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So, I have a 2000 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. It has 145,000 miles on it. The body and paint are in very good condition and the interior is in excellent condition. The only repair I have ever needed for this car that was over $300 was for a failed wheel bearing.
I just got it out of the shop. I had it in for a tune-up and asked them to check it over. The following is what they found (repair price in parens):
Bad rear differential ($750)
Bad crankshaft pulley ($380)
Oil pan gasket leak ($230)
Valve cover gasket leak ($240)
Bad rack & pinion boot ($240)
Leaking radiator ($360)
I have never had to do anything major to this car in the past so it's not like I've been putting any real money into it. Any opinions on whether the expense is worth it with a car this age?
sounds like you've been driving it pretty hard, but in this economy, it's better to re-invest into what you have.
I tend to agree on the reinvestment. I really don't want a car payment. I had to laugh at the driving it hard part though. It's just a commuter car and I bought it used to begin with. I got in 2002. I only drive it to work and that is 14 miles each way in rush hour traffic.
You're looking at $2200 worth of repairs on a car that hasn't cost you much over the last 9 years and sounds like it's in otherwise good shape. I doubt you could buy a car for $2200 and get anything any better, so I would probably go ahead and fix it.
You could do these repairs in stages if you need to spread out the expense. Fix the differential and the radiator first as those could leave you stranded. The valve cover and oil pan gasket leaks will keep, and the boot probably will too. I'm not sure what could go wrong with a crank pulley, unless it's bent. Check with the mechanic to see how crucial this one is.
My Tacoma has 165,000,runs perfect,no problems.On last oil change at toyota they said in owners manual it was recomened certain repairs needed done,cost similar to yours,beware.
I would get it fixed but I would never pay the prices you have been quoted. $460 for those gasket replacements? That's robbery. A decent mechanic would do those 2 jobs in an hour or less and the parts are almost nothing. I would question the differential repair also. What's it doing? I had my whole positrack rear end from my BMW 535 taken out rebuilt and reinstalled for $750. Check how much a rad shop would charge to fix the rad. For $360 I would want a recore and that's not just a leak repair.
I would get it fixed but I would never pay the prices you have been quoted. $460 for those gasket replacements? That's robbery. A decent mechanic would do those 2 jobs in an hour or less and the parts are almost nothing. I would question the differential repair also. What's it doing? I had my whole positrack rear end from my BMW 535 taken out rebuilt and reinstalled for $750. Check how much a rad shop would charge to fix the rad. For $360 I would want a recore and that's not just a leak repair.
A new radiator for that car over the counter is 189.99, so retail is probably $285, that leaves $75 for labor. I wouldn't pay it because I could do it myself, but I don't think that price is out of line for a shop. And yes, depending on the nature of the leak, a radiator shop would probably fix it for under $50.
I agree that the other prices seem high, as well. But I'm not familiar with this model of car so I didn't mention that in my previous post.
Is the car really using any oil? It would have to be losing quite a bit for me to justify paying $460 to replace the gaskets. Any car with over 100K miles is going to show some seepage around these gaskets, it doesn't necessarily mean that they need to be replaced.
I would get it fixed but I would never pay the prices you have been quoted. $460 for those gasket replacements? That's robbery. A decent mechanic would do those 2 jobs in an hour or less and the parts are almost nothing. I would question the differential repair also. What's it doing? I had my whole positrack rear end from my BMW 535 taken out rebuilt and reinstalled for $750. Check how much a rad shop would charge to fix the rad. For $360 I would want a recore and that's not just a leak repair.
The differential is definitely having an issue. I can hear it (loud wheel noise almost like a bad bearing) and feel it. I actually had him check the wheel bearings because it feels exactly like the last time they went bad. I will get a second opinion on this. The crank shaft pulley makes the belts squeek and it makes the engine feel like it "clunks" randomly.
I definitely am not going with the shop's prices. I usually buy all my own parts and I'm a bargain hunter. I am going to price shop on these repairs also.
Thanks for the input from all so far. I think I had made up my mind to get the work done but I think I needed reassurance that I wasn't being stupid. I think it may seem like a lot of repairs but honestly this car has been nothing but reliable. Maybe too reliable because I rarely took it in for general maintenance (other than oil changes) so some of these issues may have been around for a while and now that I'm trying to be diligent in keeping the car in good shape they are all now being exposed.
How does the car drive? Does the rear end make noise or leak? Does it use or leak oil, does it leak coolant? If not then don't fix these things.
Sounds to me like the shop is just looking for money. Get a second opinion.. The rear diff and crank shaft pulley being bad kind of stick out to to me. Next they'll be telling you d to empty and refill the tires with fall air.
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