[CCRIEN]

So given that you’ve mistreated (sorry, but it’s true) all your cars the same way, I’d suggest that you’ve been lucky they all didn’t have similar deterioration.

But yeah, survey some reliable independent mechanics for better estimates and workarounds. They will all take one look at your car and immediately decide they desperately want you as a customer. :grin2:

Mistreated is unfair isn't it, surely the point is that the apparent issues weren't "discovered" by the dealer ( more likely, REPORTED by the dealer"), and that's if they are genuine, until just a few months after the warranty ran out?

 

[BostonEd]

Thanks a lot everyone. Except rdclark. Just kidding! Thanks to you, too. Lots of good info.

I am somewhat handy, generally, but have never put those skills into a car repair situation. Maybe I'll look at a couple videos for the easier jobs and see if I want to increase my skills in another new area.

Checking the oil every week or so instead of forking over $3400 for the short term is definitely the plan for now for that repair. I haven't seen any leaking at all, so I can't imagine it is leaking that much.

 

[DragonSubie7]

@BostonEd "I haven't seen any leaking at all, so I can't imagine it is leaking that much."

If you can't even see any oil leaking, and your oil level doesn't drop, it isn't a problem.
A slight seep does not need a $3400 repair, and a service department suggesting that is "needed" is ridiculous.

Maybe they just wanted to steal your car by inflating all of those "needed" repairs and then generously offering to "take it off your hands"...
You know... As a good will gesture... Then they sell your low mileage great condition car needing only minor repairs for top dollar.

Considering how much they wanted to steal on repairs, it just might be you don't even have a leak, which would make it easy for them to repair.
Look at that - Your leak is fixed, and we did it the same day.... Yeah... Right...

I agree with the folks saying you should contact SoA.
Also consider filing a complaint with the BBB.

BTW - If the dealer intended to take $3400 from you to repair a leak that doesn't exist that sounds more like grand theft.
I wonder how many others they may have creatively overcharged....
If you can confirm that there is no leak with an independent shop, you may also want to contact your state's Attorney General.
Maybe you can help put a criminal organization out of business.

 

[BostonEd]

OK, let's all relax a little. No actual crime is being committed. I have confirmed there is a leak. (Though I have not yet followed through on non-dealership estimate for the repairs.) When I said I haven't seen a leak, I mean that there is no oil under the car after parking it for a while.

A couple people have suggested contacting SOA but I'm unsure why. To confirm the pricing structure?

 

[SoobADoob]

Have you considered bringing your Forester to a reputable independent shop? The only time I would ever bring my car to a dealership is for warranty-related repairs.

 

[rhtatro]

Ebay had dayco belt for my 2015 for $20 and replaced with my brothers' help.

 

[schmidt911]

Never trust a car dealer.

I know that is a strong statement. And I am sure there are plenty of reputable dealers out there that don't deserve this title. However, there are also many dealers who are down right crooks. We have all heard the stories and/or experienced them ourselves. Here is just one that has happened to me. (I was selling a Porsche 911 and the guy buying wanted a pre-purchase inspection at the BMW/PORSCHE/AUDI dealership in Tysons Corner, VA. This car had super low miles maybe 35K and was in immaculate condition. Ran perfect and did not have one flaw. When I brought the car to the dealer I sat in their upstairs waiting room that had glass windows allowing me to look down in the service area. I sat there 2 1/2 hours with my car in full view and not one person came over to my car while it was in the service bay. Finally, a mechanic came to the car, got in, started the car and drove out of the garage. I thought, okay, he is taking it for a test drive, finally. No more than 5 minutes later over the loudspeaker "Mr. Schmidt please come to the service desk"...hmm, that is odd. So i walked down to the service area and the guy behind the counter said, sir your car is ready. He then handed me a piece of paper that included the following: Bad clutch, Motor mounts need replacing, AC unit pump bad needs to be replaced, and a few other items, total cost to repair $7,300. I said to him, "I think you have the wrong car as I was watching my car for the last 2 plus hours and no one went near the vehicle." He said no sir this is for your car our mechanic checked the car and this is what they found. I said "did you not hear me? I said no one came near my car." Even in the face of being caught red handed they, including the service manager, continued to tell me I was wrong. To say I tore into them would be a minor understatement. I used quite a few adjectives to express my point on the fact they are thieves and lying straight to my face while the smoking gun was in their slimy hands. This is one of the biggest New Car Porsche/BMW/Audi dealerships in Washington, DC... My point is never take the word of a dealership no matter how honest they seam when telling you something needs to be replaced/repaired. Unless you absolutely know what is wrong with the car when go into a dealer always be on guard. So if I were you I would take my 2011 Subaru to an independent mechanic or two to get to the bottom of this issue.

 

[magicmarker18]

I have a 2011 Forester with around 44K miles on it.

Just got back from my 60,000 major maintenance. (60K maintenance at 44K because I don't put many miles on the car per year).

When I bought my Forester, most people agreed it was a good move. Heck, my cousin who works at NISSAN said "Subarus are great. They last forever."

