I’m looking at a 99 Subaru Forester 5 speed 170 miles car looks pretty good shape. The guy with the car said he changed the clutches in it and later he started to hear I a ticking sounds.
i asked if the sound got louder when he pressed the throttle but he said it got better. So my first thought was maybe an exhaust leak?
my question is he wants 1000 but what should I offer or is that a fair deal?
would you risk it to see if it’s just an exhaust leak?
or any suggestions on what to check out? Thanks!
Without a proper inspection, on a car of that age and mileage, you're basically rolling the dice. It could be a decent ride, or it could be on its last legs. I also would not put much stock in what has supposedly been done or not done without service records and/or receipts to back it up.
All that said, it's pretty darn hard to go wrong at $1000 for a running car. Especially in today's market. If it got you back and forth to work for say, 5 or 6 months, it would have more than paid for itself at that point. And if it turned out to be a total cowpie, there's always the junkyard or a charity auction to get some of that money back.
So, up to you. I really would recommend getting the car inspected, though.
Subarus of that vintage are very prone to blowing head gaskets. That's an expensive (thousands of dollars) engine-out repair. That's in addition to the usual problems that you'd run into with a 25-year-old car. Unless there are service records showing head gasket replacement fairly recently I'd run away.
