Head gasket job - what else to include?

Ask them if they're using the newest multilayer steel gaskets. I bet they are. Make sure the coolant system gets the 'approved' Subaru sealant stuff - it's about $2-$3 I think from a dealer. (oh wait...this is a dealership right?)

You might consider the front crank seal and the cam seals along with idler and tensioner pulleys. If it's been more than 10K miles - you might put new plugs in. New Subaru thermostat and radiator cap might be nice. Soobs DO NOT like aftermarket t'stats. Maybe re-seal the oil pump. Watch for power steering pump squealing when you get the car back. Sometimes when the lines are disturbed, they need re-sealing. The dealer should do a decent job - it's more a matter of knowing what COULD happen, not that it's always missed or always presents a problem. Plus, ask them about the warranty on their work. There's a lot you can worry about - but really, as cars get older, you just fix the problems as they come along.

Sounds a little high. I had water pump and timing belt done at first coolant leak and second leak a year later had head gasket job done. Total of the two jobs was about $2,100 at dealer. Head gasket was one year ago.

My Forester was an '03 with only 40,000 miles and although out of warranty, call to Subaru help line got me some money back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had the head gaskets replaced on my 2002 forester with about 105000 miles a few months ago, so the timing belt was replaced too. The service manager said that the water pumps hardly ever fail, but that replacing the belt idler pulleys would be smart money, since the engine was already out of the car, it was basically free labor +parts. I should mention that I've always had the car serviced at the dealership where I bought the Forester new in

2001, and the service manager and dealership has been pretty reliable about keeping the car running and have done some small things for free like checking the code for a CEL that was caused by some hard to define and fix error code generated by a sensor in the gas filler neck.

-- Harv

Thanks, 1 Lucky Texan and Frank and harv!

Just got the car back today. Along with the timing belt and water pump, had them replace the seals, thermostat, spark plugs and puleys. Because it was close to 90K anyway and coolant/oil change comes naturally with it, also included a bunch of overpriced maintanence. All in all, it came down to $2,485. The good thing is that I found a 10% off "wild card" coupon at the dealer's web site and had $300 worth of "Subaru Bucks" stashed and since I paid the rest with my Chase Subaru Mastercard, I'll eventually get back $58 worth of Subaru Bucks. So not as bad as I thought it would be :-)

They said that the warranty is 1 year, which I think is pretty short for something like a head gasket. Oh well! All I want at this point is to be sure that they did a decent job and that there are no oil and coolant leaks anymore.

Happy New Year!

Thanks, 1 Lucky Texan and Frank and harv!

Just got the car back today. Along with the timing belt and water pump, had them replace the seals, thermostat, spark plugs and puleys. Because it was close to 90K anyway and coolant/oil change comes naturally with it, also included a bunch of overpriced maintanence. All in all, it came down to $2,485. The good thing is that I found a 10% off "wild card" coupon at the dealer's web site and had $300 worth of "Subaru Bucks" stashed and since I paid the rest with my Chase Subaru Mastercard, I'll eventually get back $58 worth of Subaru Bucks. So not as bad as I thought it would be :-)

They said that the warranty is 1 year, which I think is pretty short for something like a head gasket. Oh well! All I want at this point is to be sure that they did a decent job and that there are no oil and coolant leaks anymore.

Happy New Year!

Sounds like you did very well. Happy New Year. Frank

I may have but the dealership did not. Even though I specifically asked them to look to oil leaks elsewhere to make, they assured me that it was the leask from head gasket but the car is still leaking oil. Couple drops on the garage floor every morning.

Oh joy. Back to the dealership on Saturday.

Dima

Oh, well, it is the machine age.