LewisI Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 It is time for me to replace the engine coolant and after reading so many threads about how important it is to use OEM subaru engine coolant I decided to get the subaru stuff. I also found that subaru used to recommend the use of the Cooling System Conditioner part number SOA635071, but after searching over some online subaru parts stores I found the conditioner is discontinued. It seems to be available in subarupartsforyou.com , but since it has been discontinued should I use it? and should I then also use the OEM subaru engine coolant? thanks for the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosten-n-bluntin Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 i recently did a coolant change using oem coolant and conditioner just to give my self that warm fuzzy feeling other than that i doubt the need for it.. the conditioner is aimed at motors like the ej22 and othere older models to help provent the head gaskets from failing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napstermike Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 << i recently did a coolant change using oem coolant and conditioner just to give my self that warm fuzzy feeling other than that i doubt the need for it.. the conditioner is aimed at motors like the ej22 and othere older models to help provent the head gaskets from failing>> actually, its for 1999-2002 EJ25 engines. Service Program WWP-99 February 2004 Dear Subaru Owner: This email is sent to you in the interest of continued customer satisfaction. Subaru of America recently announced a campaign on certain model year vehicles starting in 1999 through 2002. Official Owner Notification Letters will be mailed to all affected customers starting in late February through May of 2004. The timing of the mailings is based on the vehicle model year, starting with oldest affected model year in February through the newest affected model years in May. The following text is similar to that contained in the Official Owner Notification Letter that will be sent to you during the mailing phase affecting your vehicle. Therefore, this email is most likely arriving before most owners will receive their official Owner Notification Letter in the mail. Please do not schedule your vehicle for an appointment for this campaign until after you have received your Official Owner Notification Letter, unless you are experiencing vehicle problems. You can contact your local Subaru dealer for any questions related to this or e-mail us at Subaru.com, contact us. CAMPAIGN MESSAGE As a precautionary measure, SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. is recommending that a special conditioner be added to the engine cooling system of certain 1999 through 2002 model year Subaru vehicles equipped with 2.5 liter engines. This recommendation, which applies to your Subaru vehicle, is made to prevent a possible external coolant leak at your vehicle’s engine cylinder head gaskets. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO Once you receive your official Owner Notification Letter in the mail, you should contact your Subaru Dealer as soon as possible for an appointment to have the Subaru Cooling System Conditioner added at no cost to you. The approximate time to perform this operation is 15 minutes. However, it may be necessary to leave your vehicle the full day of your scheduled appointment to allow your dealer flexibility in scheduling. Please present the official notification letter to your Subaru Dealer at the time this repair procedure is performed. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Your vehicle’s engine cooling system contains liquid coolant/anti-freeze. Over time, it is possible for small external coolant leaks to develop at the engine cylinder head gaskets. This is the result of normal expansion and contraction of engine components caused by the heating and cooling of these parts. To prevent coolant leaks from developing or to correct existing leaks at the head gaskets, a special Subaru Cooling System Conditioner should be added to your vehicle’s cooling system. FUTURE MAINTENANCE In the future, it will be necessary to add Genuine Subaru Cooling System Conditioner to your vehicle’s cooling system whenever the engine coolant is replaced. The recommended service interval for coolant replacement can be found in your Warranty and Maintenance Booklet under the heading “Schedule of Inspection and Maintenance Services”. As a reminder, with the official owner notification mailing, we will include an update page that should be added to your Owner’s Manual and Warranty and Maintenance Booklet. We ask you to keep in mind that replacement of fluids (including Subaru Cooling System Conditioner) during inspection and maintenance services is not covered under warranty. WARRANTY EXTENSION Once you receive your notification letter, you should have this Service Program repair performed promptly. If so, Subaru will extend coverage under the Subaru Limited Warranty on your vehicle for cylinder head gasket external coolant leaks to a period of 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Warranty coverage begins on the date the vehicle was delivered to the first retail purchaser. If the vehicle was used as a demonstrator or company vehicle before being sold at retail, warranty coverage begins on the date the vehicle was first placed in such service. As a further condition for this extended warranty coverage to apply, you must have Genuine Subaru Cooling System Conditioner added to your vehicle at any subsequent cooling system services at the interval specified in the Warranty and Maintenance Booklet under the heading “Schedule of Inspection and Maintenance Services”. Resulting damage caused by a lack of maintenance or low coolant level will not be covered. CHANGED YOUR ADDRESS OR SOLD YOUR SUBARU? If you have moved or sold your vehicle, please reply to this message with your Vehicle Identification Number and your updated information. IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY PAID FOR A RELATED REPAIR In the event that you have already paid an authorized Subaru Dealer for repairs to remedy an external coolant leak in an engine cylinder head gasket at less than 100,000 miles and your Subaru’s cooling system has been properly maintained, you may be entitled to reimbursement for the head gasket replacement costs. Any reimbursement by Subaru will be based on our suggested retail parts pricing and suggested labor time multiplied by the dealer’s hourly labor rate at the time of repair. Because Subaru Dealers are independently owned and operated, Subaru of America has no control over the actual charges. The actual repair cost may be higher or lower than the rate used by Subaru of America to calculate reimbursement. If lower, reimbursement will be limited to the amount you actually paid. Please send the ORIGINAL service repair order, which has complete information including the name of the repair facility, date of repair, mileage at the time of repair, complete vehicle identification number (17 digits), and your name, with correct mailing address and telephone number to the address listed below. Subaru of America, Inc. Customer Dealer Service Department Attention: Service Program WWP-99 P.O. Box 6000 Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-6000 Please send original receipts only and retain a photocopy for your records. Please be assured that we will attempt to process your reimbursement request as quickly as possible, but may take up to 120 days for this process to be completed. