Should I sell, or stick with it?

[LegacyCamper]

Our 1996 2.5 Legacy, its the top of the line before the Lancaster/Outback, ie it had the air suspension and traction button.

 

Well we have just put new tyres and alignment, carbon break discs, had to grind one as it was slightly warped, we had to get a new hockey stick section of the exhaust that goes to the manifold, , just done a new oil and filter (have to get a mech to do it as i dont have the space or tools), had to replace the plastic head on the radiator as it was getting worn, so got a flush and new anti freeze and pro subaru mechanic to bleed it.

 

its just getting to the point where its cost as much as the car in parts. even though it was serviced by subaru since new.

 

i was told the cam belt was done at 190kkm but how can I be sure thats true. its done 240kkm now. so should change it soon.

 

thats another $1000. which really pushes the car to being costly.

 

at a cross road of whether i should sell and cut my losses or not.

[Jdubgt530]

I can definitely feel you on that one. My 97 2.5gt was a money pit, seemed liked there was always something I had to replace. When I drove away from buying it, misfire code popped out 15 miles out in "buyers beware territory" so I was screwed smogging it in Cali. Within 3 weeks of me owning it, which this problem was slightly resolved by previous owner, head gaskets blew again (radiator was restricted so no coolant flow). So then I tore my engine apart and was $1,500 deep just on the head gaskets. For months tried to sovle the misfire after I worked on the headgaskets being blown. Never got to the bottom of it, then my clutch fork broke and the pressure plate fingers got bent because of that. I recently cut my loses on that Subaru and bought my very recent 99 Subaru Outback and very happy I did it. The 99 outback is in better shape. Spent more then I wanted but from the dealer it was a deal I couldn't pass up. Currently worry free with the new build. Will be selling the 97 gt

[johnegg]

i was told the cam belt was done at 190kkm but how can I be sure thats true. its done 240kkm now. so should change it soon.

in the asian market,

the schedule for the timing belt is every 100k km.

so you have 50k km to go.

how many km do you drive a year?

for me it would be about 3 years.

 

in the us market,

the interval is every 100k miles, not km.

this is mostly due to calf. emissions? requirements.

and they manufactured a different , longer lasting , timing belt for this purpose.

i'm not sure if it is available in the asian market.

they did not change or redesign any other timing components.

 

all of this is to say you have some time before you do the timing belt,

and it is not going to fail at 100k plus 1 km.

 

having said that,

you need to look at the problem a little differently.

not repair costs compared to car value,

but rather the cost of repair compared to the cost of replacing it with a different car.

and then, how good is the replacement,

what repairs will it need?

 

another way to look at it,

what are you spending per year vs. how many miles are you driving?

in other words, how much per mile does it cost to drive?

imho, anything less than 10 cents per mile is ok.

5 cents per mile is WAY better.

 

most of what you have spent so far is on wear items, tires, brakes, etc.

these things wear as you drive the car.

and if you drive it long enough, you will have to do them again.

but this is true of all cars, new, used and old.

 

but having spent that money,

you are now good to go

50k km on the brakes?

100k km on the tires?

50k km on the timing belt.

 

add up your repair cost so far,

add your purchase price,

add brakes again

subtract what you could sell it for

and divide it by the miles you will be able to drive, 50k - 100k km?

 

the other thing to note,

except for the radiator,

no major repairs due to engine or trans failures.

no exhaust replacement, or computer failures.

only wear items.

wear items someone else? wore out and you paid to replace.

these wear items effectively increase the purchase price.

but they do not dramatically increase the sale price.

 

anyway,

the only way to get your money out of a car is to drive it.

every km you drive is a few penny well spent.

if you sell it too early,

someone else is going to drive those miles, not you.

if you sell now you will not get your money out of it.

talk about expensive!!!!!!

spend the money and then not drive the miles to use up the money?

 

i guess you can figure out what i think you should do?

[LegacyCamper]

the problem here is the drive inspection is every 6 months unless you own a newer vehicle (i think its under 10 years old). every 6 months the mechanic seem to be finding something new.

 

now that we live in the city we barely drive it, so thats annoying. we went on a long drive recently, but even then it had only done 250km in 3 months.

