My 2001 Subaru Forester was struggling to start, so I brought it in to the shop. They initially found an intake problem and fixed that, and it improved.
But then it started giving off blue smoke and struggling more.
You Subaru fans know exactly what this is a sign of.
Yes.
The EZ30 head gasket failure. EDIT: I misunderstood – the engine is the EJ251 that fails. EZ30 is the new Outback!
We brought it in again.
And it was indeedily the head gasket.
This is especially frustrating because the person we bought it from had paperwork stating they had repaired the head gasket, and he stated they had put on the after market fix.
Evidently, they didn’t.
It would be over $4000 to fix, and I could buy a newer, nicer car for that so… on to car hunting.
The Forester made one last trip to my distant outreach location for work, and that afternoon I spent over half an hour struggling to get it started before it caught.
So my husband has been driving me to work.
We found a new car, and purchased it, but it needs repairs so I don’t want to showcase it yet here… and don’t want to show it before I cool off at the person who sold it to us.
But goodbye little Forester. We will try to sell you to some Subaru fan who would love to play with your frame and put a new engine in, but no promises. You were a happy little car. *sniff*
