I drive my Subaru to work like a turtle or a rabbit, but with the flow of traffic. It's a 4 cylinder & accelerates like a Prius. My wife's vehicle is a 6 cylinder & the difference is night and day. But a 2019 Subaru head gasket failure at 35,000 miles? Really?
Was driving at night through a cold, wet, snow spring storm in Colorado when failure happened on the highway. Instantly lost heat, red coolant light came on, windows fogged up like a sauna. Coolant threw up into the overflow tank & then splattered the guts of a hot engine. Nothing like the sweet smell of radiator coolant and the pleasant eye irritation from the fumes. Had to finish the short journey home like a dog with it's head out the window without going blind. True story and a great experience, although I highly do not recommend.
Was able to self diagnose the problem after seeing bubbles in the coolant tank, similar to that of aeration in a fish tank. No brainer and my first ever head gasket failure. I have been working on my vehicles for 30 years and really only take them in for tires & alignments, everything else is performed by my self taught mechanical experience. Service manuals work miracles as well.
I knew the cost was going to be brutal, but was the wife prepared? Did I want to buy an engine hoist & spend the next month tearing apart an engine while juggling life with a single vehicle? Um, no.
The story continues & I had no choice but to take my beloved vehicle to a Subaru dealership, as all the local places quoted the same price or slightly more. The dreaded call...diagnosis confirmed. So, I am without a vehicle for the next week and a not so happy wife, I meant life at the moment. I should have put rental coverage on my insurance had I known, but a blown head gasket @ 35,000 miles? I'll get through this.
Kind of disappointed that I have to pay full price for the repair. I get it, $50 for the gasket, $4k for the fine fellows that hopefully love what they do, but I am still prepared to do a complete inspection of their work & check every last detail of the repair, down to the little plastic push fasteners. I understand completely how warranties work, but head gasket failures should never be an issue on low mileage vehicles at any stage.
My other Subaru vehicle (99' Forester) lasted 24 years & 280,000 miles before age got the best of it. Replaced just about everything at least once, but never a head gasket. Just saying. Do better Subaru.
I drive my Subaru to work like a turtle or a rabbit, but with the flow of traffic. It's a 4 cylinder & accelerates like a Prius. My wife's vehicle is a 6 cylinder & the difference is night and day. But a 2019 Subaru head gasket failure at 35,000 miles? Really?
Was driving at night through a cold, wet, snow spring storm in Colorado when failure happened on the highway. Instantly lost heat, red coolant light came on, windows fogged up like a sauna. Coolant threw up into the overflow tank & then splattered the guts of a hot engine. Nothing like the sweet smell of radiator coolant and the pleasant eye irritation from the fumes. Had to finish the short journey home like a dog with it's head out the window without going blind. True story and a great experience, although I highly do not recommend.
Was able to self diagnose the problem after seeing bubbles in the coolant tank, similar to that of aeration in a fish tank. No brainer and my first ever head gasket failure. I have been working on my vehicles for 30 years and really only take them in for tires & alignments, everything else is performed by my self taught mechanical experience. Service manuals work miracles as well.
I knew the cost was going to be brutal, but was the wife prepared? Did I want to buy an engine hoist & spend the next month tearing apart an engine while juggling life with a single vehicle? Um, no.
The story continues & I had no choice but to take my beloved vehicle to a Subaru dealership, as all the local places quoted the same price or slightly more. The dreaded call...diagnosis confirmed. So, I am without a vehicle for the next week and a not so happy wife, I meant life at the moment. I should have put rental coverage on my insurance had I known, but a blown head gasket @ 35,000 miles? I'll get through this.
Kind of disappointed that I have to pay full price for the repair. I get it, $50 for the gasket, $4k for the fine fellows that hopefully love what they do, but I am still prepared to do a complete inspection of their work & check every last detail of the repair, down to the little plastic push fasteners. I understand completely how warranties work, but head gasket failures should never be an issue on low mileage vehicles at any stage.
My other Subaru vehicle (99' Forester) lasted 24 years & 280,000 miles before age got the best of it. Replaced just about everything at least once, but never a head gasket. Just saying. Do better Subaru.
- Dustin A., Littleton, US