Culper721 Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 I have a 2005 Legacy GT Turbo; 28K miles. On Thanksgiving, the turbo failed on my way to my uncle’s for dinner and I had to limp home on the expressway for roughly 20 miles. I’m not a mechanic so I didn’t know it was the turbo at the time. Well, it looks like the shavings from the bad turbo were able to do enough damage to essentially kill my motor. I also have a 2001 Subaru Outback, with only 39K miles that’s been sitting for nine years. I tested the engine with starter fluid (bad gas in tank) a few months ago and it purred like a kitten. Legacy never sat unused; but has massive engine problem. I'm guessing piston/block kind of problem. Outback ran fine when I took it off the road nine years ago to use my folks Legacy while taking car of my father who had dementia. Problem: I need one of those cars to be working by January 2 when I go back to work. Money is incredibly tight at the moment and I need a car for work in two weeks. So... Which one do I fix and which one do I sell? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRM Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Been in this situation a couple times in my ownership of the lgt. Just made financial sense to fix my 89 accord cause all the parts were dirt cheap to do it....and needed a car to commute 80 miles 5 days a week. The legacy is definitely the most expensive to build/maintain/keep than the outback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasted Potential Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Selling a 28k mile LGT with a bum engine I don't think you'd get more than 2k depending on minty ness. If money is so tight and that's the deciding factor, drive the 01. Then again, you don't know what problems will come up after that starts to get moving, all the fluids are old, rubber and bushings old, etc... If you can swing a good motor and turbo, I'd get the LGT running and 01 running, sell the 01 outback for maybe 2500-3k depending on condition. Then have a 6k+ value LGT even though engine mileage far exceeds body mileage, unless you buy a good shortblock and turbo and wing it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culper721 Posted December 17, 2017 Author Share Posted December 17, 2017 Been in this situation a couple times in my ownership of the lgt. Just made financial sense to fix my 89 accord cause all the parts were dirt cheap to do it....and needed a car to commute 80 miles 5 days a week. The legacy is definitely the most expensive to build/maintain/keep than the outback Thanks. Yeah, looks like the 2001 may turn out to be my lifeboat in this mess. Just not sure what to do with the Legacy. I can't help but feel cheated by the poor design of this motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culper721 Posted December 17, 2017 Author Share Posted December 17, 2017 Selling a 28k mile LGT with a bum engine I don't think you'd get more than 2k depending on minty ness. If money is so tight and that's the deciding factor, drive the 01. Then again, you don't know what problems will come up after that starts to get moving, all the fluids are old, rubber and bushings old, etc... If you can swing a good motor and turbo, I'd get the LGT running and 01 running, sell the 01 outback for maybe 2500-3k depending on condition. Then have a 6k+ value LGT even though engine mileage far exceeds body mileage, unless you buy a good shortblock and turbo and wing it.. I was actually thinking of selling the Legacy because I can't fit my two German shepherds in the car at the same time. But I'd be able to do it in the Outback. The interior of the Outback is immaculate; and the exterior held up amazingly well. Even style wise it doesn't look like it aged. Since I'm not a mechanic, I can't quite do the math here. How much would it cost to have a mechanic install a replacement engine (with turbo); and would it boost the value of the car enough to warrant the expense? IOW, if I installed an engine into the Legacy, would I increase the profit on the sale? Or would the hassle and expense not be worth it; making more sense to sell it with the blown engine and low mileage on the rest of the car? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holla Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Average rebuild cost is around 7k. Even with low mileage and a new motor the car is maybe worth 10k and that might be optimistic depending on condition, transmission, color and location. It’s pretty much a wash for you. I’d fix the Outback. Fresh fluids, some new tires, you should be good for awhile. Also cheaper to run if you’re tight on money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmP6889928 Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Fix the Outback and drive it a couple hundred thousand miles with just regular maintanence. All new brakes, tires, fluids-$1000 at absolute most. CAN take your doggies with you. Fix LGT for $7-$8K and drive it for several hundred feet before it fails again and costs another $2-3K for something else. Can't take your doggies with you. Not much decision here in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasted Potential Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 I guess my question to OP is can you do the motor swap yourself? Will be able to get a good bit more out of it buying junkyard motor and turbo just to get it running to sell. Anyone else feel the same? I mean there is a possibility of getting a bum motor and being back at square one, but the value of it running versus it not is a lot of difference locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outback2.5XT-05 Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 I can't imagine that after sitting for so long your 01 could just be fired up and run reliably. Wasted P is right. Fluids, bushings, (timing)belts rot pretty quick when left in that state. If that's a 2.5l motor I would suggest at that age that a timing belt would be a reasonable expense . You also might want to check the condition of your headgaskets and oil before making any big decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmP6889928 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Outback=CAN take your doggies with you. That alone would be a win for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rougeben83 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Some people are talking about the "what-ifs" when we already have a big 900-pound-gorilla, known factor; the LGT is already down with at least $5k in repairs just to get it moving again. OP has said twice he's not a mechanic, so suggesting a DIY route may not be feasible. Take the OB and run with it until your money situation gets better. Sell the LGT as-is and use that to keep the OB running into the immediate future, even in a worse-case scenario of a blown HG would be covered by selling the LGT (conversely, selling the OB will NOT cover the cost fixing the LGT). Does the OB have a 2.5l H4 or H6? The H6 have less maintenance requirements and should factor in our "what ifs". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.