Well, so these are the repairs they say need to be done at 44K:
Leaking power steering pump $829
Cracking serpentine belt $195
Broken engine ground straps $160
Rotted transmission cooler pipes $529
Camshaft carriers are leaking oil $3400
Front control arm brushings are cracking $589
Front sway bar links loose and cracked $295
Exhaust flanges rotted on mid pipe and mufflers $1545

Total estimate: $7542. At 44K miles. Not exactly "lasting forever" in my book. Yes, car parts wear out, but this is the total amount I would expect to pay over the next 5 or 6 YEARS, not all at once right now.

The service rep said they will talk to Subaru and the service manager to see what they can do. But c'mon, how much can they knock this down? She also suggested maybe they would work with me to buy a new car. Why would I want another Subaru at this point? So it can fall apart at 44,000 miles?

Thoughts?

Thanks for reading.

dude where did you take your car to? the Rubicon trail? I have nothing done with my car and i have 105k miles and i've take it "offroad" to the race track playa and other dirt roads, I've also driven on four 3,000+miles road trips...I've had 1 check light and that was a cylinder misfire, because I've never changed the sparkplug it until 100k miles.

 

[magicmarker18]

I know that is a strong statement. And I am sure there are plenty of reputable dealers out there that don't deserve this title. However, there are also many dealers who are down right crooks. We have all heard the stories and/or experienced them ourselves. Here is just one that has happened to me. (I was selling a Porsche 911 and the guy buying wanted a pre-purchase inspection at the BMW/PORSCHE/AUDI dealership in Tysons Corner, VA. This car had super low miles maybe 35K and was in immaculate condition. Ran perfect and did not have one flaw. When I brought the car to the dealer I sat in their upstairs waiting room that had glass windows allowing me to look down in the service area. I sat there 2 1/2 hours with my car in full view and not one person came over to my car while it was in the service bay. Finally, a mechanic came to the car, got in, started the car and drove out of the garage. I thought, okay, he is taking it for a test drive, finally. No more than 5 minutes later over the loudspeaker "Mr. Schmidt please come to the service desk"...hmm, that is odd. So i walked down to the service area and the guy behind the counter said, sir your car is ready. He then handed me a piece of paper that included the following: Bad clutch, Motor mounts need replacing, AC unit pump bad needs to be replaced, and a few other items, total cost to repair $7,300. I said to him, "I think you have the wrong car as I was watching my car for the last 2 plus hours and no one went near the vehicle." He said no sir this is for your car our mechanic checked the car and this is what they found. I said "did you not hear me? I said no one came near my car." Even in the face of being caught red handed they, including the service manager, continued to tell me I was wrong. To say I tore into them would be a minor understatement. I used quite a few adjectives to express my point on the fact they are thieves and lying straight to my face while the smoking gun was in their slimy hands. This is one of the biggest New Car Porsche/BMW/Audi dealerships in Washington, DC... My point is never take the word of a dealership no matter how honest they seam when telling you something needs to be replaced/repaired. Unless you absolutely know what is wrong with the car when go into a dealer always be on guard. So if I were you I would take my 2011 Subaru to an independent mechanic or two to get to the bottom of this issue.

don't trust dealers or basically anyone, you got to get 3 quotes... I mean would you do surgery if one doctor told u to do it? or would you fix a foundation for $30,000 cause one contractor said it? Never trust one person, I've run into sooooo many people who don't even know their own job...I've had a TSA custom agent telling me my dog needs to have rabies when I tried to import her in...but if the person knew, you don't need rabies shot for you pet if the country it came from is a rabies-free country.

 

[whysofma]

my two cents
Leaking power steering pump $829

how does the car feel when turning the steering wheel? if you don't notice anything wrong, no problem. You can also check the power steering fluid reservoir. it will drop if you really are leaking fluid​

Cracking serpentine belt $195

serpentine belts are cracked for 3/4s of their lives.​

Broken engine ground straps $160

if your car starts, has no problems with defogger and lights on at the same time this isn't an issue. You'll have a CEL if engine mounted electronics have a bad ground.​

Rotted transmission cooler pipes $529

i don't believe this is a problem. wait until a failure​

Camshaft carriers are leaking oil $3400

laugh - so unlikely at 50K unless someone swapped your engine with a used one. Even then if you have to add 1qt of oil a month you're talking $50 a year.​

Front control arm brushings are cracking $589

this is when they start cracking. drive on them until 75K without even a second though. (you'll feel it when they need to be replaced)​

Front sway bar links loose and cracked $295

same as above​

Exhaust flanges rotted on mid pipe and mufflers $1545

does your car even sound louder than it should?​

If you even think the mechanic wasn't lying, just get AAA and when something breaks get a tow to shop. Personally I think your next visit to a mechanic will be in a few thousand miles when it's time for another oil change

 

[Wangle]

My daughter took her hand me down 2009 Outback to the dealer for a minor issue a year and a half ago at 155,000 miles. She returned in tears with a $4000 estimate that included a head gasket repair, exhaust issue, serpentine belt etc. I had done the maintenance on this vehicle previously, and knew a lot of the recommended repairs were bogus. We scratched off all of the maintenance items which had been completed and documented in the maintenance log. There was no head gasket leak. We bought a large hose clamp to wrap around her heat shield to stop the rattle. The serpentine belts had been replaced at 100 K, and they were showing some wear but were fine. (Two on a 2009, that we just replaced at 170 K miles) so for $2.09 in repairs, I assured her that it was safe to drive, and is still going strong. Step one for you, I would recommend finding a reputable Subaru service shop and getting a second estimate.