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM Should you have any questions regarding this customer service program, please contact your nearest Subaru Dealer. To locate the nearest Subaru Dealer you can access our Website at http://www.Subaru.com and select “Find a Dealer”. Or, you may call us at 1-800-SUBARU3 (1-800-782-2783) during normal business hours for assistance. Please call us immediately if the dealer fails or is unable to make the necessary repairs free of charge or write to the address listed in this email. Again, this email is possibly being sent before you will receive your official owner notification. Therefore, we would appreciate it if you would wait until that time to have the service campaign completed. Your continued satisfaction with your Subaru is important to us. Please understand that we have taken this action in the interest of your vehicle’s proper operation and we have staged the owner letters in phases so that Subaru dealers can perform this service within a reasonable time frame. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this matter may cause you. Sincerely, SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 I bought a bottle of conditioner yesterday. The parts guy said nothing about it being discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpdraggin Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 I have to put a block heater in mine and got a bottle of conditioner no problem. I also have a card in mine that says if Subaru coolant is not used along with the conditioner and there is a cooling system failure that the problem will not be covered under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John M Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 It is illegal for an automaker to require that only their products be used unless they give you those products for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 I sent an inquiry to SOA Customer Service. Will update when they respond. A lifetime supply will run me about $17 including tax at my local no-discounts-on-any-retail parts dealer. I can't understand why the sudden change of mind if this is true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DN1911 Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 we still stock a bunch of it at the dealership where i work, it comes in every week in our stock order. you should be able to find it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solbey11 Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 we still stock a bunch of it at the dealership where i work, it comes in every week in our stock order. you should be able to find it Agreed. I work in the parts department at a Subaru dealership and the stuff is still available. The case number is SOA345001 and our warehouses have over 3,600 cases of the stuff. The individual number is SOA635071. If you stop at your local dealer you can pick some of it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisI Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 actually, its for 1999-2002 EJ25 engines. My legacy is a 2008 EJ204 engine, Is the conditioner also used for the latest models then? Will it do more benefit than harm If any? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 The conditioner shows up as an item when you do the coolant flush on the 05s as well according to my service manual which the dealers follow. The jury is still out wether or not this should be followed to the letter. Personally I think that as long as there are no leaks I see no reason to spend extra money on this additive which has been shown to actually clump up in the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 It's $3.75 per botle retail. I don't know about it obstructing coolant passages. I have used it every time I changed the coolant in my 2005 (3 times) and the car runs in the normal temp range and the heater works fine. I still have not heard back from SOA Customer Service but if I don't I will likely go buy a few bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 I would definitely not use on the 90-95ej22 they didnt have HG problems. Now, my question also is, should the holts conditioner be used on 06+ej25 engines? would rather not plug up the heater core and radiator fins with some stop leak crap called holts (subaru coolant conditioner for the 96-99, and 00-04 engines ej25) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solbey11 Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 It's $3.75 per botle retail. I don't know about it obstructing coolant passages. I have used it every time I changed the coolant in my 2005 (3 times) and the car runs in the normal temp range and the heater works fine. I still have not heard back from SOA Customer Service but if I don't I will likely go buy a few bottles. $1.75 per bottle retail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DN1911 Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 we more or less use it on most cars as a just in case prevention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 $1.75??? I guess I need to do my parts shopping at another dealer! I received an e-mail from SOA stating that the conditioner continues to be a part of the maintenance program, even for 2010 models. I called SOA in Cherry Hill and the rep says there is no plan to discontinue availability of the conditioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solbey11 Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Yeah, I work at in the parts room at a Subie dealer and I just checked the price yesterday. $3.75 is highway robbery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthewagon Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I paid $5 this summer for a bottle of that stuff! I hate my dealer :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruonlineparts.com Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 We have it available online and in stock for 1.75 towards the bottom of the page. As solbey11 confirmed there is plenty available with no signs of it being discontinued. https://www.subaruonlineparts.com/index.php?cPath=63 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesuby Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Do you accept Subiebucks as payment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slim Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I had my coolant changed at my dealer and was told that the additive is no longer used,it's in the coolant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruonlineparts.com Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 We are working with Subaru on how to accept these online. I will keep you updated. Do you accept Subiebucks as payment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruonlineparts.com Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I had my coolant changed at my dealer and was told that the additive is no longer used,it's in the coolant. Slim, email me your address, We got you covered. sales@subaruonlineparts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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