Is my new Scooby Terminal?

[Oatmeal123]

Hello everyone, 

I found a scooby with a 1.5, I've been wanting one for quite some time now but as I'm a new driver insurance is gonna be top dollar, hence the 1.5. 

Now the 2007 model looks absolutely fantastic imo, this is the only one I've been able to find in the UK with a 1.5, in a lovely grey.

Checked over the car as well as I could before purchase, assuming the limited white smoke coming out the back was the result of the usual cold day. The engine was covered in a green residue but nothing was leaking anywhere and everything looked like it had been working for some time. 

So on the way back I notice a hissing sound, sounds like a broken vacuum line. There was some relatively minor overheating, just shy of 2/3rds on the gauge.

Didn't really think anything of it other than perhaps it just needed some additional liquids. So I sat in the drive and just wanted to see if it overheated whilst idle.

The white smoke just didn't disappear even after the engine had warmed up and a good half hour had passed. No overheating but the smoke persisted.

Took it to my parents usual garage and they checked it over and said the head gasket has likely blown. 

 

So the trade seller I bought it from gave me a 30 day guarantee on the car. I paid £1,600 for the car.

I've heard that blown head gaskets are common for this generation of impreza. I want to believe that repairing the HG will remedy the situation but I'm wary that it may not be the sole reason for the HG blowing. I'm under the impression that if it's just the one HG on one side then the remainder of the engine is likely fine so it would only involve the HG replacements to fix. Then it would work fine from then on. 

 

So my question is; should I have the car repaired at the sellers expense or should I just give up on it, move on, get a refund on the car and allow him to scrap it? I don't want to lose it so quickly 

 

 

[Jamie_uk]

If the sellers paying for it get it fixed doesn't hurt if doesn't cost you.

green gunk if it's the same as what my 2.0 had allover the bay its that sealant stuff they use, was one of my first questions

Didn't see the refund option, how many miles etc are on it?

[Oatmeal123]

Ok, that clears up a lot of confusion about it, I thought it might be dried coolant or something.

There's about 93,000 miles on it. I wouldn't consider that absolutely ridiculous just yet though. I've seen people selling these with over 170,000 on them. But heck, I haven't really been schooled in subaru reliability just yet. 

[Jamie_uk]

So far bomb proof but only had one for just under two years. 

Got a good service history? Timing belt been done?

[Oatmeal123]

Yeah, service history is top notch. Everything serviced when expected per the handbook.

Everything else on the car looks fine tbh.

Only advisories n such has been that of broken number plate lights or other such simple things.

[Jamie_uk]

Id take the chance and get them to fix it personally. 

[stants]

I'd get a refund, you'd need to do both heads as one side would need a skim to make it true but you've end up with differnet thickness gaskets on either side which wold mess up the compression ratio so the other side wold need doing anyway.

Also when the heads go they tend to pinch the big end bearings so a full strip down is the best option but you won't be looking at much change from 3k by the time you've added labour.

If the seller has sold you a duff motor would you trust them to fix it properly ?



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[Oatmeal123]

Personally I wouldn't trust the seller to fix it themselves either but that's just general rule of thumb. Currently I've 2 potential plans:

-Plan 1: Get a refund on the car of the full price paid minus the scrap value (so about £1,500) then get the mechanic I know to fix it for around £800 (a rough estimate) then any further charges for varying things that will need sorting whilst in that condition can be replaced once disassembled. He said it would be £400 labour. £800 total was a rough estimate to have both sides replaced but I imagine it'll be to the tune of £1,000. I'd have to front any additional costs over £1,500.

-Plan 2: Get a full refund and let him deal with it as he will. Then front another £1,000+ for a 2.0L 2006-2007 and deal with any additional insurance costs (another £600).

 

The seller has said he would rather it fixed here so it doesn't need towing/moving back 45 miles to his place to be repaired. But he doesn't mind refunding it, it's entirely up to myself.

 

The mechanic I've dealt with said he will only do the job if I pay for it because he's dealt with trade sellers before and he has to chase them for payment. I told the seller and he said he's more than happy to front me the whole cost to have it repaired. So it's likely he'll agree to Plan 1 to have this bother out of the way.

 

I'll get an exact quote from the mechanic in a day or 2's time. If the price is right and there is room in the budget (price paid - scrap value) then I don't see why I couldn't have the mechanic fix anything else that crops up. The alternative to repairing it is still gonna cost alot of money.

But if people feel adamant that I just do away with it I may just suck it up and go for a 2.0L. I've been eyeing up this beauty: 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201707057078220?sort=price-asc&radius=1500&maximum-badge-engine-size=2.0&model=IMPREZA&price-to=3000&postcode=ll127na&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&advertising-location=at_cars&make=SUBARU&page=5

 

Unless anyone knows someone selling a impreza 1.5 R 5dr?

[Scoobyghost]

Personally I wouldn't trust the seller to fix it themselves either but that's just general rule of thumb. Currently I've 2 potential plans:

-Plan 1: Get a refund on the car of the full price paid minus the scrap value (so about £1,500) then get the mechanic I know to fix it for around £800 (a rough estimate) then any further charges for varying things that will need sorting whilst in that condition can be replaced once disassembled. He said it would be £400 labour. £800 total was a rough estimate to have both sides replaced but I imagine it'll be to the tune of £1,000. I'd have to front any additional costs over £1,500.
-Plan 2: Get a full refund and let him deal with it as he will. Then front another £1,000+ for a 2.0L 2006-2007 and deal with any additional insurance costs (another £600).
 
The seller has said he would rather it fixed here so it doesn't need towing/moving back 45 miles to his place to be repaired. But he doesn't mind refunding it, it's entirely up to myself.
 
