Marcus said:
Hi Dave,
Having owned a 1998 2L Auto Forester from new ( 80K miles now) I would
advise you to check for the following:
1. Check condition of exhaust back box, centre pipe and the 2nd catalytic
converter (sits between
centre pipe and 1st catalytic converter. There is no pattern/aftermarket
exhaust or cat parts available as yet so Subaru stealership is only placeto
go and parts prices are high. The 2nd cat tends too rust through on the
output pipe neck and can't be welded due to damaging the actual cat. The
cost of 2nd cat, mid pipe and back box is around 700 quid for parts !.
Negotiate price down to cover replacement if required
Thanks, this is the sort of thing you wouldn't know until too late....
2. Check for rear differential whine, most noticeable if you get up to 50to
60 mph and take your foot of the throttle. It sounds a bit like a turbine
like drone/whine noise. They will run like that for a long time but the
noise gets annoying !.
I suspect it'll be quieter than my curent truck, but ill watch for it,
are the transmissions generally quite strong? the landy is well known
for needing a new gearbox every ~80K miles for instance.
3. Check for piston slap noise on a cold engine, if it quickly disappearsas
engine warms do not worry, if it sounds like piston slap when warm then walk
away. The piston have very short skirts compared to older versions of the
Subie 2L boxer engine and if "caned" when cold and/or run with low oil level
excessive bore wear can result causing the piston slap.
Im not sure what piston slap sounds like, but presumably its a regular
ticking, like tappets, but noiser?
Please do not be put off by the above advice, just don't buy a crap shagged
out one or pay too muchfor an average one, they are ace vehicles, a hoot to
drive and very reliable if treated and maintained appropriately.
What would be too much? Im looking at about £6500 for x plate. As for
a good drive, excellent, thats what im after. I used to run a road
rally mini 1275GT, that was ace fun, hopefully the scooby is similar,
but more practical, no roll cage, more than 2 seats, and a boot that
you can put stuff in
Living in Scotland I love driving mine in snowy conditions and seeing
"Mondeo man" type people gawp as I sail through with no major problems in6"
or so of snow. On days like that I forgive the little bitch for the fact
that it takes me about an hour to change the plugs (with practice once you
have done it a few times,access to the plugs is a bit of bugger).
From that I take it you do most of the maintainence. Is it quite
straight forward? I have reasonable experiance (built my mini,
miantained Landy and various other cars)
I know what you mean about sailing past, though people kind of expect a
landy to do it...
Dave
