Wednesday was a horrible day. (Update: It's dead.)

"winterlegacy, here 'till the end" (winterlegacy)
11/15/2019 at 15:10 • Filed to: Head gaskets strike again, Subaru

Edit: Deader than a doornail. The head gaskets are gone after only about 4 0,000 miles. The coolant has taken on a sickly brown tinge. The spark plugs are soaking wet and smell like a cocktail of coolant and oil.

Rest in piece, Fishbowl. 236,023 miles.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

There are a few things that are inevitable: death, taxes, and your car breaking down.

The official “game over” screen for cars

Depending on what I find out in the next few hours, it’ll either end up on jack stands or plans will be made for it to end up in a scrapyard.

A part of me hopes I have an excuse to buy something new to me. A part of me hopes it still runs and can survive one last winter.

DISCUSSION (44)

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 12:57

What’s the symptom?

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
11/15/2019 at 12:59

No-start condition. Started losing power on the highway, car hunted between 3rd and 4th, then the engine management unit put the car into limp mode and started flashing the CEL at me. Pulled over, car stalled out, c ouldn’t start it afterwards.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 13:07

Sounds electrical. Like the fuel pump stopped getting power or something. Or the fuel pump/filter clogged up. Could be a cheap fix to get back on the road for the winter.

jimz > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 13:07

IIRC a flashing CEL almost always means “repeated misfire.” unfortunately the list of potential causes of a repeated misfire is long; could be as cheap as “fouled spark plug” or as expensive as “head gasket.”

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
11/15/2019 at 13:08

That’s what I’m looking into, and fingers crossed it’s just the fuel pump. Not cheap, but a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a yard car and going through the process of fixing it + insurance + registration.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > jimz
11/15/2019 at 13:09

I’ve gotten ahold of an OBD scanner and I’ll see if I can pull anything off the computer.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > jimz
11/15/2019 at 13:10

For a second I thought “Oh! Spark plugs! That’s easy and cheap to che-” and then I remembered it was a subaru....

Mercedes Streeter > jimz
11/15/2019 at 13:53

Depends on the car. In many German cars it means “catastrophic failure”. Could be as simple as needing a new spark plug, could be as bad as dead engine or RIP your transmission.

InsanezX2 > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 14:14

How does your fuel filler neck look? I recently had a similar thing happen with my Impreza. It started running horribly, flashed the CEL, and then just died. It turns out the rear wheel was throwing rain water behind the plastic guard over the filler neck and straight into the rusted out hole in the filler neck. We figured it out by pulling the fuel line off of the fuel filter to see if the pump was sending fuel to the engine and ended up getting 90% water.

someassemblyrequired > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 14:49

Check battery first, bad battery/alternator will do all those things.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > someassemblyrequired
11/15/2019 at 15:13

Battery and alternator were fine. However, it’s lethal, and I just updated the post with the cause of death.

RIP.

ttyymmnn > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:19

LS swap.

facw > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:19

Too bad. 236k is a run though.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > ttyymmnn
11/15/2019 at 15:20

Instructions unclear, ripped out the entire interior and turned the car into a Lemons racer using a Harbor Freight motor.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:22

Damn man, sorry to hear :(

Do you have something else to drive in the meantime? Any idea what you’ll replace it with?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > InsanezX2
11/15/2019 at 15:26

That’s some crazy shit.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
11/15/2019 at 15:26

No to both. I’m browsing Craigslist right now and my tab stack is up to 7 candidates, all in varying states of (dis)repair. Thankfully I can still rely on my parents for transportation, and I got lucky because I have no shifts for work next week, so I can devote my time to either consider an EJ22 swap or a whole new car... like this manual ‘02 Camry that I found.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:41

Are you in Maine? Buy a used Mont ero from Tim Weiss.

someassemblyrequired > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:57

oh man, sorry to hear that.

NKato > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 15:58

Get an old panther with an X5 rear differential.

