Other engine problem on the 1998 Subaru Outback
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other engine problem gets reported
There are 10 reports of other engine problem on the 1998 Subaru Outback, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 56,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 28 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 38; the 1998 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
My subaru outback has dripped a little oil from the front ever since I bought the car new and had a burning smell. I took it back 2 times in the first year but they didn't do anything except tell me it was transit paint burning off. I took it back when I was 1000 miles out of my warranty because it was worse and smelled burning more. They told me it was the oil pump seal but wouldn't cover it under warranty. They said if I had been having regular work done through the dealer they might have been able to work something out. Since then it is worse and the burning smell is very bad. I know of 2 other subaru legacy's with the same problem and a $500 to $700 fix. I was also told by a mechanic that there have been some fires in subarus due to this problem and dripping on the catalytic convertor.*ak
Catastrophic failure of a major engine component which is considerably outside the expected statistical failure rate(based on my research of complaints by other purchasers of this model subaru automobile), resulting in significant costs to repair. At approximately 56000 miles the head gaskets on my 1998 subaru outback with the 2.5l engine failed.the cost to repair was $ 1880.00. I contacted subaru in an effort to get them to absorb at least part of the cost since the car was well within the mileage warranty period, but was slightly outside the time warranty.their response was sorry tough luck. I indicated to subaru that a component of this nature with such a high failure rate, was obviously due to a significant design or manufacturing defect.their response was, again, they were not goint to do anything about it. Someone needs to put pressure on subaru to make this a recall item.*ak
Complaint is for subaru of america. I own a 98 subaru legacy outback and the cooling system malfunctioned and the head gaskets blew. I looked online and there are hundreds of owners on a multitude of sites who are experiencing or have experienced this exact problem. Clearly the problem is with the vehicle and not any owner's operation of the vehicle, and therefore the corporation who has caused its customers expense should bear the burden financially for fixing this problem. *tr
Also reported on the 1998 Subaru Outback
Head gasket failure
Other speed control problem
Other powertrain problem
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other body or interior problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 10 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 1998 Subaru Outback?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 1998 Subaru Outback?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed