2002 subaru outback engine swap

Asked by subisubisubi Feb 19, 2015 at 12:21 AM about the 2002 Subaru Outback

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 2002 Outback with 112K miles threw a rod the other day. I'm tight on money and
need to drop in a new engine (or rebuild the old one if possible) in the most economical
way possible, but I don't want to waste my money and have the same thing happen
again, as I've read that these engines are known to have problems. I'm interested in
buying a low mileage Japanese engine but all the mechanics in the area seem to think
its a bad idea which will result in a higher labor cost and offset the savings on the
engine itself. Does anyone think it can be rebuilt or have any better suggestions for
making this repair more affordable?

1 Answer

At this point I don't know. When it died on me on the highway, it simply lost compression and wouldn't start again. It was towed to a mechanic who was able to get it started but he told me it threw a rod immediately after being started and recommended I get a new engine. He also said he couldn't do the repair so I doubt he was lying to me to make a sale. Since the rod was thrown at an idle, I wonder if it would've hit the block with less force that at highway speed.....hopefully a friend of mine will be able to look at it more closely in the next few days.

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