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Again, I'll disagree about this pressing need to rotate tires on these cars, especially at such a short interval. My experience with early 2000's decade Subies shows no benefit, with very uniform tire wear on each corner. Of course, it doesn't hurt to rotate the tires ... if you can get it done for free like the poster above, knock yourself out.
I am surprised, however, that as a "third Subie owner", you are advising the OP to replace the "serpentine belt" ... as this car doesn't have one. It's got two ribbed belts, one driving the alt/PS pump, and one on the Alt. Again, very well designed for low stress, I've seen these belts give 80-100,000 miles of service and barely look worn in the grooves. My gates belt gauge doesn't even bottom out on them at that point and they're not cracked or split, either.
Additionally, while the access to the water pump and replacement is justified by the lack of duplication of labor when the timing belt job is done, my experience again is that the water pumps in these cars last much longer than the timing belt service interval. I've seen them go 200,000 miles without failures. My perception of how well these cars hold up is seeing what's coming through the shops in the Rocky Mountain area ... at the guys who specialize in buying the high mileage wholesale auction cars at Subie specialty shops and reconditioning them for sale and more years/miles of service. There's a lot of Subies coming through this region that have been driven routinely without following the maintenance schedule and they appear to be ready for many more miles with minimal reconditioning ... of course, timing belts, some hoses, tune up items, new water pumps, and so forth aren't very expensive and the guys are turning the cars as fast as they can buy them at the auction (typically, new car dealer trade-ins).
Very interesting post! Looks like I need to contact the service dept now to do the timing belt. Wish they had told me that.
Yeah but timing belt replacement schedules are also based on age. For example my old 92 Accord replacement schedule for the belt was 90K miles or 6 years.
Remember the belt is rubber and will deteriorate with age (along with tires and other rubber parts) no matter how many miles you put on the car.
I don't know enough about Subs to know if it is a non-interference or interference engine. The difference being if it is an interference engine if the timing belt breaks, there is a great chance that it will ruin your engine.
#1) Find out how many years Subaru recommends for a timing belt replacement
#2) Find out if it is an interference engine or not
But I agree keep the car either way--if it is an interference engine plan on spending $300-400 bucks for a new timing belt--no biggie. If it's not an interference engine then drive it until the timing belt breaks and then get the belt replaced--considering you are not dependent on this car.
Much appreciated. However, I am so worried about the timing belt now and think maybe we should do it now. But I will check to see if it is an interference engine or not and I will speak with the guy at service. He knows me for years now (Subaru service dept).
Interesting that this issue of "rotating tires" as a necessity on an AWD car crops up in this thread. I've personally put 60,000 miles on Subie tires on late model cars without ever rotating them and the tire wear patterns were uniform across the set of tires. I made the mistake once (well, it was purchase decision thinking I wasn't going to keep the car very long) of putting some cheapie chinese All Weather tires on one of my Subie's, and the tires went 38,000 miles before one of them picked up a rock and was damaged beyond repair, so the whole set had to be replaced. But those tires looked like they would have delivered another 5-10,000 miles of good service before needing to be replaced. I can't speak for a lot of other brands of AWD cars, but my experience with Subie's is that their suspension system wears tires very uniformly all around. Wife's Subie had a set of top line Michelin All-Weathers on it that went over 60,000 miles on them according to the prior owner's receipt and the used car dealership I bought it from was apologetic about the tires being down to 4/32", but at the price I was getting the car for, were not going to replace the tires. My wife drove the car another 10,000 miles and the tires had neglible wear, were still good for many miles, and no wear pattern was developing that needed to be equalized out by changing positions of the tires on the car.
I'll agree that 4x4's benefit from tire rotation ... top quality tires on my Dodge 2500 4x4 Cummins need to be rotated every 5,000 miles or the front tires will wear a pattern much faster than the rears. But that's a truck 4x4, not a Subie ....
What we are seeing for wear on late model Subie's is the rear brake pads wearing out as fast as the front brake pads ... never used to happen. Figured out that the folk who drive in places where the traction control gets energized are having the system apply the rear brakes ....
You're lucky that your regular shop will rotate your tires at no charge. Most of the shops I call upon will not provide such a service for free unless they sold the tires and the customer bought a road hazard warranty at extra cost.
Very good point about the tire rotation, as I do think it is conditional on the roads on which the vehicle is driven. In my case, it's a Volvo that's based out of Manhattan, so it's dealing with lovely NYC roads that may have potholes the size of Smart cars, irregular road surfaces, and a host of other issues with which to contend. On more even road surfaces, I think one could go by mileage, or at least once a year if low mileage, but if one used a depth gauge regularly and recorded tire wear, that could certainly be lengthened.
I am lucky not to be charged to do the rotation, but he's serviced vehicles for members of my family since he opened. And, we trust him, since he's an old-fashioned mechanic, so if he says something needs to be done, it's done. It's very rare, and were he not the owner of the real estate upon which the shop sits, having bought it decades ago, he would have to charge for a lot of the little things that he does as a courtesy for regular customers. As long as nobody else touches the car, he's happy, and so am I.
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You seem to know allot about what problems might occur and what they will cost before it happens..I think your husband is the one to worry about that. Keep it and drive it and save the extra for when you really need a car . You being "worried" about the engine service (timing belt) shows you really dont know much about cars,,sorry Sounds like the only real thing you know is that you want another car .
As long as there are no major issues with the car, it's almost always better financially to drive the car into the ground. At 44k miles, it's still new. Do the normal maintenance and the car will last another 10 years (at the rate you drive) easily.
You seem to know allot about what problems might occur and what they will cost before it happens..I think your husband is the one to worry about that. Keep it and drive it and save the extra for when you really need a car . You being "worried" about the engine service (timing belt) shows you really dont know much about cars,,sorry Sounds like the only real thing you know is that you want another car .
Please read my posts because I made it clear that I don't know a lot about what problems might occur. I am only just learning from the people who so helpfully pointed them out to me and I am going to look at the manual and also contact the service dept right away.
Honestly, have you really read the posts by both me and others here? Because if you did, you would see that several people have warned me now about the timing belt! So, what are you saying because none of it makes much sense.
And no, it is not true that I want another car. I was so clear in the beginning, in my first post, that I was trying to figure out what makes economic sense! Sheesh!
Your financial ability to pay for a new car must be part of the equation, as well as how disturbing it is when it breaks down. I used to trade cars every 2-3 years. I always paid cash and felt like I got the best years of the car without paying too much extra for it, and I could afford to pay the new car premium. But that was also when most cars were considered worn out at 100K. I've since hit the hard times and gotten more conservative with my car buying. My wife has been driving her car for 14 years; I've been driving my truck for 12 years.
I'd think a Subie with only 45K miles on it has a lot of life left in it. I just last week looked at an '02 Forrester for sale by owner. It's been well-maintained by a Subaru dealer, has new tires and wheels, new belts, etc. and looks very nice at $4500, but it's got 165K miles on it. Those miles scare me a little. You could probably do very well selling it yourself, considering the low mileage. I know it would get my attention.
I take it your current Subie is paid for, so if that is the case the only expenses are for routine wear and tear and regular maintenance. On the other hand a new car means a bumper to bumper warranty and with your limited mileage you could go five or six years with nothing more than oil change and scheduled maintenance. I have a 1999 Jeep Cherokee that has 96,000 miles which I have always maintained. Even with that the car is at that age where anything major could fail at any time which could cost you thousands. Your Subaru is at a similar spot but with a lot less miles. Bottom line it's a decision only you can make, good luck.
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