2011 Outback Engine question

[Hawk196]

I bought an outback for my wife and the engine blew within 500 miles. It was her fault as she heard a "woosh" sound (radiator blowing out), didn't see a gauge which it doesn't have(just a ridiculous idiot light) and drove it off an exit when she realized there was a problem. Unfortunately, it shutdown, she really cooked it!

Finding a 2.5L engine for a 2011 Outback with auto transmission is getting ridiculous.

My question is what year Outback with a 2.5L would work in my 2011. Also will a Legacy engine be work with an outback?


TIA

Tom

 

[xrey]

Have you tried the J-Yard or dismantler nearby?

 

[BLH001]

I bought an outback for my wife and the engine blew within 500 miles. It was her fault as she heard a "woosh" sound (radiator blowing out), didn't see a gauge which it doesn't have(just a ridiculous idiot light) and drove it off an exit when she realized there was a problem. Unfortunately, it shutdown, she really cooked it!

Finding a 2.5L engine for a 2011 Outback with auto transmission is getting ridiculous.

My question is what year Outback with a 2.5L would work in my 2011. Also will a Legacy engine be work with an outback?


TIA

Tom

How many miles do you have on it? Our 2011 Outback blew the engine with about 87k miles. The dealer was able to rebuild it. Seems like they have problems at around 90k miles.

 

[pfarmer]

I bought an outback for my wife and the engine blew within 500 miles. It was her fault as she heard a "woosh" sound (radiator blowing out), didn't see a gauge which it doesn't have(just a ridiculous idiot light) and drove it off an exit when she realized there was a problem. Unfortunately, it shutdown, she really cooked it!

Finding a 2.5L engine for a 2011 Outback with auto transmission is getting ridiculous.

My question is what year Outback with a 2.5L would work in my 2011. Also will a Legacy engine be work with an outback?


TIA

Tom

Check eBay, have seen various complete engines on eBay.

For a 2011 I would disassemble the heads and replace the head gaskets on a replacement engine. When replacing the coolant only use Subaru. The original head gaskets did not tolerate some coolants well.

This however brings up the possible rebuild of what you now have.

 

[rule-5]

I put a 2015 Legacy engine bought thru LKW in a 2011 Forester (this engine is prone to erratic oil consumption, and blew thru all the oil in 300 miles and the engine seized).
There are a bunch of threads on this site and a few others showing how to do it. Basically, you have to move all the 2011 sensors to the 2015, swap out the timing chain and pulleys, and change the flex plate, with some fiddling with the cooling if the donor engine was routing coolant to the CVT. The biggest hassle is the TGVs (tumble generator valves) which are not compatible with the 2015 manifold. You can connect them, but they operate differently in the 2015 and you'll get a bunch of OBDII errors. I mounted the (connected) 2011 TGVs on a fender wall and left the 2015 valves open and disconnected. I think it reduces the gas mileage a little at low rpm, but it works. It's possible to modify the 2015 valves to make them work, but for me that's just a bridge too far.

 

[rule-5]

I fondly remember the old days when if you could physically fit an engine in the engine bay, all you had to do was connect the battery, radiator, fuel tank and throttle and you were good to go. Of course, the motors weren't as efficient and were pretty sad after about 200K miles, but we didn't know any better.

 

[Hawk196]

my mechanic found a motor with 50K miles and a 6 month warranty from a wholesaler he's dealt with before for $3K.

Rebuilding the engine was risky. It heated up so much that she screwed up the valves, the heads are at their max clearance to being garbage.....and then we're not sure about the bottom end.

The original motor had 115K miles and the trans was replaced (new?) under warranty from a recall. I paid $4500 for the car so I'm probably upside down on the value of the car. I'll just hope to put 100K miles with out any major issues