club.liberty.asn.au

Last year I had Subaru look at my Outback as the engine sign and cruise control started flashing.

They said the catalytic converters were the issue. They reset the computer and sent me on my way, but first said it would cost me $5,100 to replace.

It's happened twice since and I've had the computer reset each time.

Last time it happened though, the engine was shuddering - especially upon acceleration. Then the engine sign/cruise control started flashing and the engine seemed to act as normal.

Trying to decide what to do. Asked my mechanic who referred me to a muffler guy who said Subarus are the only car he cannot fix. Said even the scanners used by other specialists to check the converters aren't specific enough to tell which converter is the problem - only Subaru can do that apparently.

SO. My car's market value is about $10,000 if I'm lucky and I really don't see the value in paying half it's worth to replace the converters. Any suggestions as to alternative options bar selling it?

On the whole it has been an awesome car. It has just over 200,000kms on it and I didn't really want to get rid of it - but if there's no other options, I might have to

Plenty of people have had this problem, the easiest solution is to take it to an exhaust shop and get them replaced with aftermarket ones. It should cost you about $500 I think which is considerably cheaper.

Your issues could also be caused by a faulty O2 sensor so you're probably best to replace those as well if the problem persists

If your finances are a bIt tight it may even pay you to ask on here if anyone has any spare cats lying around that they don't want, plenty of people on here have upgraded there exhaust systems so I would think someone would have some gathering dust As far as O2 sensors are concerned if required they can be purchased on eBay a lot cheaper than going to the Subaru stealer (dealer). As long as the car has been and is continued to be well serviced you should still have plenty of life in the old girl yet

OK well Subaru have looked at it and here is the feedback:

Found both front catalyst to be in memory
Found cats to be no longer functioning within specs
Would require replacement of front exhaust section and gaskets to rectify

I'm taking it to my own mechanic tomorrow for their verdict but if you have any other thoughts, please let me know - I'm going to relay what you guys said too.

Hoping by resetting the computer but not having anything else done I haven't damaged the cats further

Thanks guys, to be continued...

The reason why Subaru is so expensive (apart from being expensive) is that the headers and cats are one piece (from memory).

If you O2 sensors are screwed, I've got spare ones that are fine that I can give you for a very cheap price. I don't have a need for them and would prefer them going to someone on here rather than just selling them randomly!

You could actually get the Raptor headers and aftermarket cats for wayyy cheaper than the price they gave you if you want to start going down the modification route