Deadly Serious Rear Frame Corrosion

castine

Our 2001 Forester at only 191,000 miles has met its end. After weeks of 'wandering' steering that I thought was in my mind or coastal wind or our frost-heaved roads Downeast, it was brought to the local AWD alignment guru. He refused to do any work on it since the main rear end frame had near rotted away.
The Subaru guys nearby diagnosed it it as close to "unrepairable at any price." We had hoped that for around $1500. or so it would be worth it. They also didn't want to do the work.
So, a caution for you salty road drivers : check your rear ends.
Guess we'll have to go Prius AWD (sic).

billmx

I have a 2001 outback that my local shop has identified with the same issue .... rotted rear sub frame. He wanted no part of the project, and suggested that I go direct to the dealer, but after your experience I'm not too optimistic. I'm in new england also, and the car has been parked outside for the last 4 years or so.

We'll see what the dealer says.