Should I not be pissed?

Have you checked to see if there is any history of bearing failure in the engines for that model year? If it isn't covered under warranty, maybe there is a recall or TSB for the issue.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Have you checked to see if there is any history of bearing failure in the engines for that model year? If it isn't covered under warranty, maybe there is a recall or TSB for the issue.

I don't know if there's anything official, but it's pretty well documented on the web.

No TSB but the EJ257 and EJ255 are known to do it pretty frequently.

I'll be putting pennies in a jar for an extended oil pan for added insurance.

Datsun1500 wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: . Yes, it's out of warranty, but usually a car company will be pretty good about "good faith" claims like yours.

They would probably do a good faith claim IF he bought it new. He did not buy a car from Subaru. It is out of warranty. They have no obligation. If it was purchased at the Subaru store, as a certified car, no problem. Was that offered? Did you turn it down? No good faith claims are paid when you buy a used car that has no warranty.

Again, not always true. Let's take for instance a GRM'er's story (Pseudosport). He bought a used 2002 WRX from a dealer. Yes, it was a Subaru dealer, but Subaru does not have a Certified Pre-Owned program, so that doesn't matter. The car had the factory powertrain warranty of 4-year/50K miles, and the motor spun 3 out of 4 bearings at like 53,000mi. He brought it back to the dealer, and they got on the horn with SOA. They said that they would cover half of the costs. They didn't have to do anything, since it was out of warranty, but they did.

I had one district rep tell me SoA should step up to the plate but he's not in the district I need him to be.

The guy in my district says VETO.

And that's the problem with zone reps. A good one will help you any way (s)he can, and a dick one will dick you.

DaveEstey wrote: No TSB but the EJ257 and EJ255 are known to do it pretty frequently.

Then why are you surprised that the engine failed? You knew going in that these engines had problems (or could have found the problem with a little internetting, apparently), you chose to buy the car anyways after the warranty was almost finished, and you ended up having a problem engine. You should have brought up the potential engine problems with the dealer when you bought the car and negotiated a lower price, and then put some money away in case there was a problem. Did you get a pre-purchase inspection done at another dealer? You did have someone check out the health of the engine before buying a car with known engine problems right?

I just don't understand why people are pissed at Subaru. The car comes with a 63,000 mile warranty, his car has more than 63,000 miles, it no longer has a warranty, repairs are his responsibility. Should someone who buys a car advertised as 300hp be pissed if it doesn't actually have 310hp? If I have a coupon that expires on Sept. 30, should I be pissed if the store doesn't take it on Oct. 5? Sometimes crappy stuff happens and you have to deal with it yourself, this is one of those cases. Subaru owes you nothing, and I'll actually be pissed if they give in to some cheesy facebook page and pony up some cash.

I wish the search feature here worked better so I could contrast the opinions in this thread with one of the many "useless lawsuit" threads here where people go on and on about people trying to get something they don't deserve. People here are recommending that Dave extort Subaru (put up a facebook page detailing your problems, say you know the attorney general, etc) into doing what he wants, even though they legally owe him nothing.

I know I come off as a dick here, but I don't care. I'm sorry you're having problems Dave, but no, you should not be pissed at Subaru for refusing to help you out.

Bob

I wouldn't be angry. I'd have it fixed and move on. Life's too short. All the reasons have been stated by others. Bought a used car and it crapped out. It happens.

I've never bought a new car. For the most part I've been lucky, but I had to put an engine in the MR2. It had over 100,000 miles, but I was still a little dissapointed. All that "Toyota's run forever" nonsense and all. Yeah, not the same thing, but you know. Bought a rebuilt long block and paid a guy to help me put it in (I had a broken wrist at the time). Sucked, but not the end of the world.

Good luck with it.

Ed

Another voice of dissent here. Yes, it sucks that this happened just outside of the warranty period, but the fact remains that it was outside of the warranty so (as others have stated) SoA is obligated to do nothing.

