Subaru Repair and Service in Arvada, CO

Subarus make up a good chunk of our weekly workload — probably 30-40% of the cars on our lifts at any given time. That's not an accident. Arvada and the Front Range are Subaru country, and these cars need a shop that knows the platform inside and out. We've been working on EJ and FA/FB engines for over 15 years, from bone-stock Outbacks to 500+ wheel horsepower STIs.

If you own a WRX, STI, Legacy GT, or Forester XT, you already know these aren't just commuter cars. They respond well to modifications, but they also punish lazy tuning and deferred maintenance. The EJ257 in the STI is a strong engine, but it doesn't forgive ignored oil changes or a boost leak at 20 psi. The FA20DIT in the newer WRX is more efficient, but it has its own quirks — carbon buildup on the intake valves being one of them.

On the naturally aspirated side, we see plenty of Outbacks, Foresters, and Crosstreks in for routine service and the issues that come with Subaru's boxer engine layout. Head gasket failures on the EJ25 (2.5L non-turbo) are still the most common major repair we do on 2000-2010 models. If your coolant level keeps dropping and there's no visible leak, that's the first thing we check. We also see a lot of oil consumption complaints on the FB20 (2012+ Impreza, Crosstrek) and FA20 engines — some of these burn a quart every 1,500 miles from the factory, and there are actual fixes beyond just topping it off.

This is where Cryotune started, and it's still what we're best known for. Dave Bigley is a certified COBB Protuner — one of the few in Colorado — and has been tuning Subarus professionally for over 15 years. We tune WRX, STI, Legacy GT, and Forester XT on our Mustang AWD dynamometer, and we also offer e-tuning for Subaru owners who aren't local to the Denver metro.

For most WRX and STI owners, a protune on the COBB Accessport is the single best mod you can do. A proper protune on a bolt-on WRX (intake, downpipe, exhaust) usually picks up 40-60 wheel horsepower over the off-the-shelf map. More importantly, the tune is dialed for your specific car, your mods, your fuel, and our altitude. Off-the-shelf maps are written for sea-level conditions and generic hardware — they leave power on the table and sometimes run dangerously lean up here at 5,000+ feet.

We also build and tune bigger power Subarus. Rotated turbo kits, built EJ257 short blocks, flex fuel setups on E85 — we've done hundreds of these. If you're planning a build, talk to us before you buy parts. We'll save you money and headaches by spec'ing a parts list that actually works together. We see too many cars come in with mismatched components that don't play well together.

For the FA20DIT WRX (2015+), we tune via COBB Accessport as well. These engines respond well to an intake, a j-pipe, and a tune. Flex fuel kits are a popular add-on — E85 drops intake temps and lets us run more timing. Expect 280-310 wheel horsepower on a bolt-on FA20DIT with E85, depending on the turbo and supporting mods.

Dave's COBB Protuner certification means your tune is written by someone who's been factory-trained on the Accessport platform and the Subaru ECU. He's also EFI University certified, which covers the fundamentals of fuel injection tuning and calibration across all platforms. That combination of brand-specific and general tuning knowledge matters when you're pushing an EJ257 past stock power levels.

On the repair side, we've done enough Subaru head gaskets, timing belts, and turbo replacements to have the job times dialed in. A timing belt service on an EJ engine takes us about 4 hours — we replace the belt, tensioner, both idler pulleys, and the water pump as a kit. We don't cut corners on this job because a failed timing belt on an EJ engine bends every valve in the head.

We also have Subaru-specific scan tools (Subaru Select Monitor) in addition to our general diagnostic equipment. This matters for diagnosing AWD faults, reading knock learn values, and checking fuel trims on turbo models. A generic OBD2 scanner misses a lot of Subaru-specific data.