The Windkey and the Lamplighter

I bought my car, a 2001 Outback, in May 2006 after my Toyota Corolla
got crushed by an SUV. I didn’t do a lot of shopping around among
dealerships—I looked at Craigslist, but I picked CitySide Subaru
because they were the closest dealership to me.

This is not a good way to pick a dealership.

I made some mistakes in not noticing things about the car—a tear in
the seat, scratches on the back windshield—but as those were all
minor things, I wasn’t worried about it. After all, the dealer said
they did a 100 point service inspection, including checking all the
fluid lines. What’s to worry about?

Apparently, a lot. The headlights burned out (shorted out?) the first
day I drove the car to work. That was merely annoying, since the
dealer’s service department fixed them promptly and for free.
But, only a couple months later, the car overheated while I was
driving through Harvard Square, and started overheating frequently.
The dealer replaced a thermocouple and gave it back, for like $200.
That did seem to fix the issue, at least temporarily.

Next, though, the power steering fluid started leaking. Power
steering fluid isn’t something I check very often, so I was totally
out before I realized something was wrong. No fun. But it was just a
leak in the lines… yes, the lines the dealer said they checked in
that 100 point inspection. Yargh. $300 to Local Mechanic (who seemed
competent) as by this point I’m quite upset by CitySide’s apparent
lies about the pre-sale inspection.

Between when I discovered the power steering fluid problem and when I
got it fixed, the car started overheating again. Great, so now I’m
carrying around power steering fluid and radiator fluid. Local
Mechanic can’t find the problem, but it’s magically cured for a couple
days after he replaced the power steering lines. Okay, I’m fine with
magical symbiotic car systems, as long as it works.
But it stops working shortly after, and I’m rapidly to the point where
it not only overheats every time I drive to or from work and get stuck
at a long light, it overheats while I’m just driving along. The day I
took it to the new dealership, it overheated three times in 10 miles.

Enter Village Subaru. I called them on a recommendation from a
coworker, who said she’d had her oil changed there and they were nice
and didn’t get anything obviously wrong. They got the car in that day,
and as soon as I described the problem to the guy at the desk, he said
"Hrm, sounds like the head gasket, but we’ll check it out and call
you." By the time they’d called me, they’d not only already fixed the
head gasket, they’d also replaced the corroded terminal on my battery.
They also found the recall that covered the cost of replacing the head
gasket if radiator fluid were leaking (which it was), so my total cost
was $14. Yes, $14, for the aforementioned battery terminal. I
was thrilled, and will be taking the car back to them for oil changes
and when I actually do need the timing belt replaced. They made me
stop hating my car and regretting that I didn’t get a Toyota.

Thank you, Village Subaru