A guy I know relative has a 2001 Forester L AWD automatic forsale. It has less then 60k miles. It has received all its routine service and only major repairs was axle leaking which was replaced in 2010.

Is there anything I should look at or check that could be potential problem in the future. Were going to look at it saturday and offer $5500. KBB booked for 7200, but it look like it rarely if ever saw wax in the pas 10 years and the carpet looks like it might of seen a vacuum once a year. It has the steel wheels too, but the tires are year old michelins. If I got it, I thinking of maybe having the detail guy that did my dads porsche do it, unless he laughs at me.

If it was local I would love to have you check it out, but its not. The wife thinks the wheels are ugly, but I told her we probably pick up a set OEM STi wheels to swap out on it.

Thanks

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'89 Mustang GT "FoxRod"

That's a good price for the mileage!
If it's gotten the 60k service then you have nothing to worry about for awhile (50k).

OEM STi wheels will run you a pretty penny as only the 04 STi had the same bolt pattern as every other subaru lol. But you can find good looking Rotas for 500-600 with tires used.

The only thing I would do is go drive it, if it drives fine then I wouldn't have any doubts buying it!

Head gaskets and I would change the timing belt while doing head gaskets as it's been on there for a decade. They're supposed to be 105k belts but with it being 10 years old it's gonna need head gaskets and the damn belt is off so replace that bish. The foresters are great, once you swap out the crap head gaskets that WILL leak if they aren't. To do the belt and head gaskets figure $400 or so in parts for the mega deluxe kit with EVERYTHING. It can be done more budget minded in a lot of cases (like this one most likely due to mileage) The $400 is including timing pulleys that the club guys replce and my techs at work don't. The Forester is an easy one to knock out head gaskets and a tbelt in a garage as it's a single cam 2.5 in a hole big enough for a 3.3 H6 so you can get in there pretty easy.

As stated the STi wheels are a pretty penny as the 04 is the only year that fits the other Subie models (excluding SVX) They are anywhere from $600(silvers) up to $1200-$1500 for Goldies. Suspension from the 02-07 WRX will swap over as long as you use the WRX rear strut mounts. I've seen them in here with 200k+ on them and still kicking.

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Need Subaru parts?? Call me@ Tom Wood IBpartman 317-705-7016

"The Mailman"
One-Lung Racing
EJ205>LSx

Heres some advice...RUN AWAY!!!

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Brush yo teeth, brush yo teeth, brush yo godd*** teeth!!!


"The Doc"

http://assy-mcstabby.mybrute.com

"It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more. "
- Jeremy Clarkson describing what the Honda Insight is like as a car.

If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand.

Subaru > CTS-V from what I've seen

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Need Subaru parts?? Call me@ Tom Wood IBpartman 317-705-7016

"The Mailman"
One-Lung Racing
EJ205>LSx

So....at 60k you have to change head gaskets, timing belt as normal maintenance? THat's almost as bad as the 100k mile BMW "rebuild your entire cooling system for normal maintenance"!

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Founding Member of the Indiana Chapter of the Teeny Weeny Club for Secure Adult Males

"The Technician"

"can't hit the bottom of a tuna can, but i'll blow out the sides"

Different engine (2.5L DOHC) but our '98 Forester S that we bought new was sold to a friend in 2008 with over 250K on it. No headgasket failures, though I'm aware of the issue on others. Also had a timing chain, and as expected that was still fine. For that matter, so was the original clutch!

Total list of replaced parts in a quarter of a million miles:
3 CV boots
2 sets of brake pads
1 set of brake rotors
1 battery
3 sets of tires
2 sets of spark plugs
1 knock sensor (at about 225K)
1 clock (over 200K)
1 speedo module (at 217K)
1 set of plug wires
1 ignition coil (at about 230K)
A whole bunch of headlight bulbs (my wife left the dang things on ALL the time since the Subie shuts them off automatically when you turn the car off)
Regular fluid and filter changes

The car is probably at 275K or more, and still on the original clutch with no other failures that I'm aware of. The new owner may have replaced the (original) struts, or was at least thinking about it.

That's it. Boring car, but a darn reliable one that my wife was very happy with.

Scott
90SMF

So gizzmo do you do side work off the clock?

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'89 Mustang GT "FoxRod"

Haha....if he did his blue wagon of doom would be finished!

if you head on over to indiana impreza there are guys who will be happy to lend a hand for some food and beer. For example, me

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SCCA#405241
"The Juicer"
"ONE LUNG RACING"

#77 ST

2012 Honda Fit- daily
1980 civic wagon- soon to be old school Japanese FULL OF WIN
70 Honda trail ct70 4spd
1991 JDM Honda Chaly

yes, we do. normal charges are beer and pizza.

sounds like a steal. do eeet.

