2007 forester multiple problems

Hi, All. Well all the crap just keeps piling up. Took car to dealer (has about 96K on it) to replace rear struts that rotted. Service advisor calls to tell me that there is a "noise in the transmission", "head gasket leaking coolant", and "catalytic converter going bad"(?). I'm shocked---this car is only driven by my wife to and from work (about 14miles/day) and when we go out on some weekends. It's never abused, gets all maintenance from Subaru dealer. Service guy and I had a long talk---we bought this car from another dealer a few years ago who eventually sold out because they were soooo bad. It was supposed to be a certified pre-owned car. What a joke. Our other mistake was buying it with a 6 year loan because we don't have enough income to carry a large monthly payment. So now we own a car with all these problems that cost more to fix than what we owe. Is there anything I can repair on my own (I'm old, not dead--67) at least till it's paid off or are we in a hopeless situation? We probably have about 6-8 mos. till paid off. Also, we need to get thru the winter as snow will be flying soon here in new england and my garage is unheated. All helpful suggestions appreciated---please no jokes or puns as we're in a serious financial bind right now. Thanks for any help.

you should be able to swap the rear struts and catalytic converter yourself with basic hand tools and a decent jack. the front and middle part of exhaust just unbolts and you can buy replacement ones on e-bay or places like rockauto. can also buy whats called a speedy strut that comes complete with spring and mounts all assembled and you just unbolt old one and bolt new one back in. also not sure what they mean by old ones rotted unless road salt has made them rust really bad. head gasket is not something i would tackle myself unless you are a good mechanic, they are a job to change. if the check engine light has not come on the catalytic converter cant be it to bad a shape. if it has come on do you happen to know the code number?

I am sad to hear about your problems!

"Transmission noise" sounds like the dealer wants to make some money. Unless you heard this noise yourself. For starters you can replace transmission fluid. It had to be done anyway. This job is fairly simple. Drain the old fluid and replace it three times with the new one. To be on the safe side use only Subaru ATF. I am not sure what ATF 2007 Forester uses but Subaru stuff should be safe to use.

The same approach I would use for the strut. If it works - leave it alone.

Head gasket is more complicated. I would seek the second opinion. Unfortunately you need to have some knowledge to verify it. If you cannot do it yourself a local garage may confirm it.

Good luck,
Sam

P.S. All this just confirms one more time that "certified" car is just another way to squeeze us for money!

Thanks guys! Turns out the bottom spring retainer on rear strut rotted enough that it was rubbing on top of tire and burning both rubber and retainer! Talking in person at dealership seems to be better than e-mail or phone. As for exhaust, he was talking about system overall being "weak" and needing junction gaskets replaced at minimum. Trans problem was a "heads up" to let us know there may be a problem sometime in near future. Actually, service manager was very accommodating by lowering price on strut install and offering to contact SOA about allowing head gasket replacement to us for free(?) because car has less than 100k on it. I never heard of this but as a "customer in good standing the dealership has this option as a show of good faith" according to him. If this is true then the only other expensive issues are the tranny and exhaust. He left the head gasket deal up to us but quantified by saying not to wait too long (100k or more) or that deal is off the table. So if we want to keep the car this sounds like a good option to extend time with it until it's paid off. I was told that tranny issue sounded like a bearing problem to tech so that's why they don't see trans as an immediate problem to fix. They don't feel that trans noise (we didn't notice any noise) was a worry unless noise gets worse or we start having serious problems with it. I hate to put more money into a 9 year old car but body is beginning to show signs of problems with rust so if we can get head repaired and exhaust fixed before winter is in full bloom here in new england it may be worth it to get us into spring of next year then look to trade or sell car. What do you all think?

Sounds very good.

The head gasket job will easily cost you over 1000 dollars. If they are going to do it for free I would take it. The only thing left is ATF. This a must maintenance procedure that often omitted. Like I said before this is a very easy job and if you do not want to pay for it you can do it yourself. The only cost will be the cost of fluid.

Good luck,
Sam

2014 Subaru. Not happy. First the bumper got somewhat dislodged within the first 6 months of buying the car new. Then the oil consumption issues. Now the studs on the wheels are needing replacing. Really?

Wheel studs usually only go bad if someone over or under tightened lug nuts