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Japanese cars have a strong reputation for reliability, but Subaru’s boxer engines are known as demanding, and some turbocharged versions as genuinely troublesome. Even dedicated Subaru fans warn people away from the older Outback with the turbocharged boxer (the Outback XT).
The car in this story, in the US, had 128,000 miles (about 206,000 km) and years of neglect. The turbocharger was destroyed, the engine leaked oil from every joint, and so did most of the accessories.
A Christmas giveaway that did not go to plan
A YouTube mechanic in Chicago was given the car for free, on the condition that he repair it for his viewers and then donate it to someone who needed it. After a month of work it still was not finished. As Christmas approached, he decided to hand it over anyway and promised to finish the repairs for the new owner. The Subaru community nominated a well-known, generous enthusiast to receive it.
He turned it down. Even for free, he knew it could mean endless repairs that he would end up paying for.
You can see the whole job in the video below. Automatically translated subtitles can be turned on in the player settings.
An earlier episode shows some of the repairs on the car:
If you are keeping an Outback turbo on the road
Boxer engines need specific procedures: head gasket and timing belt work, turbo oil feed and return lines, and correct torque sequences on aluminium parts. The current Outback XT (2020 onward) uses a 2.4-litre turbo boxer. The factory repair manual for your Outback covers your exact engine, the turbocharger removal, oil leak repair points, every torque value and the wiring diagrams.
Our manuals are the manufacturer’s own service information for your VIN, delivered as a PDF with working hyperlinks: click a step in the index, or a connector in a wiring diagram, and you go straight to it. No scanned pages, no guessing.
