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Comments
While on the subject of brakes, does anyone know the definitive trigger for the ABS system? I find that at slow speeds (<15 mph), I can sometimes lock up the brakes and trigger ABS and sometimes.... it just slides.
With the OE Duelers on the Forester, I felt the ABS kicked in way early. Once I got new tires the problem went away.
-juice
Senario 1: I get the characteristic "thwumpety thwumpety thuwumpety" of ABS and I jiggle my way to a near stop then crawl to where I want to stop. All's good.
Scenario 2: The brakes continue to lock up; ABS refusing to engage. I resort to '69 Chevy mode and nurse the car to a stop, wondering why ABS was so stubborn this time, yet worked perfectly the last 5....
Is there a minimum speed at which ABS will consistently function? I have never had the problem of ABS not working when I lock up the brakes at 60 50 40 30 or even 20 mph and run the vehicle all the way to a stop (By the way, the OBW stops impressively fast from 60-0 on ice)... but it is usually at the slow speeds where I really need it to work consistently because that's when I am driving in traffic and in stop/go situations.
I hope no one thinks this is untimely or off-topic. It may be mid-fall in most of the US, but it really is winter here in Fairbanks, AK. We had a high yesterday of 16F and that felt very good compared to this morning's temperature of 0....
Craig
-juice
-mike
DaveM
Thanks all for reply's
Mike in South Jersey .
Craig
CRaig
The Legacy/Outback is not a heavy car that rapid wear should be expected. I agree with earlier comments suggesting questionable quality.
Gordon
Jopopsy
2005 models are also lighter, which puts less strain on the brakes, so odds are the 2.5i will be fine.
-juice
-juice
Is there an easy way to replace the clips (if so, how to remove?) or fix them (add another piece of plastic or something???
Thanks!
Matt
There are about 5-6 pop-clips to hold the door panel on.
Which rubber seal are you referring to?
Craig
pushed in and out several times (I imagine they would eventually fatigue and break).
Question is, how do I remove them from the door panel - do they twist outlike a bayonet mount?
Thanks!
Matt
I have some pics of the door and door panel here (from my 02 Bean):
http://members.cox.net/craig.hunter/window/
These show a rear door.
Craig
Many Thanks!
Matt
1.I was wondering if their are any reliablilty issue with the turbo
after ,say, 100k miles.
2.Does most of the turbo components have to removed
to replace something on the engine, like a alternator, causing more labor time?
3. Frame less windows. Do they seal well or do you have a lot of wind noise?
Any input would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
The turbo is down near the rear passenger side of the engine. It's pretty much out of the way of everything else. Only time you'd need to remove the turbo is for major engine work.
I'd say 3-5% of the cars have wind noise problems from the factory but this can easily be corrected by adjusting the angle of the glass and seal. My last two Subarus have been fine in that regard, but my wife's 03 Forester needed a little adjustment.
Craig
Karl
efland: Subaru has been building turbo engines for years now, most recently with the WRX, Forester XT, Baja Turbo, WRX STi and now the Outback XT and Legacy GT. That's a lot of turbo engine experience!
Same here with the frameless windows. My 98 Forester after 6 years had no problems with the seal.
Ken
Any chance you have pics of the front door clip locations (when you did the gusset replacement)? Rear door pics are excellent!
Replacing my auto day/night compass mirror tomorrow.
Thanks,
Ralph
Also, it was 35°F this morning. As I drove down the street in regular mode, the transmission was having trouble shifting as if it was having trouble getting fluid..until the car warmed up.
Are these normal quirks?
Thanks!
My wife's car will occasionally have some wind noise, but when we lower and raise the window again it stops.
Hasn't happened often enough that we've even bothered having it looked at.
-juice
Not sure about the smell, are you sure it's auto trans fluid? There have been a wide range of odors that people notice, and some only appear in certain weather conditions or when you drive differently.
You may smell a slight whiff of burning clutch when driving in the snow with lots of slippage, or driving on winding roads with lots of tight curves. That would be the clutch pack in the center diff doing its job, and is normal.
Then there's the smell of undercoating burning off the exhaust, which usually goes away after some long trips (where the exhaust really warms up). That's normal.
Some people have gotten a rotten-egg smell from the exhaust, which is not normal. A burning auto-trans smell would also not be normal! So if it continues, have it checked out. As a first cut, maybe check the AT fluid level.
Craig
The bezel is a real pain to get out. My advice would be to pull it out by the upper/outer edges in any way you can without damaging the plastic or door panel. The bottom of it has a locking tab, so don't bother prying there!
Craig
I did the gusset repair on my wife's Forester, not my Bean. So I never had to open the front door of the Bean. I would guess that the clip locations are similar front to rear, but you probably won't know until you pull the panel off!
