Oil leak on driveway took me to regular repair shop I've trusted for years. They claimed total rebuild of leaking head gasket, (reported on estimate as left cylinder head seeping, right cylinder head leaking engine oil)

Plus they want to repair/replace: full power steering, rack and pinion, major tune up, water pump, all hoses, parts, AND front end alignment..on and on…. incl. labor at an astounding $4700 total..cost kept going up as I feel they got greedy and high pressured me to get it fixed immediately.

I have kept maintenance on the car at the same shop…and nothing showed up until now?

I asked an experienced mechanic neighbor if this sounded right to him, who jacked it up, looked under thoroughly and saw the Oil FILTER WAS LEAKING DUE TO BEING LOOSE. AS SOON AS HE TIGHTENED IT NO MORE LEAKS. NOTHING!

HE SHOWED ME ALL HOSES, ENGINE PART ARE DRY AND CLEAN..THERE MAY BE VERY SLIGHT SEEP/LEAK WITH HEAD GASKET, as this is a KNOWN failure with this model.

I am now taking the car to Subaru dealer to inspect and confirm severity, it may be just the engine oil leak onto the heads?

NO head gasket should leak this much oil, and my shop DID NOT catch this, never touched the filter!…which was an instant fix! Paying for a major inspection and them missing this makes me suspicious too.

For a 10 year old car, low mileage, only driven around town, and maintained the neighbor is saying this may not be needed IMMEDIATELY, nor all the various replacements needed along with it. Better to invest in a newer car, than toss this much $$$ ..especially if I can't get them to use better gaskets as sold by LIC Motorsports(see below)

The dealer shop may have to advise this repair also for a KNOWN FAIL, but as I've learned at this site: http://www.licmotorsports.com/blog/2014/01/30/dreaded-subaru-head-gasket-issue?page=1 using the SAME gaskets is a total MISTAKE.

I do not want to invest this money on a car I plan to replace in ~3 years. I have NO issues, no red lights, no smells, no overheat, oil isn't steadily being overused, no overuse of coolant, no problems..it RUNS great..but faces this head gasket issue in future.

I may risk to continue driving locally ~60 miles a week average…and only repair LATER if a real leak shows up.

Any advise from WISER minds appreciated.

I bought this car gently used and in pristine condition in 2010, it was <40K mile then…and I am not stressing this car on hard drives. I'd rather NOT invest in an old car, knowing others have continued problems even after fixing!

As a retired senior I only need the car for around town driving, no big trips. Minor body scrapes, damage, cosmetic and paint issues don't bother me. Spending almost $5K does.