Have Subaru sorted the EE20 diesel?

[Konan]

I'm wondering if Subaru have corrected the issues they had with the boxer Diesel. I know there where plenty of horror stories with bottom end / crank snapping etc etc - even early on and low mileage cars. The problem with a lot of these things is that, even after revisions made by the manufacture may have mitigated serious issues, it's hard to then shake the reputation.

I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any steps taken by Subaru to rectify the problems (e.g. I heard something about poor coating on early canks). If so, do we know if they're effective?

The reason I ask is that I often keep an eye on eBay spares and repairs as a measure of cars with common issues..... Ford 1.6 TDCi?... half a page of dead engines. There have always been a good selection of low milage Diesel outbacks in need of serious engine work. However, my impression is that these appear to dry up some time after mid 2010.

I guess, in summary, I'm asking 'Are later (say 2011 onward) boxer diesels reasonably reliable?'

[sfella]

In a nutshell yes the later cars are much improved. Don't have the technical reasons why but am good friends with a Subaru specalist dealer who won't but early diesels for the reasons you say but will buy later cars even with higher miles.

[rovermorris999]

I was talking to a Subaru service manager about the diesel a while back. He said that there were two main problems. One was too much sealant being used in certain areas on assembly which partially blocked some oilways causing accelerated wear, the other was the wrong torque settings specified on crankshaft journals. Both apparently fixed.

[Konan]

Interesting to know. Thanks.

I'm looking at cutting down on vehicles by merging a Yaris SR 1.8 and an Old 4.0 Cherokee XJ into one car.

I want to keep something that can tow and access farm tracks but with Yaris economy, which points to the diesel but I'm already mindful of leaving the safety of two very reliable vehicles and entering a world of DPFs, DMFs and oil dilution, so snapped cranks is not something I want on the list!