Craig
Thanks for the excellent pictures and explanation for adjustments. I have the Subaru body service manual, but your pictures are much more clear.
Now I know who to go to for good illustrations (in addition to juice)!
Jim
I had this same problem on my 1999.
I sprayed WD-40 on the mechanism. You can acess
it through a small access door in the rear door
panel, or even up under the latch itself.
Sam.
I am out of the country now on business. The owners manual is in the car. Subaru.com wants you to PURCHASE the pdf file to view the owners manual, etc....online. My new Honda Pilot (04), isnt like this at Honda.com. So that bothers me. The Subaru.com website was no help.
I am assuming that the battery icon light being illuminated means that the battery is now discharging (running the car electrically). Which means that the alternator has died. My intentions are to, provided the belt is tight and in good shape and the battery is filled correctly with water, to replace the alternator.
Anyone out there know for sure what it means with that battery icon light illuminated? And can anyone hazard a guess as to why the brake icon light came on at the same time?
Also, I understand there has been a recall on alternators on some years. Any one have any access to that?
Thanks in advance! Your replies would greatly help my return to the country and getting my car back on the road in a timely fashion!
CRaig
I had this happen on my 96 Outback. At the time, the car was out of warrantee, and I paid out of pocket for the repair. When I recieved the recall notice, I was able to submit the receipt to SOA for full reimbursement. The dealer also inspected the new alternator to make sure it was not one of the defective batch.
Good luck! Rob M.
It was the word BRAKE that was illuminated. I too, think that is the parking brake light. Which I triple checked to make sure it was off. It was. But I think that light has a dual function. Both parking brake on light and brake malfunction light.
I too, feel that it is the alternator. When I get back in tonight, like I said, I am going to check for the belt tightness and condition, and make sure the battery has water in it. I'm almost positive that all is ok in these areas, so it is a dead alternator.
I was wondering if anyone knew why the brake light came on at the same time. Maybe just a queertron.
The lights.... hmm. After I pulled the engine last summer and did some work on it, I was driving down to Anchorage and the dash lights came on.... the brake light first, then the ABS, then all of them in unison, then all of the guages/lights died about a moment prior to the engine. All in all, this took about oh, a minute? Maybe less. After a quick check over, I found that one of the wiring harnesses to the alternator had slipped loose. I plugged it in, flagged down the next passersby to jump it, and away we all went with no more problems. Perhaps the BRAKE light on your car did come on due to the strained electrical supply... ?
Came back into town. All looked good under the hood. Had a buddy meet me there. Started it up, drove it 8 miles on battery power to the dealer and left it.
Dealer gets it. Says it wouldn't start...so I barely made it. Hmmmmm...
Let me say, they are pretty slick people down here in Miami. I wouldn't trust them as far as could throw them.
So what lead me to the $1050.00 bill I let him charge me?
I had an oil leak at the camshaft. So I said fix that. Then he said he might as well change the timing belt while he was there. I said ok. One thing lead to another and the list was like this:
-new battery (was leaking acid)
-new rear brakes
-new camshaft seals
-new timing belt
-new alternator
-complete engine oil/sludge flush
-TBI flush (Throttle Body Injector Valve or something like that)
-fuel injectors flushed
-new fuel filter
-new air filter
-new spark plugs
-new spark wires
-detailed inside and out
Whatever. I plan on keeping the car. For at least another 5 years. Until the 04 Honda Pilot is paid off. I bought it new and I am the only owner. So he got me for a little (lot).
As far as the battery icon and brake light illuminating simultaneously, he said that was how he knew that immediately that it wasn't my battery. He said that as time would have gone on, and the battery went lower and lower on juice, it would eventually end up that all the caution/warning lights would be on. That the system would give up the monitoring of each of these systems at some point, turning the light on.
This, "load shedding", while it exists in airplanes, gee.....I don't know about in a car. Maybe in todays cars. But possibly not a 1997.
The car didn't need to be flushed as I always change the oil.
The timing belt didn't need to be changed until 105k. But he was in there anyway.
He says he is, "fighting for me", with subaru, because the vin number of my car is out of the zone of vin #'s affected by the alternator warranty. 96 and 97's were recalled, but not all in those years, I guess.
But he isn't fooling me. He is charging me for it.
In the end, the dealer will (hopefully) do everything correctly. And I will have another 5 years of hassle free driving. The car has caused me no problems. Zero. So maybe it deserves a little tlc.
Or, I could just be trying to talk myself into the fact that he probably got 500 more out of me than he needed to!
Time will tell.....
I did tell him I wanted all the old parts. So lets see.
How long ago did you swap that alternator out with one from Napa?
Now on to researching whether or not our 276000km OB is worth fixing the head gasket...