Engine components can fail at any time. I think Subaru is being generous with the $2k check. Most automakers would not even offer that on an 8 year old vehicle, nearing 150k miles.

Your circumstances are unfortunate but I don't agree that Subaru has left you high and dry. Your first engine was on Subaru's dime!!

 

Thank you for you response - the first engine was a recall as it was burning/leaking oil. The new engine only has 55,000 miles. Also, I can only use the $2,000 against the $17,000 engine and only at the dealership.

 

You need to keep in mind that you did not get an entire new engine as part of the oil consumption issue.

You got a new short block. The rest of the mechanical bits were transferred from the original engine. Those have 147k miles on them.

 

The $17k price for a new engine sounds simply insane given that my 2009 Foz cost $20k for the whole brand new vehicle... Auto service has gotten pricey and hard to find during Covid but I can't believe this price and agree with your plan to just get a junkyard engine.

I can't imagine any automaker providing coverage for an engine at 141k miles, though. I think most major car repairs are covered for 90 days or 1 year and not beyond that. Good luck with your Foz.

 

Sounds like you're the victim of bad luck. 17k is insane, especially when you still owe 12k (so you'd be in it for 29k - oof), probably comes down to if you can afford to have someone else swap/rebuild the motor for significantly less, or do you just scrap it and spend the necessary time paying down/off what you still owe.

I know hindsight is 20/20 - we added an extended warranty when we bought our 2015 in 2020 and it's already come in handy a couple of times. Like all insurance, you just never know when it's a waste and when it's a savior

 

Sorry for your bad luck. I would look into having an independent shop put in a new short block and keep the car. Or a low mileage used engine and then dump it.

 

The engine will cost me $17,000 if I get it done at the dealer. ( Ahhhh, nope) I will get a used engine at half the price but I am upside down on it.

That sounds like a plan. Dealers are good (sometimes) for warranty work.
I agree that a $2K check when they want to gouge you for $17 is a joke.
If you look around, you can find used engines with warranties.
If I were in your situation, I would go the used engine route as it sounds like the top end is trashed.
Good luck.

 

Dealer is high on something with that price, Subaru has been more than generous with a $2000 credit to use if you want especially since it's way out of warranty.

I'd find a better dealer or preferably a good independent shop, buy a new engine and have it installed. Second choice is a good used engine with warranty.

 

Without knowing exactly what is included in that repair - for 17 grand, is everything BRAND NEW crate and not rebuilt or remanufactured at the factory? Are no old parts re-used? Does it include anything outside of the motor - like transmission or driveline parts? And how much of that 17-grand is labor? Remember that most dealerships are charging at least $100 per hour for labor. And remember that they're going to charge "book rate" for labor, so if Subaru says that a total replacement of the engine and associated parts is 20 hours, that means $2000 for labor alone.

Chances are the engine replacement you received a few years ago was just the short block to cover the excessive oil consumption issue. Not all Foresters had this issue, but when found, a new short block replacement was done. NOTE that this is just the block and internals and not the heads and probably not the valves and anything in the heads (but I could be wrong in this). So it COULD be that the spring was not part of that replacement and so it has 140K-plus miles on it.

As mentioned by others, Subaru is not leaving you high-and-dry. There is not a single maker out there that would cover you on this type of failure after 9 years (even if you only owned it for 5 or 6) and that many miles; not Toyota, not Honda, not anybody.

The Impreza and Forester do not share the same engine - but they're from the same engine family. The Forester is a 2.5 motor and the Impreza is a 2.0 motor.

 

You have 150,000 miles on a car that's 8+ years old. How much you owe on it isn't Subaru's problem, and the fact that you got any sort of response and assistance is FAR beyond what you'd get elsewhere.

Now, $17k is STEEP for a complete motor R&R- almost like something got completely misquoted. I would check on that. I would expect a complete replacement of a garden-variety, naturally-aspirated Subaru would be less than half of $17k, if I'm honest.

My advice would be to check the quote over, weigh your options at other dealers, or source a used motor and a reputable shop to do the work.

 

Has anyone heard of this? Also, does the 2015 Forester and the 2014 Impreza share the same engine (They had similar problems)

Different engines. The 2015 Forester has a FB25 (2.5L ) engine the 2014 Impreza has a FB20 (2.0L) engine.
The Impreza had a recall for the problem you are describing:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2018/RCRIT-18V772-0686.pdf

 

You can find good used engines on www.car-part.com for reasonable prices. 2014+ engines are usually easier to find then 2011-13. Which would seem to me that 2014+ are better with less failure since more used engines are available.