Captain of the Enterprise > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 16:08

I like the manual Camry idea. Also sorry about it dying.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 16:16

If they could fix the 6 million dollar man, then most certainly you can fix your Subaru, right? RIGHT?

Chariotoflove > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 16:34

Sorry that will be its final Legacy after so much faithful service.

RIP your wallet.

Mercedes Streeter > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 16:49

“ Racing LEMONS in a SUBARU with a PREDATOR ENGINE!!”

There’s your YouTube title. lol

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
11/15/2019 at 16:54

A Montero? I’m not sure I’d be able to take care of one the way I’d want to.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > NKato
11/15/2019 at 16:55

I actually have a ‘99 Mercury panther-body in my tab stack because it’s crazy clean. I do a lot of highway miles, so the V8's fuel economy wouldn’t be a problem.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Captain of the Enterprise
11/15/2019 at 16:55

ahem Raaaaaaaaaaaaare.

Mercedes Streeter > NKato
11/15/2019 at 16:58

Your relentless promotion of panthers warms my heart. <3

It's like what I'd do if I could reasonably recommend a smart.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Mercedes Streeter
11/15/2019 at 16:59

Any questions about the vehicle will be answered with “head gaskets” and everyone will immediately understand.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Chariotoflove
11/15/2019 at 17:00

RIP my wallet, pride, and paper-thin plans for keeping it through the winter.

Chariotoflove > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 17:01

The shittiest time to buy a car is always when you need one unexpectedly, which is always what seems to happen to me.

Mercedes Streeter > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 17:02

If this weren't so sad because an Oppo is without a car it would be hilarious because it's a Subaru that lived up to the stereotype.

NKato > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 17:02

Be careful, anything before 03-05 typically has teething problems with the intake and transmission. The coolant crossover on the intake routinely cracked, while the 4r70 family of t ransmission itself is reliable but typically starts going after 150 to 200k.

These are small peanuts compared to a lot of other cars, though. If I were you, budget for major irregular maintenance.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Mercedes Streeter
11/15/2019 at 17:10

I’m more interested in cougars.... just sayin’...

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 17:13

Sorry to hear. I’d check “fuel pressure” as a starting point— with those kind of symptoms the ECU must have still been firing the plugs, but getting leaner and leaner as your fuel pressure on the rail bled down.

Good luck. I’m on “Audi Brakes” after I finish a late lunch.

Curt

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Chariotoflove
11/15/2019 at 17:17

You start thinking everything’s going to be fine, then reality throws a curveball at you.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Mercedes Streeter
11/15/2019 at 17:18

And it’s with the engine that started it all.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > NKato
11/15/2019 at 17:20

Looks to be grandma driven, 87,000 miles.

Chariotoflove > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 17:22

And I never have time to go car shopping just when I need to.

CompactLuxuryFan > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 18:37

Dang :/ A really good friend’s 2000ish Forester with ~220k on the clock died the exact same way about a month ago. It was a kinda lucky kinda not situation because he was moving away for a year and was actually gonna store the car at a storage facility (against my recommendation) but then he got a CEL for the cats like two weeks from the trip. Since we’re in CA, CEL = no registration renewal, and new cats were like $500. So he had decided he would let the state scrap it and give him $1,000. Then when the car had to make literally like 2 more drives it gave up and my friend ended up getting like $70 for scrapping it. So missed out on the voluntary retirement money, but saved a bunch between not renewing the registration or storing it.

Boxer_4 > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/15/2019 at 19:30

That sucks. Was there in October - ‘09 Forester blew a head gasket. I caught it early, but unfortunately I didn’t have the space to mess with it. I ended up picking up a ‘19 Crosstrek.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > CompactLuxuryFan
11/15/2019 at 21:45

How ironic. My car was due for its inspection this month. Glad I didn’t get it inspected.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Boxer_4
11/15/2019 at 21:46

Kirk’s Khan scream, but it’s just “HEADGASKETS”

NKato > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
11/17/2019 at 07:11

That’s not too bad. See if you can get it for under 3k.