Hello
I have a 99 DOHC Subaru Outback. It's been a great car for us. It's got about 120K on it. Not a lick of trouble until about 3 weeks ago. When it began to overheat. Took it in to the shop. They said it was low on coolant. Refilled coolant and sent us on our way. About 5 days later, the symptoms reappeared. I had coolant spilling everywhere. Brought it in to our regular shop and this time they said it was the head gasket. The heads were slightly warped too. The repair bill came to about $1800.
Just got the car back on Friday. About an hour later, the car's heat gauge started to climb the 3/4 mark, I brought it back into the shop. This time they figured it was a bad, new thermostat. Some hoses were hot, the bottom ones I think. Replacing the thermostat, has brought the Sube back to normal it seems. Except for really loud belt noise in the morning when we first start the car.
One of the things I had heard was that you had to take the engine out or remove some panels to replace the head gaskets. My mechanic said he could just put it on a lift and replace them from below. That and the post repair overheating makes me wonder if the job was done right.
These guys are great - but I'm wondering if lack of experience with Subarus here in Nashville maybe a factor. Does anybody know if any of this sounds strange?
Please don't ask me to take it to the local Subaru dealer - they are absolutely incompetent - from my previous experience.
How can I ensure that my car is now OK?
I should also add that the car was in a minor front end (mostly cosmetic) collision last fall. We got it fixed at a premium auto body collision place with help from our insurance. Could that have started our woes?
Thanks much.
Charles