96 Outback 2.5 - Odo rollback? Problem year?

[Outback Buyer]

I am considering a 96 Outback for sale by a local used car dealer -
seems nice enough, I plan to take it to my mechanic tomorrow and have
hime go over it. It has the 2.5 engine, automatic trans. Test drive
seemed okay (although the vehicle was dead when I went to start it,
and the dealer claims he left the doors open - maybe its just an old
battery but that got me wondering if maybe other elec issues?)

On checking the carfax for it, the speedometer is reported as being
rolled back, but by only 8000 mile or so it seems - I am just
wondering if these suppossed rollbacks are sometimes an incoirrect
reading? The car seems very clean, I would be surprised if it had
substantially more mileage than the 138,000 that it shows on the
odometer.

Also, anything about the 96's that I should be aware of that is prone
to failure?

 

[Daniel J Stern]

I am considering a 96 Outback for sale by a local used car dealer -
seems nice enough, I plan to take it to my mechanic tomorrow and have
hime go over it. It has the 2.5 engine, automatic trans. Test drive
seemed okay (although the vehicle was dead when I went to start it, and
the dealer claims he left the doors open - maybe its just an old battery
but that got me wondering if maybe other elec issues?)

On checking the carfax for it, the speedometer is reported as being
rolled back, but by only 8000 mile or so it seems - I am just
wondering if these suppossed rollbacks are sometimes an incoirrect
reading?

Frequently, Carfax gets it wrong. Even more frequently, the sources of
Carfax' information get it wrong. I've found all sorts of interesting
events that never really happened in Carfax scans on cars for which I have
documented histories or have been the only owner.

Few odometers are actually rolled back any more. It's much, much, much
more difficult to do it without detection, much, much, much easier to get
caught, and the penalties are much, much, much stiffer than they used to
be.

And nobody would roll an odo back by 8k miles, that's just silly.

The car seems very clean, I would be surprised if it had
substantially more mileage than the 138,000 that it shows on the
odometer.

Take a careful listen to the engine -- the 2.5 prior to 2000 is somewhat
prone to piston slap. This is a non-harmful but annoying engine noise.

Also, anything about the 96's that I should be aware of

Better headlamps on the '96-'97s than on the '98-'99s, but shitty headlamp
wiring starves the bulbs, so you grope your way through the dark unless
you upgrade the wiring.

DS

 

[tcassette]

Camshaft and main crank seal oil leakage is fairly common, although it
usually becomes apparent way before 100K miles (mine happened at ~65K
miles). My dealer also had a hard time diagnosing the cause of the "Check
Engine" light coming on for extended periods; ended up replacing crank
sensor and other electronic bits.

Piston slap shouldn't be a problem with a 96 model; later models have the
shorter piston.

If the HVAC panel lighting is out, replacing the 3 bulbs yourself is fairly
cheap and easy.

 

[Mike]

Thanks Vic and Eugene
Can you tell me WHY the 97 Leg/Outback seems to be singled out on
consumer reports as being much worse than average in the engine dept?
Here is a link to their review of the various model years:

http://www.spfarm.com/subaruHistory.jpg

As you can see... the 96 gets a solid black (lousy) as compared to the
other years. Is this the head gasket problem?
-Mike

 

[hbarta]

And nobody would roll an odo back by 8k miles, that's just silly.

It would be silly. But perhaps the speedo head was replaced
when the car only had 8K miles on it.