The mechanic I've dealt with said he will only do the job if I pay for it because he's dealt with trade sellers before and he has to chase them for payment. I told the seller and he said he's more than happy to front me the whole cost to have it repaired. So it's likely he'll agree to Plan 1 to have this bother out of the way.
 
I'll get an exact quote from the mechanic in a day or 2's time. If the price is right and there is room in the budget (price paid - scrap value) then I don't see why I couldn't have the mechanic fix anything else that crops up. The alternative to repairing it is still gonna cost alot of money.
But if people feel adamant that I just do away with it I may just suck it up and go for a 2.0L. I've been eyeing up this beauty: 
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201707057078220?sort=price-asc&radius=1500&maximum-badge-engine-size=2.0&model=IMPREZA&price-to=3000&postcode=ll127na&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&advertising-location=at_cars&make=SUBARU&page=5
 
Unless anyone knows someone selling a impreza 1.5 R 5dr?

Start getting everything on paper, emails and make sure you keep copies. You could open up a legal can of worms here.

As for just 800 to fix a head gasket I think he's dreaming. Both sides need to be done, you'd be silly to leave the big in its aged condition and having suffered a head gasket failure. Who knows what damage it suffered. Has he included parts and labour for a new timing belt and kit or just gonna reuse the old one?

Plan 1 will come to bite you in the back side soon enough.

[Martian]

Sorry bud, its a sucky thing to have happen to you when you have just bought a car.

In all honesty you will end up saving money and massive headaches by getting a refund and spending the extra on the 2.0. Plus you will get endorphines from having the 2.0

[Oatmeal123]

It really does suck. I can't really stop thinking I'll just get it fixed but then it dawns on me that it's not worth it. 

I'll start making arrangements now to get a refund on it. I have the fun task of convincing the seller to come pick it up.

Thankfully I have found alternative 1.5 R's but they're over 150 miles away and convincing my family to drive that distance is somewhat tricky. Maybe I can bribe them with the use of the car 

The 2.0 does seem appealing for that reason but even with a couple years NCD; insurance is still beyond a joke expensive for someone my age. It'll cost me a heck of a lot more in the long term. I'll probably wait till I'm over 25.

Thanks for everyone's input 

 

[Jay762]

Wotcha and welcome - keep us posted with your progress, many members have driven a fair mileage to pick up the motor of their choice :o)

[Oatmeal123]

Unable to find a suitable 2006/2007 Impreza R so I've had to settle for a Citroen as a first car, simply because of insurance. But I will be back... someday 

 

Thanks again everyone! 

[Oatmeal123]

The tables have turned.

 

The seller is saying that his mechanic does not believe the car does have a blown gasket. Neither does Mick, the seller.

 

He mentioned that the car is not overheating. He has his mechanic looking into alternative ways of proving what is actually wrong with it.

 

What do I do? 0___0

I haven't bought a replacement yet but still, do I accept the car? Or take a hit in my refund if he can prove it works after repair?

 

 

[Scoobyghost]

They might have chucked some head gasket repair gunk in it? Don't know them from Bert but if they're shady enough be careful.

[Oatmeal123]

The issue is he doesn't seem shady at all. His reviews are pretty damn good. People usually review trade sellers when they've been f***ed over. 

 

I can't find anything negative about him or his company: middlebrook cars ltd in Bolton.

 

I'm inclined to trust the bloke, but I do want evidence of his testing. Currently looking into him doing a 'block tester' on it.  and perhaps some sort of guarantee that I won't have to pay to fix such an engine problem if it is as such.

 

I'll wait to see what he comes back with.

 

 

 

 

[stants]

My hg went and I managed to do 500+ miles with no sign of overheating,
Get them to do a sniff test & leakdown test that will tell you for sure, if they won't walk away with your refund money

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[Oatmeal123]

So the seller told me he had his mechanic perform the 'sniff test', something called a block tester kit for about 5-10minutes. Nothing indicates a blown head gasket he is saying. The seller is saying whether I take the car back or get a refund he still wants £200 back for delivering the car -_- .

I asked him to perform a compression test but he isn't willing to perform such a test at a cost to himself and I'm not willing to front the cost of a compression test just to have him pay me an extra £200 for proving the car is buggered.

I've just told him I'll have a refund, honestly can't be bothered with this cr*p right now.

 

In the mean time, I'm planning a trip to peterborough to pick up this beauty 

 

 

[Mr B]

If it was smoking as much as you say from my experience you would see evidence of a leak easily either in plug and piston crown colour, coolant loss, gas analyser sniff test or combination of these.

easy enough do a relative compression check and takes 5 minutes, good comp test with transducer pressure sensor can tell you a lot but not quickest to do on a subaru.
Wouldn't worry about rest of engine if passes few basic tests but as always it can be bit of gamble. Shame trader made a mess of diagnosis :-/ really not that hard to of drawn some better conclusion than he did ! .
Don't buy a Citroen lol, that just total stupidity .
 

[Oatmeal123]

Long time no speak,

So I got the train to peterbourough and picked up the new scooby. It's terrific, everything runs great on it and it is fun to drive, as a first car goes anyways .

I do have a question as to the normality of the idle; from a cold start it'll jump to about 1,700rpm then slow to about 600rpm after 5mins.

Whilst it's sitting at roughly 600rpm the car will shake a little bit, I can hear a slight rattling noise that comes on and off .

it's quite noticeable when just sitting in traffic or parked up ready to pull away.

Is this something of concern? 

The car will also go completely silent on occasion  then I feel a rumble as the car almost stalls itself whilst idle. 

I did recently wire up an inverter to the boot straight from the Battery but the only electrical system on when it happens is purely the Stereo and nothing else.

[Tidgy]

sounds like the idle is playing up a bit, could be sticking a touch

[Jay762]

Did it happen before you added the additional wiring?