2003 Subaru Baja Oil Leak - head gasket
Asked by ramirobaja Oct 28, 2019 at 02:33 PM about the 2003 Subaru Baja AWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Hello All -
I am about to purchase a Subaru Baja - I am getting it for approximately $2K. Car looks and runs good.. however it has a small oil leak and the timing belt has never been changed. Should I be worried about the small leak?
3 Answers
yes precursor to head gasket failure failure which = engine work in addition to the timing belt problem . Overall it indicates to me a lack of routine maintenance to the vehicle. How many miles on the car? I would not walk away from it I would run as fast as I could from it.
ramirobaja answered 5 years ago
Thank you.. I appreciate your reply. The car has 140K miles so it’s definitely due for timing belt and some other engine work maintenance. I thought the price $2K was a good deal since it’s in good shape, runs well.. but has that minor leak. Similar cars are going to at least $6K online if not more.
I recently put an engine in my 06 outback wagon 2.5I it cost me in excess of $4,000 total . Mine is rust free and I have put a TON of $ into it in the 5 years I have had it. That is the only reason I decided to put a 60,000 mile take out engine in it . Had I not put all of the money in making it a brand new 2006 Outback wagon I would have just bought a newer Subaru. They do not recommend just putting head gaskets on it have the heads checked for why the oil leaked out ,check bores for scoring etc. Having just went thru the decision I would walk away from my beloved car if I had it to do over.
