repair or replace time?

[LeakySeals]

Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
The car is over twenty years old. Time to move on. You can buy a low mileage 2005 that someone's grandmother drove for $2500.


He's not in Alberta, he's in San Diego. So at 20 years the body is not rotted beyond repair, its still mint. I would either repair or replace the engine. Maybe a eBay bone yard has a used engine.

 

[khittner]

A San Diego car body is probably in fine shape, but who really needs all-wheel drive there? It probably crashes poorly, too--something to think about with as many doddering oldsters and oblivious off-duty sailors as live there. If that's a realistic price for a head gasket job (dunno, but it could be---ALLDATA tells me my 2AZ-FE '02 Camry would bill 17 hours for a cylinder head or gasket replacement), I'd probably thank it for its service, and get something else.

 

[Trav]

Some of these times are getting crazy. Warranty for that EJ22 was only 5 hrs and retail is 15 inc grinding the valves and all the rest of it.
With air tools that job is 6 hrs not inc any machine work. This is so the garages and dealers can pump the bill through the roof, I remember when the difference between warranty and retail was a an hour or 2 more not 3X the time.

 

[Mr Nice]

You can get that head gasket replaced for less than $2000
If you’re tight on money repair and keep another 5 years.

I couldn’t drive the same vehicle for 25 years.

 

[dlundblad]

Fix it yourself, pay the 2500 or get a new wife. No order.

 

[Tdog02]

Man, get a replacement motor. Even if you had someone else stab it in for you it should still be under $1,500.

But wait, don't they just park them under a tree in Cali? I think I saw that on a commercial.

 

[JTK]

Just to add to all the good advice above, I would only keep it if I was doing the HG replacement myself. I would NOT put $2500 into a 21yr/old Subaru Legacy. You'd be lucky to get that much for it in good working order.

I have a family member who can have an EJ22 or 25 out and on his bench in 45min he's done so many of them. I'd need a lot of time to do it myself! lol.

 

[Lubener]

If you do it yourself, a worthwhile project. To pay someone, then push, pull or drag it in for a one of those $6500 tradeins....LOL!

 

[Snagglefoot]

Originally Posted By: ragtoplvr
Look for Buick Lesabre, Lacroose, Chev Impala, ford crown vic, Lincoln Continental. Horrible resale, excellent cars.

Japan has too high resale.

Rod


+1. All the cars above can be had for $2500. Add Ford Taurus to the list.

 

[Alex_V]

WIfey needs to crunch the numbers - if your mechanic is worth his salt it's almost never cheaper to replace than repair. At 175K the car can be on its last leg or viable for another 200k, but you'll have to assess that. However, you know the car and its history, and that counts for a good bit vs. replacing with a used car that someone else, for whatever reason, didn't want to keep.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted By: ragtoplvr
Look for Buick Lesabre, Lacrosse, Chevy Impala, ford crown vic, etc. Horrible resale, excellent cars.

Japan has too high resale.

Rod



Another +1 from me with a few typo corrections in your quote

Seriously, don't put $2500 into that old Subaru. Now, being here in Cali, the big problem is labor cost. If you have a buddy who can do it for a couple hundred bucks and you otherwise like the car and it's in workable condition, by all means keep the car. It's always cheaper to fix what you have.

 

[philipp10]

It's a 21 year old car. Even running well its only worth about 2500. DON't put 2500 in a car that's only worth 2500. Time, being 21 years is a big factor in the condition of the car....not just miles.

 

[macarose]

You're a very lucky man because the guy writing this happens to be Steven Lang.

That's right... Steven Lang...

My advice echos the hallowed wisdom of this group. This is a job you can probably do yourself. However, my advice has a bit of a twist. Since you're probably not mechanically inclined, I believe you should go ahead and get several quotes for this repair job... with a slight catch.

At least one of them should be acquired by stating your question to the Ultimate Subaru Message Board.

There are experienced souls who are willing to do this type of work and not charge you an arm, a leg, and a few other vital organs. You should also get every fluid that needs to be drain and filled done.

I didn't quite catch how many miles yours has at the moment. But if it's under 200k you should be perfectly fine.

All the best!

 

[Revving2Redline]

Its 21 yrs old so what. Is it paid for? Everything almost loses value since new but having affordable rates,tags and registration isnt gonna be fun on a new. If she doesnt want to spend money on a car thats fine. Dont drive one. All cars costs money to own and operate. Our 1985 300D bought new still ran at 500k in 2012,was paid for a better put together than they are now.Being old doesnt automatically mean throw away. Live in Turkey or Cyprus for a year, they fix and repair it all on a daily basis and have never been seen wasting food either. Keep the car

 

[Snagglefoot]

If you want to keep a 175,000 mile car running, with a fairly major repair bill in front of you, it works best if you are the mechanic. Otherwise, I would recommend re-starting with a much lower mileage car. No sense trying to achieve 300,000 miles by paying mechanic's bills.

 

[Ducked]

If your wife objects to car repair, imagine the reaction when you start buying tools

Maybe reclaim a bit of shelf space in her shoe cupboard?

Maybe its different in the US, where theres more space and boys toys budgets are bigger, but here, or in the UK, in a pointless expenditure arms race, women are, say, the US or China, and men are, say, Burundi.

 

[Jett Rink]

Lots of old Subarus still rolling down the roads around here. I suspect they found themselves at some point in a similar situation as you, and opted to repair. Or sold it to someone else who did. Subaru fans just love these old cars.

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted By: ragtoplvr
Look for Buick Lesabre, Lacroose, Chev Impala, ford crown vic, Lincoln Continental. Horrible resale, excellent cars.

Japan has too high resale.

Rod

I would stay away from the older Lesabres and Impalas unless the usual items were already taken care of. Things that come to mind are intake, head gaskets and transmissions. Overated vehicles which are not well built and prone to strange gremlins. I's hard to beat a Toyota.

 

[philipp10]

Originally Posted By: Marco620
Its 21 yrs old so what. Is it paid for? Everything almost loses value since new but having affordable rates,tags and registration isnt gonna be fun on a new. If she doesnt want to spend money on a car thats fine. Dont drive one. All cars costs money to own and operate. Our 1985 300D bought new still ran at 500k in 2012,was paid for a better put together than they are now.Being old doesnt automatically mean throw away. Live in Turkey or Cyprus for a year, they fix and repair it all on a daily basis and have never been seen wasting food either. Keep the car


Your preaching to the choir here. I'm all for keeping old cars running. But this isn't Turkey and age plays a major role in reliability. Secondly, I learned a big lesson back in the year 2008 when my spouses brand new car was cheaper to insure then my 2000 car. Safety technology plays a big role in insurance rates. Unless you can fix these old beaters yourself, it just doesn't pay to keep them running. That said, I have a different frame of reference since I am in a salt heavy state.

 

[AVB]

Originally Posted By: macarose
You're a very lucky man because the guy writing this happens to be Steven Lang.

That's right... Steven Lang...

My advice echos the hallowed wisdom of this group. This is a job you can probably do yourself. However, my advice has a bit of a twist. Since you're probably not mechanically inclined, I believe you should go ahead and get several quotes for this repair job... with a slight catch.

At least one of them should be acquired by stating your question to the Ultimate Subaru Message Board.

There are experienced souls who are willing to do this type of work and not charge you an arm, a leg, and a few other vital organs. You should also get every fluid that needs to be drain and filled done.

I didn't quite catch how many miles yours has at the moment. But if it's under 200k you should be perfectly fine.

All the best!

Who?

I think most of yall forgot the exchange rate. He is talking about California dollars, that is even worse than Canada.