Fix it, take it to a bone yard or sell it for parts and move on.

Only a few months ago, one of my race team mates had the same problem with the same car, with a multi page thread here on this board. Username is littleturquoiseb.

His wife's daily driver, bought new, Legacy 2.5GT 5spd, always maintained properly, only driven by his wife, never raced or even driven very hard. It lunched a bearing, turbo, and a few other things at about 70k. A used engine was installed, never ran right as it was likely also bad, and he ended up trading it in at a huge loss as his wife didn't want to deal with the car any more.

Another member here that I personally know had the turbo go on his Forester XT, which he just barely caught in time from dropping the oil pressure enough to lunch the engine.

I know there are a lot of Subaru Fanbois here, but the newer cars just don't have the longevity of the old EJ22s.

Well I just wrote a check for $3,000. The dealership covered a third of the cost, they'll be getting more business from me.

I'm going back to Hondas after this car. I'm not happy with Subaru and I've let them know in as polite a way as possible.

Now to break in this new block.

Say what you want, I have learned a valuable lesson. Never buy a Subaru. Every brand eventually starts spending that equity they spent years building; good for me to know that Subaru is in the decline phase. The telling moment is when they are are producing known issues, but won't back up their products.

I guess there is the real solution, if you side with the buyer in this case; do not buy a subby. If you side with the mfg, then well, get an extended warranty.

I will be pissed off if you even pay 1/3 of a $4500.00 replacement engine.

First: Don't let them charge you retail. They are discounting a portion of the profit and YOU are picking it up in cash! Sucker? You could be. I wouldn't want to be.

Second: Subaru DOES care if you buy another car but not nearly as much as your dealer principal does. Inform him that the last four cars you purchased and maintained with their franchise will remain just that unless he helps with 100% resolution. You will never buy another car, your family will never buy another car and you will mention to every enthusiast and car purchaser you come across in person and the internet.

my grandmother's 2000 lesabre lunched the transmission at 23k miles but was about a year out of warranty (and this one i didnt even neutral drop or anything stupid!). they actually covered the entire cost which surprised me, but i was impressed. apparently thay appreciated that her family had been buying new buicks for 16 straight vehicles.

I don't buy new cars that often, and there are lots of different brands out there. I have a pretty good memory, and I don't like getting shafted buying crappy products.

Two brands I will NEVER buy again are Subaru and GM.

Datsun1500 wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: but Subaru does not have a Certified Pre-Owned program, so that doesn't matter.

Really? What is this then? http://www.subaru.com/vehicles/certified-pre-owned.html

Wow, you got me there. When I bought my 2002 WRX in 05, AND when I bought my 2009 WRX in December of 08, that didn't exist, otherwise, I probably would have bought a cheaper used STI.

SOA said: Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. I regret the circumstances which prompted your email. I apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing with your Subaru vehicle. As we have previously discussed, we have reviewed your case for any goodwill assistance and we are not in the position to offer assistance on this repair. There is no guarantee as to how long components will last once the factory warranties expire. The life expectancy of any mechanical component is indefinite. As a result, The Subaru Basic Warranty is designed to protect the consumer from any defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years, or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, as you may be aware, this warranty period has expired. Again, I apologize for the situation. If you have any additional questions, please contact me by replying to this email. Kerri Holland Subaru of America, Inc Customer Dealer Services

She doesn't acknowledge the 5 year 63k mile drive train warranty which is actually what applies here.

DaveEstey wrote:

SOA said: Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. I regret the circumstances which prompted your email. I apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing with your Subaru vehicle. As we have previously discussed, we have reviewed your case for any goodwill assistance and we are not in the position to offer assistance on this repair. There is no guarantee as to how long components will last once the factory warranties expire. The life expectancy of any mechanical component is indefinite. As a result, The Subaru Basic Warranty is designed to protect the consumer from any defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years, or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, as you may be aware, this warranty period has expired. Again, I apologize for the situation. If you have any additional questions, please contact me by replying to this email. Kerri Holland Subaru of America, Inc Customer Dealer Services

She doesn't acknowledge the 5 year 63k mile drive train warranty which is actually what applies here.

