We’ve gone on record time and again praising Subaru as one of the most reliable automakers on the market today. But, to say that the brand is infallible would be a flat out lie, as anyone who’s driven an older Subaru Forester will tell you. For the first two generations, these crossovers were known for oil leaks and catastrophic failure stemming from head gasket issues.
Modern Subaru Foresters aren’t without their concerns, but the SUV has come a long way in the last decade, and the head gasket failure isn’t the problem it used to be.
Naturally Aspirated 2.5-Liter EJs Were Almost Guaranteed To Fail
2003 – 2005 Subaru Forester – front 3/4 angleSubaru
Subaru’s most well-known head gasket issues occurred in the first and second-gen Foresters, stemming from some questionable design choices in the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter EJ25 engines. The gasket was a single-layer with a graphite coating, which was almost certain to blow at around 150,000 miles or so. You could almost set your, er, odometer to it.
Drivers wanting to get a bit more life out of their engine before taking it into the shop for an expensive repair could put the failure off, but failure was inevitable. You could squeeze a few more miles out of the gasket by keeping your coolant fresh, keeping corrosion off the car battery, and ensuring that you weren’t overheating the engine, but you were only delaying the inevitable.
Thankfully, swapping in a multi-layer steel head gasket, as seen in the turbocharged engines, could prevent the worst of it. But, that’s a fix that could cost up to $3,500 to have done professionally (or as little as $500 if you know how to do the job yourself).
You can avoid the problem entirely by buying a turbocharged Subaru Forester, but this comes with its own reliability concerns, and turbocharged engines are generally not expected to last as long as comparable NA powerplants.
Later EJ Engines Were Better, But Not Perfect
2011-2013 Subaru ForesterSubaru
Subaru went with multi-layer steel head gaskets for later second-gen, and all third-gen models, but the solution wasn’t perfect, and leaks and failure could still occur.
Checking out some reports from CarComplaints, we see blown head gasket complaints still occurring in the 2010 model. Five of six complaints report replacing the head gasket at a cost of $2,920, and an average failure mileage of 97,450 miles.
The head gasket is responsible for sealing the combustion chambers and maintaining pressure. At the very least, a damaged head gasket results in loss of automotive power. Left unchecked, you’re going to be spilling oil and burning your engine to death, or experiencing hydrolock as coolant leaks into the combustion chamber. A blown head gasket is about as serious a problem as an engine can have.
The Fourth-Gen Forester Switched Over To A New Engine For 2014
A 2014 Subaru Forester driving on a paved road through the desert.Subaru
After wrestling with the EJ series for years, Subaru ultimately solved the problem by simply packing a different engine into the Forester. The automaker started phasing out the EJ towards the end of the third generation, and, by the start of the fourth generation, all Foresters were powered by FB and FA powerplants.
All of these engines feature multi-layer stainless steel head gaskets, and they get a layer of specialized sealant on key areas. As a result, these gaskets are even more difficult to replace, but, with proper care, you shouldn’t have to replace them. It takes a lot of neglect to break a head gasket in a 2014 or later Subaru Forester.
The Fourth-Gen Forester Has Its Issues, But The Head Gasket Is Solid
Looking at early fourth-gen Foresters, the most common problem, by a wide margin, is excessive oil consumption. If you were buying your second Forester in 2014, you likely would have seen the low oil indicator light up and thought, “Not this again!” Thankfully, the issue had nothing to do with the head gasket this time around.
In the name of fuel-efficiency, Subaru built these engines with looser tolerances, which means freer piston movement and less friction… and excessive oil burn as a feature, not a bug. Check your tailpipe, and you’ll see a steady, slow drip as the oil mixes in with the gas and burns in the cylinders.
Subaru says it’s normal to go through a quart of oil in 5,000 miles or so, so all you can really do is keep your oil topped up, right? Sure, that’s one option. But, some Subaru Forester drivers have reported success using higher viscosity oil, like a synthetic 5w30, to slow the oil loss in older FA and FB engines. In fact, this is exactly what Subie guru MrSubaru1387 recommends, even if it’s not what the owner’s manual says. Our advice is to just make sure your Forester is out of warranty before you do this.
You trade off a bit of fuel economy when you up the oil viscosity, but you’re losing maybe one mile per gallon, which ultimately comes out to less money spent on oil, for a little more money spent on gas, and a lower likelihood of overheating your engine when it runs out of oil.
Buy Anything From 2014 Or Later, And You Should Be Fine
2014 subaru forester xt front quarterSubaru
The head gasket issues affecting earlier Subaru Foresters can be managed, but they’re not worth the trouble. You don’t want to buy a used Forester and immediately put $3,000 of work into it to swap out the head gasket when you could have just gone with a 2014 model and spent less money in total for the purchase.
Our price-tracking tool sees an entry-level 2014 Forester trending at just $9,080, from an MSRP of $21,995. Checking in with our marketplace, we were able to find the following fourth and fifth-gen listings.
- A 56,833-mile 2017 2.5i Limited is selling for $18,788 in South Carolina.
- A 57,125-mile 2018 Touring is selling for $16,894 in Florida.
- A 124,905-mile 2014 2.0XT Premium is selling for $13,995 in Alabama.
- A 156,324-mile 2014 2.5i Limited is selling for $6,450 in Georgia.
- A 96,690-mile 2014 2.5i Premium is selling for $8,995 in Florida.
Note that these listings are only provided to give you an idea of what’s out there. There’s no telling what will be available in your area, and in your price range, by the time you’re ready to shop around.
In any event, there are a lot of people out there trying to dump high-mileage Subarus, but low-mileage models are cheap enough that there’s no reason to spend $10,000 on something with six digits on the odometer.
Fourth-Gen Subarus Are Mostly Hassle-Free
A 2014 Subaru Forester parked in the desert in front of a rock wall.Subaru
RepairPal estimates a 2014 Subaru Forester to cost around $632 a year in maintenance, with the following accounting for the most expensive common fixes:
- Transmission fluid change $443–$487
- AC recharge $250–$336
- Drive axle assembly drain & refill $170–$217
- Wheel alignment $155–$227
- Electrical system diagnosis $122–$179
Full coverage on a Forester, assuming a 40-year-old driver with good credit and a clean record, should come out to around $2,035 a year, according to CarEdge, and keeping it fueled up should cost you $2,300 a year, according to FuelEconomy.gov.
All told, this adds up to an annual ownership cost of $4,967. Your numbers will certainly vary, of course. You’re probably not going to bother with full coverage on a 12-year-old SUV, and the EPA’s estimate of 15,000 miles a year, split 45/55 between highway and city driving, might not match your own mileage. But, a typical driver, with full coverage, will be spending just under $5,000 to own and operate a 2014 Subaru Forester.
The bottom line is that, whether you want to baby your new-to-you Subaru Forester, or drive it like a throwaway, it’s not an expensive car to buy, and it’s not an expensive car to maintain, just so long as you stay away from those pre-2014 naturally aspirated models.
Sources: Subaru, RepairPal, CarEdge, FuelEconomy.gov, MrSubaru1387, CarComplaints.