 

[madmax032]

Since there is a lot of decent advice here, this may be coming too late but here goes nothing:
I have a 2011 Forester and it has had badly leaking camshaft carriers since well below 100k miles. Some of the leaks were hidden under the metal shrouds (heat shields?) on top of the cylinder heads and others under the cylinder heads. The early FB25 castings were known to be problematic and in addition, my valve covers leaked and the front cover leaked. At 97K miles, I resealed the front cover and valve covers, cutting down on about half of the oil leaks. I also did the serpentine belt and tensioner+idlers at that time (the easy part of the job!)

At 175K miles now, the cam carriers leak like a sieve but everything else still works fine. Cam carrier replacement is an engine-out job, requiring major top-end and front side disassembly and is not worth the cost/effort. Adding 2-2.5 quarts of oil every 3k miles has been no issue. The oil stain on the driveway is an issue but that's a personal problem

I would address the trans cooler lines soon as a failed cooler line can send very flammable trans fluid all over and disable your transmission.

 

[jclbrt1987]

They are number 1 in most of New England, but nothing to do with longevity. They are number 1 because they are easy to drive, cheaper to buy than 4wd SUVs, and have a symmetrical AWD system which helps in snow.

 

[BostonEd]

Thanks again, everyone.

I'm going to contact SOA as recommended about that oil leak. What department or whatever should I contact?

• First, I'm going to ask if I'm covered under the recall mentioned above. Pretty sure I'm not, I think that's a different thing, but I'll ask anyway.
• Then, assuming I'm not covered, I want to ask if the camshaft leak for 2011s has been a known issue, why wasn't this ever disclosed while I had the extended warranty in place? Any tips on how to present this?

I've got a couple recommendations for non-dealer service, so I'll be taking the rest of the work there, as needed.

 

[rccrfan]

"Subarus last forever"

Well, yea, anything can last "forever" if you throw enough money at it

 

[BostonEd]

Thanks again, everyone.

I'm going to contact SOA as recommended about that oil leak. What department or whatever should I contact?

• First, I'm going to ask if I'm covered under the recall mentioned above. Pretty sure I'm not, I think that's a different thing, but I'll ask anyway.
• Then, assuming I'm not covered, I want to ask if the camshaft leak for 2011s has been a known issue, why wasn't this ever disclosed while I had the extended warranty in place? Any tips on how to present this?

Anyone know who I should contact or where I could find a good list?

P.S. Three weeks since the service, and my oil level has not gone down any noticeable amount.

 

[joe_pinrhill]

Its expensive to own an older car if you are not able to do repairs yourself. Even if you can do the repairs , good parts are not cheap.

If you keep the car, i would bump up the exhaust repair to high on the list. An exhaust leak can lead to fumes coming up into the car passenger area, and thats not good, especially in the Winter, with the windows rolled up most of the time. Cars run so clean today, you don't realize the fumes are in the car. Years ago it was easy to smell.


My 09 needed a new exhaust from the Catalytic Converter back a couple months ago. I thought why not get a price from Meineke. I don't enjoy doing exhaust work. Their quote was 1600. I ordered a Bosal kit for $350 from RockAuto and did it myself.

 

[ForesterBill]

Anyone know who I should contact or where I could find a good list?

You might want to start with SoA Customer Service is 1-800-782-2783 (1-800-SUBARU3)

 

[BostonEd]

UPDATE: I decided to focus on the ground straps, serpentine belt, and transmission cooler pipes first. I could see the ground straps were broken. The belt looked OK to me. I tried (not very hard) to find the trans pipes but don't think I did, because the pipes I saw were OK.

I took it to my local non-dealer service person. They did confirm the belt was "pretty worn out". OK, I guess maybe I don't know what to look for. The trans pipes were in kind of bad shape, but I could hold off replacing them for a while.

So they replaced the ground straps and belt for a total cost of $150. Subaru would have charged me $355.

Also, the guesstimate for replacing the transmission cooler pipes was around $250. Subaru's estimate was $529.

I haven't called Subaru yet about the big one, the camshaft carrier leaks, and whether I can be part of the recall, or work with me since it should have been check during my extended warranty. I need to do that. But I have been checking the oil and it has barely gone down in two months.

I've also been keeping my eye on the power steering fluid. The level has not dropped at all.

 

[vtdog]

Essentially 3 responses to what the OP was told about his car
1. They are not called "stealerships" for no reason
2. The service dept is trying to screw you. I believe that the dealer term is "baby whale"
3. See #s 1 and 2, above