might inquire how much it would be to add in the second head gasket and timing belt since things will be partially apart anyway and the second gasket may fail in the future.
Smart Service will always be there to repair Subaru head gaskets and we even carry a gasket that we believe is Superior to what Subaru has to offer. If that time comes give us a call and we’ll take good care of you but if there’s a chance that you can get it done and paid for by Subaru it’s worth a little effort.
Based on our customer reports, Subaru is choosing to opt out of helping in most cases but I am writing this because there have been a few that actually did get help from Subaru. The information above is what helped them sway Subaru into partcipating.
If you were successful for you in getting help from Subaru in an out of warranty situation, please share it with us. We’ll pass it on.
Cheers,
Mike Corbin
Hi there,
So i was given a forester by my mother and it has under 100,00 mile on it and i have been told that i need new gaskets on the passenger side of the car since i know that there are two heads in the type of car. I had a quote of 1900 to get that done might you be cheaper. my car is not using any oil but i can every once in a while smell some burning after i driven the car. Thank you for your time. Nancy Knuckles
My 2004 Subaru outback with only 46K miles went in for a diagnostic (they offer to check everything for you), and the result was a head gasket problem that would cost roughly $3000. I called the service manager and told him this was outrageous in a car with only 46,000 miles. He looked in his system and saw that: I had purchased this car and two others from his dealership; I had performed all the scheduled maintenance religiously, including the 45,000 service within the past 6 months; I had also purchased the extended warranty, which was expired by time but not by mileage. He said he would “help me” and did. Subaru covered 100% of the repair cost. He also got me a free loaner car.
Hi Nancy,
$1900 is a reasonable quote depending how much is being done and what kind of parts are being used. Our price on that job ranges from a bare minimum of $1599 all the way to $2600 if you add all the bells and whistles during the job.
Mike
I’m glad to hear your situation had a happy ending! It was smart to point out your relationship and history to the dealership. It’s too bad that that what it takes to get something done on something we all probably agree is happening too soon and too often.
Good job!
Mike Corbin
Hey Mike,
You site is VERY helpful. Thank you for this great service.
On the market for a used Subie and while doing my research, the head gasket problem is something that keeps coming up. First of all, I am looking to buy a used Subie (Outback or Forrester) for $5K, which puts me right in that sweet spot for the head gasket problems on most subies I’ve been checking out (100K – 150K).
A couple of questions:
1) Approx how frequent is this HG prob in the 2.5L engines? 5 out of 10 cars? less? Happy w/ a guestimate.
2) Are there any steps I can take PRIOR to purchasing my used Subie? Besides taking it to a mechanic of course…
3) 2000-2004 Impreza’s will have the same prob? correct?
THANK YOU in advance
-Claudio
Hi Claudio, Here’s a few answers to help you in your quest to find a Subaru to fit your needs.
1. Depending on how old the Subaru is you are purchasing, if it has never had head gaskets replaced yet, I would budget for it in your future. The best situation is if you can buy a Subaru that’s had them done already. With the phase 1 and phase 2 2.5 L. engines and the changes we’ve seen in the Subaru headgasket over the years it’s hard to even make a guestimate on what the failure rate is.
2. Get a carfax first. If that is clean, have it checked out at a mechanic, have him look visibly very closely at the head gaskets and the coolant level. Also have the cooling system checked for the presence of hydrocarbons (exhaust getting into the coolant from failing headgaskets). Last but not least, call the local dealer with the VIN # and ask if there are any outstanding recalls or campaigns on that particular Subaru.
3. We do head gasket replacements on 2000-2004 Imprezas as well (with the exception of the WRX). The 2.0 turbo motor is appearing to have a much less frequent failure rate than the non-turbo Subaru engine based on the cars we’ve had come through our shop.
Take care,
Mike Corbin
Smart Service
Independent Subaru Expert
Hi Mike,
Thanks for answering these questions. I recently bought an ’06 Legacy, and love it. But the last few days I’ve noticed that the engine has been running hot (thought the temperature gauge says cool) and I’ve smelt burning coming from the engine. Yesterday, the CEL came on. I checked the engine, and the coolant level was very low, so I replenished it. But reading the commments above, I’m now worried it might be a HG issue. Do these sound like symptoms for the HG issue? I plan to bring it to your shop in a few days to get the CEL diagnosed.
Thanks,
Greg
I would be surprised if it were actually a head gasket issue on a Subaru that new, but the evidince should be obvious once we diagnose it. My concern is finding out why the coolant was low. Did a prior owner not properly top up the radiator? Subarus are a but finicky burping out the coolant during a coolant change and that could explain it. There are other possibilities too which all involve diagnosing why it became low on coolant.
