Reasonable Expectations

Morning all
We have a 2009 Subaru Forester, it has 130,000 miles on it, has been maintained and hasn't given us any trouble aside from this one issue.
For some time now it has had a head gasket issue where it was pushing out a small amount of oil, not enough where we had to add any oil in between changes though, had been that way for months. The oil was clean at every change, no coolant or anything in it, coolant was never low. About 4 weeks ago it started pushing out more oil so we decided it was time to change the head gasket before it got worse. Took it to a garage had the head gasket changed and also put a new water pump and timing belt on while it was apart. paid them their $1700 and thought all was well.
Three weeks after the work was done my wife was driving to work and called to say the check engine light came on as well as all the other lights on the dash but other than that couldn't tell anything was wrong.
Before leaving work for the day I had her check the oil and coolant, the coolant was fine but the oil was 2 quarts low, she topped off the oil and headed home. car sounded like crap but got her home. took it back to the garage, they thought maybe it was because they had put in a full synthetic oil. they swapped out the oil for a synthetic blend and said see what happens.
Four days later the oil was still full, she left for work got about half way there and the car died. had it towed back to the garage where it sits now. They have started to tear it apart again to see what is going on, they haven't finished yet but they are thinking the engine is seized

I expect tomorrow they will call to say the engine is garbage. What I don't know and the reason for this post is what should I expect to happen next? Should they foot the bill to replace the motor? Am I going to have to cough up the $$ for the whole repair? somewhere in between? I realize this is somewhat dependant on the people I'm dealing with, but if I have some idea of what a reasonable expectation of what should happen that is what I'll push for. Just not sure what it is...
Thoughts? aside from a new repair shop:)

Depends on what is found to cause the engine failure. Could be any number of things bad oil pump ect. Did she notice if it was running hotter than normal before it died? There may have been damage done when the oil was low. And how many times previous did the oil get low. Once the oil light comes on most likely damage has been done. I would say if the shop is reputable and honest if it is something they did they will tell you. But sometimes engines do go bad after major repairs have been done. The fact that it ran for a few weeks afterwards makes it difficult to lead the blame to the shop. Good luck and hope they find something easy and simple.

For some time now it has had a head gasket issue where it was pushing out a small amount of oil,

Typical Subaru issue for years and was supposed to be solved years ago. A very nice make car not worth buying at any time.

I would not have taken it back to same garage.

Three weeks is a long time to be running OK and then running into problems. I doubt you'll have any relief regarding the shop's work, especially now that they have the car and they have incentive to find other things wrong with the car.

Should they foot the bill if a new/used engine is needed? Not from the information provided but more information is coming.

So if they tell you the engine is ka-put you have the standard decision to make...pay for new engine or sell the car/parts or take it to the dump. That's up to you.

130K isn't super-great today but I think you got the miles out of it.

To bad it did not last until the Elio came onto the marketplace.

I do all repairs on my vehicles .... a head gasket is a big undertaking though

If this is a garage you deal with for all your work, all ya can do is hope they'll be fair with the money you've already put into it on their suggestion. Good luck with it all. Keep us informed.

It's plausible that the oil pump failed...just a guess from what you shared....at this point it's hard to speculate a course of action until your mechanic can give details of what occurred. Hope it works out in your favor either way.

They still don't know the cause. They tore the motor apart enough to determine the bottom half is seized. So at this point we are going to put a new motor in and then tear the old one apart enough to figure out what caused it. Without knowing the cause they are going to cover labor and I'm paying for the motor. Once they figure out what caused it that may change, but I doubt it.

Taking it to a different shop I'd be paying for everything no question

Sounds like a fair deal to me

freetown fred wrote:Sounds like a fair deal to me

Agree!

Snotzalot wrote:

freetown fred wrote:Sounds like a fair deal to me

Agree!

+1

Wife's not real happy but I think it's a fair deal. Better deal then I expected to be honest

northernmainecoal wrote:Wife's not real happy but I think it's a fair deal. Better deal then I expected to be honest

More than they had to do. They sound like an honest shop. Most likely would be impossible to determine cause.

See if they used silicone gasket sealant too sloppily,which can be squeezed into the oil galleys on reassembly,when they did the original repairs.When it cures and circulates inside engine,,it can easily block oil flow to your bearings.

fifthg wrote:See if they used silicone gasket sealant too sloppily,which can be squeezed into the oil galleys on reassembly,when they did the original repairs.When it cures and circulates inside engine,,it can easily block oil flow to your bearings.

The problem is how would you even prove it? Good point though.

you pretty much have to be standing over his shoulder.it might be in the drain oil,run it thru a screen,and it could still be plugging up oil galleys or in oil screen before the oil pump.You might ask to see the oil filter,and then have him cut it apart.