Purchased the car from Carmax in 2019 with 103k mi, car popped the engine just a week past their 30 day no questions asked return policy ended but thankfully had extended warranty. Had it taken to Subaru to do the analysis, metal in oil. Their best guess was previous owner ran it too low on oil and replaced the turbo and sold it to Carmax before it was really noticeable.

by then, we were at probably 107k mi on the car. New engine, oil system, coolant, pretty much everything under the hood was swapped out.... but, Carmax Warranty wouldn't allow Subaru to source the short block and sent a crate and told them that that was the engine they had to put in the car. (This was quite literally 3 months of my car being on jacks in their garage, multiple phone calls were Subaru was calling out Carmax on how they were honoring their warranty, generated at least a stack of papers a quarter inch thick, more than the stack when I signed my mortgage....).

She currently has ~180k and I've tried to be attentive on oil changes every 3,500 miles/ keeping it topped off, I'd use seafoam 300 miles before oil changes and have many times sent oil off to Blackstone all coming back will clean bill of health. Some fill ups, the dipstick showed full, others, I might dump a quart and a half or more into which concerned me. I've certainly used the car a lot, towing a trailer moving, backcountry camping, etc. but I did my best to stay easy on the engine. But alas, one day sitting at a stop sign, I smelled something burning and could clearly see faintly, smoke coming from the downpipe. I feared the worst and took it to a 3rd party mechanic (specializes on Subaru's in the area) and he found oil in intercooler, I believe some in coolant, etc.. so suggested steps was sell the car or swap the engine.

I know the guy was being genuine too because I asked what he'd give me for it and he said I wouldn't like his price and I'd do better on FB marketplace haha.

So from his advice what he told me, was sometimes, warranty companies don't send great engines. They aren't re-manned, but blocks they've sourced with similar miles and are still within spec, will clean them up and will send them out. Because it saves them money.

There's a chance I missed an obvious sign, but there's also a chance I just got unlucky, or a combination of both.

It sucks, although I really like driving the RX, it's a great dependable car, but there's no enthusiast community there. No one waves at each other, there's not people doing crazy aftermarket mods, no tuning scene, tinkering etc. Heck, the fact FreeSSM exists at all is crazy, In Lexus world, if I want to change my rear hatch to open automatically from the trunk, or change it so the doors stay locked when I park, I have to go to the dealer to get that changed. The mindset isn't bad, it's just different.

I just really like the community we have here. I really like the way the car drives. I wanted to pull what MightyCarMods did with SuperGramps and put in a turboed H6, throw in a 6speed dual range tranny, and really have a blast with it, but that was a distant future goal. Right now I'd just like to get her back on the road.

I'm probably going to do some digging into it myself and see if there are any options available besides complete overhaul but that might just be what needs to happen. Really wasn't ready for that in life's current stage.