the Cost of Subaru Repair

I took the car in for to have an oil leak repaired. It had always leaked a little oil, but after a road trip from San Francisco to LA, it started leaking a lot of oil, so much that it poured all over the exhaust system and made a lot of smoke. It turned out that the separator plate at the back of the engine was broken, which was pouring oil between the engine and the transmission. Fixing it involved pulling the motor and partially disassembling it. I also asked to have the timing belt replaced as it was overdue and could be done easily. The mechanic suggested other gaskets be replaced and various other maintenance items, and put in new belts and hoses when he reinstalled the engine.

The mechanic I went to was a former dealership mechanic. He gave the car a thorough going over and checked the engine compression before he started work to make sure the engine was worth fixing. He spent quite some time discussing the repair options, and asked if I intended to keep the car for a long time or if I just wanted to keep it on the road for another year or so. These repairs were completed over a year ago and my Subaru has been completely reliable since then. It's one of the few Subaru flat-fours I've seen with absolutely no oil leaks.

Doing such an expensive repair on an older car may not always make sense, but other than the engine problems, my car was in good shape, and after spending this money, I've gotten several more years out of it.