 

where as we did about 50000km in 3 years prior to moving into the city.

 

is there any easy way to tell how good my timing belt is? i guess i dont have much choice but to go on what im told, although im wondering if i rang the prior owners subaru mechanic (their is only one in town) if they could tell me based off the registration plate?

 

all my other belts you can still read the manufacturers name like they are new.

 

the car runs so sweet, its cost us about what we put into it in servicing and parts over 3-4 years.

 

but at the moment the mrs walks to work so nobody needs to drive the vehicle much. maybe the once a week 3km round trip to the groceries and the odd 30km round trip to my specialist pharmacy every 3 months.

 

really we probably just need a car thats there when we need it but doesnt cost parts every 6 months and is cheap on fuel........

 

a lot of cheap 1.3-1.5l 10yo cars we can afford.

 

but means saying good bye to our loved subaru for now. although i do have my eye on a 3.0 b4 sedan or the twin turbo 2.0l b4. but definitely dont need that now.

[Ivant]

the problem here is the drive inspection is every 6 months unless you own a newer vehicle (i think its under 10 years old). every 6 months the mechanic seem to be finding something new.

 

now that we live in the city we barely drive it, so thats annoying. we went on a long drive recently, but even then it had only done 250km in 3 months.

 

where as we did about 50000km in 3 years prior to moving into the city.

 

is there any easy way to tell how good my timing belt is? i guess i dont have much choice but to go on what im told, although im wondering if i rang the prior owners subaru mechanic (their is only one in town) if they could tell me based off the registration plate?

 

all my other belts you can still read the manufacturers name like they are new.

 

the car runs so sweet, its cost us about what we put into it in servicing and parts over 3-4 years.

 

but at the moment the mrs walks to work so nobody needs to drive the vehicle much. maybe the once a week 3km round trip to the groceries and the odd 30km round trip to my specialist pharmacy every 3 months.

 

really we probably just need a car thats there when we need it but doesnt cost parts every 6 months and is cheap on fuel........

 

a lot of cheap 1.3-1.5l 10yo cars we can afford.

 

but means saying good bye to our loved subaru for now. although i do have my eye on a 3.0 b4 sedan or the twin turbo 2.0l b4. but definitely dont need that now.

To check the belt, unbolt one of the black plastic covers on the front of the engine. They're easy to get off. Once off you can get a good look at the belt. If the belt looks complete, and newish looking, and firm to the touch, and has no strands pealing off it, then it is still ok, and will still have many thousands of ks of use in it. But the belt is not the only thing that you have to worry about. The belt may have been changed, but what about the pulleys and hyd belt adjuster. Were they changed at the same time? Many people only replace the belt, but not the pulleys, to try and save money. Are you able to find out if they were changed at the same time? If not, then you are at risk of one of the pulleys failing at some stage. If that happens, then it's going to cost lots of $$$$$ in repair costs.

You have a few things to think about when it comes to what you are going to do with this car.

[johnegg]

it is usually not the belt that fails,

but the toothed idler pulley.

so checking the belt may not help much.

and given how little you drive just means less wear and tear.

this should help make the car last for years.

 

in the US the t-belt schedule is 105k miles or 105 months (almost 9 years)

i'm not sure what the ''time'' frame is in your market.

60 months probably, 60k miles or 60 months,

that's what is was before calf. demanded more.

 

based on what you said,

i think i would look for a different mechanic.

spending hundreds of $$$ every six months is only helping the mechanics retirement fund.

you need someone who is honest and competent.

you might start by talking to the guy you now use and say you are shopping around,

but that might just make him angry.

 

i just went thru this with my wife's 07 toyota avalon.

she took it in for annual inspection downtown near her office,

they found ''bad bushings'' on the front lower control arm, $850.

i questioned what they found but they would not back down.

they said ''this is common for these cars''.

this is my second avalon with over 200k miles driven between the two,

and never any bad bushings before.

i left.

 

i took it to a different shop, they found $1350 worth of completely different stuff, bad steering rack.

 

i finally took it to a third shop,

explained that i did not trust the the others, ''i think they are trying to cheat me''.

my ''new'' shop found that i only needed a light bulb, $15,

and back on the road.

guess where i'm taking my cars from now on.

 

 

good luck.