subaru viscous coupling problem

Hello everyone. I have a Subaru 1998 Outback which has been a disaster since I bought it used in 2001. Although it has only about 80,000 miles on it, I have replaced the viscous coupling, the harmonic balancer, the clutch--and I just paid a ton to replace a blown head gasket. When I brought the car home after having the head gasket replaced, I noticed, when pulling into the driveway, that it exhibited the same problems it had when the viscous coupling had failed in 2002. I took it back to the dealer immediately, who said that indeed it was the viscous coupling. They put some fluid in it and told me to drive it for a few days in the hopes that that would work. Having done so, it is clear to me that the car is fine for errands around town, but after 30 minutes of highway driving, when you pull off the road to park, the viscous coupling is malfunctioning and the car grinds on tight turns.

My questions: 1. is it normal to go through 2 of these things before the car even reaches middle age? 2. could the dealer have damaged something in replacing the blown head gasket--or the harmonic balancer? 3. what happens if I don't get this fixed? I am SO tired to this wretched car that I just want to sell it--but I hate to try to pawn it off on someone knowing that he will have to pay $1000 for the viscous coupling.

Thanks David

Reply to
david.ownby
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Totally unusual from my experience.

Reply to
Edward Hayes

cheaper in the long run to get rid of the lemon and get another car.

Something else would break. \

Exactly. Get rid of the lemon.

Reply to
Body Roll

To my knowledge, there is no fluid a dealership could add to a VC. Maybe a different mechanic would be willing to look over the car, the previous work, etc. and make a judgment about the present state of the vehicle that would help you decide a course of action - I dunno. Overall however - I doubt you would ever have confidence in this vehicle so perhaps you should sell it.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Technical considerations aside, you will feel less aggravation if you sell it as-is. I daresay you have pretty much fallen out of love with it. I am not a fan of getting rid of a car before it is used up, but you have been through too much with this one. At some point it will have another expensive failure - every car does sooner or later - and you will curse the decision to have kept it.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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