Estimated costs for out of warranty repair work?
 

I still have two years of power train warranty left on my car and still dealing with a small timing cover seepage and clanking clutch but the car is still perfectly driveable otherwise, just minor annoyances that I'm hoping will be addressed and resolved before the warranty expires. I actually was going to go with a new 16 WRX Limited but after test driving one tonight, it disappointed on almost every level so now I'm back and committed to keeping the BRZ. Jotting down the annual costs of keeping the BRZ vs buying a new car also made the decision so much easier to keep the BRZ as well.

SO now I'm curious what the estimated costs might be for repair work that users have paid out of pocket. Just feel like this will help prepare me for if that time comes.

I passed through a local shop's thread (Evasive) and they're quoting $500 for a clutch replacement and $1700 for a timing cover reseal. Doesn't seem that bad. If services are $1000-1500 max, I can deal with it as I'm planning to allocate the $500/mo payments I'm making now to a savings fund for car maintenance/future car down payment.

When I had a BMW, there were quite a few shops specializing in BMW repair work. Probably an Orange County thing haha. But aside from Evasive (which is far IMO at 21mi), there are no other shops nearby that I've heard of and will msot likely have to resort to going to the nearest Subaru dealership 10 miles away. Having an authorized Subaru place work on the car isn't that bad right? I'll have to call to get some quotes on similar service from Evasive to see if there are real savings to be had skipping the dealerships.

The point of this thread really is what services have you had done out of warranty and what was the cost?

It depends. If your car is stock dealer might not be so bad. If it is modified in any appreciable way I'd go to an independent shop. You are lucky Evasive is only 21 miles. I have to drive more than that to another state and across expensive tolls to go the AZP Installs for my car.

I have not encountered any maintenance costs on the BRZ other than oil changes, which have been very reasonable. But I have owned a few Subaru's, and again, costs are quite reasonable. Head gaskets were a common problem on the 2.5 liter engines, hopefully that won't be such a weak spot on the FA motor. If you are used to BMW maintenance costs, you will be pleasantly surprised.

2013 FR-S; 16,000 miles, 3 years old; so far, no maintenance costs other than oil and filter changes.


humfrz

I just had my front cover resealed under warranty. This is not something you should be paying out of pocket for.

As long as you are not boosted (NA w mods is fine), a front timing cover leak is something that warranty should cover easily.

As for the clutch, if you have the warranty work done and buy a clutch from the same dealer, chances are they'll install the clutch for you as the engine needs to be removed no matter what.

-alex

I've had the cover resealed once already but it's still seeping. Even after warranty and it's still seeping I'll just wipe it as I'm not seeing any oil drip at all currently.

Good call on the clutch, I have a feeling I'll bring it back within a year to another dealership to look at the clanking issue I'm having and will introduce the idea of me paying out of pocket for thr replacement clutch parts since they'll have it open. I'm thinking about the exedy oem stage 1 clutch rather than the stock subaru clutch, would dealerships be open to using non subaru parts while still under warranty?

Under official warranty documentation they are required to replace with oem equipment.

The dealer won't just "look at the clutch clanking issue and install a clutch for you at the same time". If they crack open the cover for inspection, they could find that there's nothing to warranty and charge you the basic diagnostic fee.

I mostly am trying to say: if you're going to have the front seal redone at some point, you should just try to have the same dealer do the clutch w/ OE parts purchased from the same dealer. If they are nice they won't charge you much to install, maybe an extra hour.

-alex

I've had different dealerships give me different offers, one said they'll look at it but if they find nothing they'll charge me. Another said they'll look at it but when they didn't find anything they just put it back and had me pick it up. But installing new parts does take more time, I'll try to haggle with them. Hiepfuilt it won't get to that point though.

The way I see it is this:

Legitimate warranty work = certain number of hours of work for the technician. Buying OEM parts from the dealer = profit for their parts department. Negotiate an additional hour or two of labor and both service adviser and technician wins on revenue.

Everyone wins.

-alex