Originally Posted By: dblshock
Well you don't see many old Subie's on the road cause the head gasket doesn't work long..My bosses wife has the biger Subie model same issue..dealer unable to repair...in the long run it's hard to beat most the Toyota or Honda units...right, engineered better.
Subaru engines prior to the 2.5 didn't suffer any appreciable rate of HG failure.
The reason that you don't see a lot of old Subies on the raod is that sales of these cult cars were very limited for many years. Sales took off after the introduction of the CUV-look Forester for the '09 model year. In the recession years, Subaru actually recorded double digit percentage increases in year on year sales while everybody else was seeing declining sales. The early 2.5s may have had weak head gaskets, although some of the faithful have never had a problem over a number of cars.
Saying that "dealer unable to repair" WRT Subie head gaskets is silly. It's actually not a hard job and has been common enough on the 2.5 that it's very well documented wherever you want to look. Not terribly difficult to DIY and not terribly expensive to have done, particularly if you can find a good Subaru indie.
It's sounds as though your boss needs to find a dealer with some competent techs.
It's also really easy to get the engine out of a Subaru as compared to any modern transverse inline four. Might be easier than either leaning way down into the engine bay to get to the heads off, or laying on your back to do the same, although it looks to me like you could remove the heads with the engine installed.
