Three problems related to power train have been reported for the 2003 Subaru Outback. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
After smelling leaking oil for many months, my mechanic confirmed that the head gasket is leaking. Oil is leaking down onto the exhaust creating a constant burning smell. I contacted Subaru and they are unwilling to address this in any way, despite the fact that the engine has been meticulously maintained and serviced.
Head gasket failure***** 2003 Outback **** this is not a new problem as four of the Subaru's we've owned had hg issues. Although in the past Subaru acknowledged the failures and repaired them under the wwp99 campaign (1998-2002 model years). While this failure continues to be widespread (just google Subaru head gasket problems and you'll get pages of complaints of hg failures) Subaru has stopped repairing them or even acknowledging there is a problem. This appears to be solely a cost saving strategy. When the gaskets fail, oil leaks outside the engine which contacts the exhaust system. The burning oil puts smoke and fumes inside the car. I would think this is also a fire concern. Inside the engine, oil and coolant mix and can cause catastrophic damage/failure. Is there anything I can do to get this repaired by Subaru? they seem to be getting away with a huge consumer injustice just by acting like it doesn't exist. Can they be required extent the champagne (wwp99) with the 03 and later models? Subaru clearly acknowledges a head gasket problem in previous years and later model years have the same failure.
I took my 2003 Subaru Outback in for regular oil change maintenance. The auto mechanic informed me that the engine was quite noisy and thought it might need valve adustments. We took it to the dealer thinking that the dealer would cover this under the warranty. We left the vehicle with the dealer to be checked out, their diagnosis was that the timing belt tensioner was defective. Being that our vehicle only had 27,000 miles on it, the maintenance mechanic said it was probably defective right from the factory. If we had not caught this at this time, it could have cause considerable about of damage to the timing belt or engine. The warranty covers 6 years on the powertrain, but the dealer would not cover this expense of this part.