Know how you feel mate. Our Lib RX had the tell tale signs back in June time last year. The local mechanic broke the pricing down to give us the worst case scenario so we got Subaru to quote us which was 1K cheaper. Decided to commit and get it fixed. $2800 later and she is running like a dream. Have put her through an SAU DECA event as well with no probs.
Unfortunately the problem with our RX (98 model) was the whole engine had to come out to take the heads off to replace the gaskets. Fortunately it turned out to be just the gaskets and nothing more. They were $800 for the two gaskets and $2K in labour.
Ah well, cars, gotta love em. Just clicked 205,000 the other day so has had a good innings.
Hope you get it sorted for a reasonable price dude.