Hi all,
Just bought my first Subaru, after wanting one for a long time. I found what I thought was a really great entry-level car: 1999 Outback Sport, 144K miles, no rust, perfect interior, everything operational (air, cruise, etc...), seemed to run great, and be really taken-care-of, $4800.
So, I bought it, drove it joyously for about 2K miles, and then it started hesitating a bit, and over a period of 2 days rapidly declined into spluttering and back-firing constantly. I took it in to a Subaru dealer, and they say they checked it out very thoroughly. They determined that the problem is a "dropped valve guide, causing misfire on cylinder 4", and a $3000 repair is needed to install a new head, some valve-oriented parts, gaskets, and what-not.
I asked them if they can tell if there's any other big problems lurking for me, and they say they've checked it out pretty well and don't see anything else, but obviously can't guarantee anything (except whatever work I have them do, which they do a 12K-mile guarantee on).
So, I'm wondering what other, more "experienced" Subaru owners think of this: is this a common thing, is it a common cost, can I expect to get alot of mileage out of this repair, or am I on the verge of going "upside down" with this car's cost-to- value ratio, you know, questions like that. Its even crossed my mind to ask what the cost of just getting a whole new motor would be...
Anyway, any insight would be appreciated. Thanks in advance...