Reply back and make sure she knows that she missed it, and is stupid for doing so.

DaveEstey wrote:

SOA said: Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. I regret the circumstances which prompted your email. I apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing with your Subaru vehicle. As we have previously discussed, we have reviewed your case for any goodwill assistance and we are not in the position to offer assistance on this repair. There is no guarantee as to how long components will last once the factory warranties expire. The life expectancy of any mechanical component is indefinite. As a result, The Subaru Basic Warranty is designed to protect the consumer from any defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years, or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, as you may be aware, this warranty period has expired. Again, I apologize for the situation. If you have any additional questions, please contact me by replying to this email. Kerri Holland Subaru of America, Inc Customer Dealer Services

She doesn't acknowledge the 5 year 63k mile drive train warranty which is actually what applies here.

Small claims court is your friend here. There's a written warranty, they breached it, you're entitled to the cost of the repair. Read the warranty terms carefully to make sure what failed isn't excluded from the powertrain warranty and then sue the bastards!

pigeon wrote:

DaveEstey wrote:

SOA said: Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. I regret the circumstances which prompted your email. I apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing with your Subaru vehicle. As we have previously discussed, we have reviewed your case for any goodwill assistance and we are not in the position to offer assistance on this repair. There is no guarantee as to how long components will last once the factory warranties expire. The life expectancy of any mechanical component is indefinite. As a result, The Subaru Basic Warranty is designed to protect the consumer from any defects in material or workmanship for a period of 3 years, or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, as you may be aware, this warranty period has expired. Again, I apologize for the situation. If you have any additional questions, please contact me by replying to this email. Kerri Holland Subaru of America, Inc Customer Dealer Services

She doesn't acknowledge the 5 year 63k mile drive train warranty which is actually what applies here.

Small claims court is your friend here. There's a written warranty, they breached it, you're entitled to the cost of the repair. Read the warranty terms carefully to make sure what failed isn't excluded from the powertrain warranty and then sue the bastards!

That's the problem. They haven't breached the warranty. The car had/has 67k miles on it.

Yep, just out of warranty.

The thing that struck me was "The life expectancy of any mechanical component is indefinite."

This was my response:

Kerri,

The warranty that would be more closely applicable in this case is the drivetrain warranty of 5 years and 60,000 miles, not the basic warranty. Also, given a little research, spun bearings have been a prominent issue with the EJ255 engine, which would suggest either poor manufacturing and or engineering.

As it stands I'll be taking my business elsewhere in the future since I can't expect Subaru to manufacture a vehicle that will be at all reliable once the warranty runs out according to you. This is my third Subaru Legacy and will be my last. Subaru has already lost one sale as I informed my cousin of this issue and he bought a Honda Accord instead of a 2011 Impreza 2.5i premium because of it. Hundreds of other people have been keeping tabs on this situation and how Subaru of America handles it so I'll be updating them as well.

Thanks for your time, David Estey

Dude, you got ripped.

My RX-8 grenaded its engine at 4.5 years / 87K miles and Mazda USA comped 100% of the replacement no questions asked.

…sorry, I just thought this thread needed a wildly sophomoric fanboy style flame post in it somewhere.

The worst part is that there is probably someone with a clue at Subaru USA that if they heard the story, they would understand and help out. It is all about getting lucky and reaching the right person unfortunately.

In reply to pinchvalve:

reminds me of a story of a lady that was so fed up with her buick or something and started calling numbers in detroit trying to go over the head of whoever she was dealing with locally. she kept trying extensions and ended up getting a VP of some sort, waiting in his office for one reason or another before going to his birthday party. she chewed him out and the next day the dealer was at the house picking up the car to be repaired, dropping off a free loaner, and apologizing for the problem.

nowadays even the VP would probably send you to someone else's voicemail though...