2.5 Subie?

[Stinky]

Anybody know, how good of a motor is in the '08 Subie Outback...the 2.5 4 cyl.  I think that it is a NA EJ motor.

A guy I know, his wife's Outback popped a radiator....which all plastic radiators are prone to do.  The thing went in to the red, on the gage.  A shop looked at it and says that it has blown Headgaskets.  It has 124K on it and he is willing to let it go for what the shop offered him....under $500, he hasn't said exactly.  

It has some issues...it needs a PS pump or a PS rack and it has an oil leak underneath, somewheres.  They say that the way to do all that is pull the motor.  It has another issue, it is an automatic...how good are they, how many gears?

Do they have hydraulic lifters?  I see that it is a 16v motor....DOHC or SOHC?

 

[Dune-Track-N]

I've got a 08 WRX 120k miles trouble free

motor swap if needed would be easy @John@Outfront would have the engine knowledge

 

[Rockwood]

NA EJ is super reliable.  Turbo, less so but not bad.  Modded turbo or run on the race track, really less so without someone like @John@Outfront breathing on it a bit to fix some of the factory issues.

Since the block is split and thin, you might have issues machining it back to flat to keep HGs in it, so if you're gonna get it, I'd budget for a whole replacement motor (used from a wrecked car would be how I'd go).  Even then, for a couple grand, you're not much into a decent and economical daily.

 

[John@Outfront]

$500 for the whole car with a bad motor is a great deal!

if you're not mechanically inclined, buying  used motor and installing it would be best bet, easiest to do

there is not crystal ball that could tell you if it got so hot that the rings are toast,  that would be the concern if you are just trying to do head gaskets

if it got too hot and you only did head gaskets/ valve job it could be a big oil consumer because of collapsed rings

the motors are tough and very rare to crack a head or block. 

 

[Stinky]

You know, I posted on Thesamba....the same Q.  All those guys thought that I was interested in the motor for a swap.  Youse guys (w/a NYC accent), caught right off the bat that I am interested in the car, and the next 100K miles.