As long as it gets done in one day, but it won't be till I get my cough cough basic maintenance as I told the wife almost a year ago cough cough daily driver moving under its own power.

Thanks again for the offers.

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'89 Mustang GT "FoxRod"

actually if he didn't his wagon would be done


Chris, I can lend a hand when free time is available. That is generally at a premium. Example: This weekend consists of: Ft Wayne Friday to get my 6 speed then to Granger. Granger to Elk Lake Michigan for a memorial for a rally racing buddy on saturday. Kokomo Sunday for mother's day. If we have a few weeks notice it's no biggie. It's also not ZOMG change the head gaskets now!!! If they aren't leaking, let it be. We change a LOT of 2.5 NA head gaskets though. I could walk over and pull a head gasket job for that vehicle without looking at the parts catalog. Just something to look for when "checking it out"

__________________
Need Subaru parts?? Call me@ Tom Wood IBpartman 317-705-7016

"The Mailman"
One-Lung Racing
EJ205>LSx

do you let any rubber belt ride on your car for 10 years? The head gaskets are crap, I'll admit that to anyone, these may not be leaking, just something to look at. Maybe he should buy a Hyundai instead. Can he borrow your trailer to bring it home or is your hyundai still on it?

__________________
Need Subaru parts?? Call me@ Tom Wood IBpartman 317-705-7016

"The Mailman"
One-Lung Racing
EJ205>LSx

Timing Chain??? I'm not aware of any Subie 2.5 4 banger with a chain until the 2011 forester.

__________________
Need Subaru parts?? Call me@ Tom Wood IBpartman 317-705-7016

"The Mailman"
One-Lung Racing
EJ205>LSx

Burn

For the record, after 307k miles, one hyundai of the two had to be towed home to get a new CKP sensor.... Notbad IMO. It's not the T-belt that would bother me as much as the shitty head gaskets. Why do modern manufacturers (not just subie) cheap out on such important things?

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Founding Member of the Indiana Chapter of the Teeny Weeny Club for Secure Adult Males

"The Technician"

"can't hit the bottom of a tuna can, but i'll blow out the sides"

I had 150k on my stock SOHC 2.5 Subaru, with an aftermarket turbo kit on it and had no issues. I thought I remember reading that it was the DOHC 2.5's that had the head gasket issues.

I beat the absolute dog crap out of that motor and had no issues at all. Subaru motors are stout and they can take some abuse for sure.

Ben,

You'd be much more aware of the various 2.5 iterations than I am, but it does seem like Subaru keeps tweaking on the same displacement flat four (and essentially the same peak power ratings, though the emphasis is on peak and ratings, not the whole curve which did change). It was a '98 and IIRC the DOHC was pretty new at that point and the Forester was brand new for the US, and in the next model year or two they changed to a SOHC 2.5. Anyway, according to the owners manual's service intervals it was a chain and no replacement interval. I wish I had the car and book still, but you might look up that year specifically if you car to.

I do remember hearing lots of noise about head gasket issues, but ours was fine. Since we put 500-600 miles a week on each of our cars I was under it a lot doing oil changes (no ramps required, just slide under from the front - great car to change oil and filter on!) and watching both the outgoing oil as well as poking around for leaks. We never did anything about it, but the valve cover gaskets did leak eventually though not enough to warrant replacing them.

Oh, that reminds me - we did have to replace some airbag sensors and modules well after 200K too. That was done at Tom Wood, which is where I bought the car and also had the CV boots, speedo and the 60K sevices done. For the most part the other (less time consuming) stuff I did myself as the car was easy to work on. I suspect that we're still in your service records.

Scott

I will keep and eye on things. So I see the tow rating is 2000lb, will it handle 3000 and no hills?

Guess I gotta sell the mustang and build a Lotus 7 if I want to trailer somthing.

Water cooled porsche people say they never change the timing belt too, but if I bought a used water cooled porsche with more then 80K miles with the original belt. I would knock the cost down $500 more dollars and get it done asap. It is rubber not steel, it degrades. I work with automotive rubber seals everyday. Rubber parts don't last for ever and more wear equals more stretch and less likely to return to a normal shape. I could understand if you drive and shift at 3500 rpm, but if you like to put the needle in the red or downshift to a corner. Prepare for that LS1 swap to come sooner then later.

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'89 Mustang GT "FoxRod"