See you soon at the shop,
Mike Corbin
Smart Service
Independent Subaru Expert
Just ran across this website trying to get some info on Subaru service. My daughter and I bought her a used 2009 Legacy with a 2.5L GT LTD engine, with 26,000 miles. First, after a couple of months, it started running badly and we took it in. First time, they said nothing, the oil had been changed it was smoke from spillage. Kept running funny. Took it in again. Told us it was the oil sending valve. They fixed, and on the way home ti started smoking again. Took it right back. This time, after a week, we were told it was the turbo and it would have to be replaced, but was under original factory warranty. They took about 2 weeks but fixed it, gave us a loaner in the meantime, and it ran well for a couple of months.
Recently, it lost power when she was driving and stopped running. NO warning lights, no smoke, no pinging, no noise, just stopped. When she tried to start it, it sounded like a jackhammer. Towed to a dealership and the service guy told us that a rod had been thrown. They made us dig up all the receipts we had for oil changes. We could find the last four, including one done just 3 weeks prior, but could not account for a period of about 10-12,000 miles. Daughter said she paid cash, and in one case they didn’t ask her name at the Subaru dealership, just did the oil change, in and out.
The service manager contacted SOA for warranty (we had 60,000 and extended warranty, and Gold Plus coverage). They denied liability based on no maintenance records from 26,000 to 40,000. Daughter is trying to get those from the places she had the oil changed, but being young and naive, she paid cash and doesn’t have receipts.
I saw that this exact engine, 2.5 L Turbo – had a stop sale in 2008 and 2009, and have had several friends tell me of cases of getting new engines when they heard a noise. Looking it up on the internet, my daughter’s car’s VIN is JUST after the stop range.
What should I do next? We are trying to get the other records. I believe my daughter when she says she went in every 4-5000 for an oil change, although not always at a dealership. I don’t believe for one second that this was caused by lack of maintenance or anything else – I beleive this is the same probloem I have been reading about with 2008 and early 2009 engines.
One service manager (where we bought the car) suggested calling the regional Subaru service manager first. I have not been able since then to get the number. I have tried calling SOA 3 times, and all 3 times on hold for over an hour.
Do you have some advice?
Frustrated father, Larry Ellis
Hi Larry,
I sympathize with your dilemma on your daughters Subaru. I know how difficult it can be to straighten out a situation when you’re not in the middle of it.
The first part of the question I’d like to address is the failure of the turbo. I have seen the 2005 and newer Subaru Legacy GT’s develop an issue in the oil supply line to the turbocharger and AVCS (active valve control system). Due to oil sludge buildup in the fine mesh of the screen, the oil supply to the turbo is restricted thus causing the turbo bearing to fail from lack of lubrication. In my experience, most of these turbo failures result in the metal particles of the bearing circulating throughout the engine. These screens seem to plug up more frequently on vehicles have had their oil changed less often than manufacturer recommends. I’m sure other items contribute also but in most the cases we’ve seen the oil change frequency was much less than what Subaru recommends (3750 miles or 3.7months-whichever comes first).
Once the turbo bearing fails and metalic particles are circulated through out the engine, (evident when draining the oil of a Subaru whose turbo has failed) there is a possibility that metal causes subsequent damage to the engine bearings, cam bearings and or oil pump. Also, if the oil was not changed as often as required or allowed to be driven with a low oil level, internal engine damage can occur.
I’ve seen situations during a turbo replacement that resulted in metal in the oil that the customer opts to take their chances and just install the new turbo, change the oil and hope for the best. For some cars this has worked fine but others were back within weeks with lower engine bearing knocking as the rod bearings had worn excessively.
Were you advised to change the engine oil and clean out the turbo oil supply lines,screens etc when they first repaired the turbo? What was the condition of the oil? This might be a point to bring up in your discussions. Calling 1-800-Subaru3 is the best way to get things accomplished even if you are put on hold.
If you can find your records that would be greatly to your benefit. I recommend your daughter goes to each business she had the oil changed and request the record. Even if a person pays cash for an oil change but lost their receipt, the business should still have the record on file and can usually find it by just entering the license plate in their system. From there they can reprint you receipt of the service. Even hand written work orders are made in triplicate and saved for the companies records.
Subaru as well as other manufacturers don’t have the same ability to good will repairs in todays economic climate and are very specific on their requirements in order to provide repairs under warranty. They will stand behind their vehicles 100% but they expect a Subaru owner closely follows the service intervals recommended in the owners manual.
I hope this helps you out Larry. If you have any other concerns or questions, please call me at 206-417-0880.
Mike Corbin
Smart Service
Independent Subaru Expert