I was getting out of Subaru, our Outback VDC was just getting too rusty and brake lines and fuel lines were starting to give out, drivetrain still runs perfectly of course. So I was trying to find someone to make an ice-racer, use the drivetrain, something, had a lot of bites, but no buyers who would offer me even scrap prices.
Around New Years a friend with an Outback called me to ask about transmission problems in his 2005, it had almost 400k on it and was starting to act up, not going into gears property, stalling, occasional bangs when it did go into 1st. He said he had checked the fluid level and it was fine, I reminded him there were two dipsticks and the one he checked was the differential, he said he couldn't get the other one out and just didn't care about the car any longer, just wanted something newer and reliable and he wanted to know where to take it for scrap.
I told him I'd buy it for scrap prices and at worst could swap in my transmission and get it going...or not and scrap it myself...which would be a shame as it's in really nice condition. So I bought it, drove it a bit to diagnose, put some penetrating oil on the dipstick tube, but it mostly sat until last week when I could get it into the garage and up on ramps. Quickly found the transmission was indeed leaking as suspected and low on fluid, the leak was from a rusty screw-on filter! I replaced it for $12, filled with Subaru HP fluid, it runs perfectly now.
So here's our new-to-us 2005 Outback that cost us $600 plus about $75, my wife loves driving it, she always found the Cayenne a little large.
