After spending a couple of weeks in early June spinning wrenches on the old gal, she's in pretty road-worthy shape. Even better than getting 'er back up to snuff was the experience of doing it as a team. We spent <$700 on parts and except for the weeping driver's side head gasket (oil only and external only) this thing feels like there's lots of life left. With all new brakes and rear struts, the braking is excellent and the ride is good - great at highways speed and cruises easily over Edmonton's pock-marked roads.
While we had it up on jack stands, I got under and had a really good check on stuff. The rear brake dust shields are rusted badly, and they're stupidly expensive and not that easy to change, so we left them. The suspension and steering bits are all in pretty good shape - some of the front bushings will need doing some time, but serviceable for now. The steering rack, to my shock, is not leaking - a common issue. The trans is dry and the rear diff too. The LSD still engages, the ABS works well, and the AWD works as well as the day we bought it.
The V-rated summer Bridgestones are barely worn. The winter WS-70s are in good shape - at least one winter left.
#1 (and only) daughter plans on driving to Vancouver next month, and I'd not hesitate for a second to head out in this car. Even with the HG leaking, it's only using 1L of oil every 8K, and the engine has great compression. The battery is new.
One issue I haven't solved is the broken rear hatch latch. OMG, that thing is hard to access. The hatch is broken in the closed position (thankfully) but it means working inside the "trunk" and it's super awkward. Ugh, might get the kid to tackle this one on her own. She told me "I can get my skis in through the back door, so no pressure on that one!"
So, after replacing the serpentine belt and a LOT of brake parts and those pesky rear struts (not too hard, but Subaru made it more complicated than necessary the bast-ards) my confidence in the war-horse going at least one more year is pretty high.
The kid is more optimistic and ambitious than I am. FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DAD, SHE CAN DO IT!!