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There's no white foam in the bottle. Also, no water in the oil. So far I have replaced the radiator, thermostat and the headgaskets. Have not replaced the water pump only because it's making no noise. My thoughts are to do a slow fill of the system with just water, the remove the output side of the hose from engine to radiator to see if water is indeed being pushed thru the engine. I did try forcing water back thry=u the engine via the output side but all I got was a lot of wet rags and water spewing back out of the hose. Saw very little water (trickle) coming out of the inpu side (lower left side of engine. Talked to a certified subaru mechanic. He said that water should have flowed from top to bottom without that much restriction? So, will fill it up and run it without the output hose disconnected to see what happens.
Wait, you did this with the thermostat removed on the input side and you still only got a trickle? There should have been a steady flow of as much water as you put in... no resistance. You definitely have a block somewhere. When the head gaskets were being replaced, did you or anyone check the coolant manifold to see if it may be gummed up somehow? I'd sure hate for the blockage to be in the engine block or heads....
One thought is to let it die and buy a another car when we absolutely need it. (Possibly in about a year) Right now, I just can't see putting the $ into a car we will rarely be using. However, on the other hand, we could do all the fixes and have a car that runs another 100,000 miles. I guess the real question is what's the worse case scenario if the front engine seals go? Is it worth taking the chance over the next couple of months?
Thanks,
To give you a comparison, my cam seals and valve cover gaskets (I think you have the same things leaking on yours) began leaking (noticably) about 3 months after I drove my car home from the dealership (Russ-Dean Ford in Pasco, WA). Mistakenly for me, I assumed competency at this dealership since my father had made many (new vehicle) dealings with them in the past without incident. But, they had overfilled the oil by AT LEAST a quart! Well, needless to say that even after discovering the problem only 300 miles into my ownership, it was too late. At first they just leaked a little (Oct '00), but by July of '03 I was having to put 3 quarts of oil in between every fuel up! That is about 1 quart every 100 miles. I was finally able to secure a friend's garage for a week to pull the engine and make the necessary repairs. This increase in leakage was gradual - there were no big jumps - but constant.
So, I imagine the course you are on to be similar to this. This is a scheduled repair, not an emergency. I would take that over a headgasket failure anyday!
My wife has a 2004 Outback Wagon. Tire size is 225x60-16. I have a great set of Camaro tires, size is 235 x 55 -16. anybody know if I can use 'em on the Subaru Outback?
Thanks,
guzda
-mike
It's easy, just 2 bolts.
VERY IMPORTANT - open the TOP bolt first, that's the fill hole, and if you can't get it out and have drained what's in there, you won't be able to fill it up unless you flip your car upside down. :surprise:
Inspect the fluid that you drain. I bet it's either clowdy, mikly, or black. It should have been changed twice by now but most people forget.
I had fluid in my Miata that looked more like milk chocolate than oil. At the time it was 8 years old, and just 26k miles, but still it was nasty.
Look there first. You only need 1 quart, about $4, so that's the cheap fix to try first. You may need an hand-held oil pump, about $8.
-juice
Found some instructions for you, this should be similar:
http://www.techguys.ca/howto/differential_fluid.html
You need one quart of 75w90 or 80w90.
-juice
Removing the plug was: position the breaker bar, set a jack to the handle of the breaker bar, raise the jack hoping the plug breaks free, if not, bounce on the car to apply additional downward pressure ... repeat the process with the drain plug. (It'll be much easier the next time around.)
Oh, if the breaker bar has too much play in the plug, use shims to reduce the play.
HTH,
Jim
diameter is actually smaller on your Camaro tires so thats ok except your speedo will be slightly off but not by anything significant.
width may be a problem though with rubbing issues, the 235s seem almost an inch wider than the 225s on most tire models of that size they carry at Tirerack which is surprising.
Thanks,
Jon
P.S. I still long for the days with the old Subies that you could put in true 4WD lo and hi.
Get a mini screwdrive under the center portion and pull out first, then pull put the body. Replace in reverse order - body first, then push in center to spread the tines.
Steve
The air from vents is not cold when AC is running, but I can hear it kick in when pushing AC button. Please help.
Thanks!
So I'd look for two separate problems here.
First problem I've ever had, save for that clacking below until the car warms up that everyone seems to get. Car has 145,000km on it. What do you think the dealor will say?
WHAT is going on?
It's under warranty... but still.... it's the weekend and if I am pulled over, I only get 24 hours to fix it.
I'm not going to pay for it myself after seeing how expensive they are.
Subaru should give us extra bulbs to keep in the car.
I have also found that the daytime running lights + parking lights are more then bright enough for night driving, and in many conditions you can actually see further this way (headlights through too much light in the foreground, which causes your pupels to constrict, limiting your sight of the further stuff - but just try it it works). Also this low power mode should also increase the life of the bulbs.
But also note that use of the daytime running lights + parking lights may be illegal in your state, though I don't know how anyone can tell.
So probably a clog or a bad water pump.
-juice
Pressurizing the cooling system, or a cylinder leakdown test, is way better IMO. You'd either see bubbles in the coolant tank, or (gulp) coolant on the spark plugs when you removed them.
I am surprised the shop that replaced your timing belt did not have the foresight to replace the water pump while it was torn apart!
Also it is not the timming belt, but a accesory belt, which commonly drives the alternator, power steering, airpump (emmission control), waterpump, compressor, and in some cars (not subies) a supercharger, if it breaks the car will still work, if the timming belt breaks you are dead in the water.
I'm told thermostats rarely fail but I still think it's strange to have it at the bottom of the engine. If it does fail, no coolant gets to the engine.
Jim
Did you consider a faulty sending unit? Perhaps the gauge or the temp sensor is not working correctly.
-juice
The sending unit is a possibility - especially if this really does happen randomly and has gone on for some time. :confuse:
Cruising along at 70 mph on cruise control.
Started to go slightly uphill and transmission abruptly downshifted, then almost immediately upshifted, everything started to shake and clatter, and then the check engine light started to flash.....then the engine dies and she was able to thankfully coast to the breakdown lane. Anyone who has driven route 95 south, north of Boston, can appreciate how lucky she was to make it over there in one piece.
Called me on her cell and I asked her to try a restart and tell me what it did. She did that and said it was very hard to turn over, and wouldn't start.
I got to her location in about 20 minutes and got the same results.
About 1/2 later the flatbed turned up and the car started for the flatbed driver, but sounded really "clanky". Even the flatbed operator commented, "That don't sound good". Also smelled of oil.
This engine had two of the pistons replaced about 3 months ago to correct the piston slap.
Since then it has swallowed about a quart and a half of oil. Last Sunday I did check the level. It was about 3/4's of the way between the L and H mark. The antifreeze level was good as well.
It's at the dealer this morning, and I'm waiting for them to call back.
I'm guessing a head gasket blew, overtemped the engine and seized it. But I didn't smell any antifreeze or see any smoke out of the tailpipe.
Just curious if anyone has any thoughts before the dealer calls me.
TIA
Larry
At one point Colin shared the proper procedure for torqueing down the head bolts - it's incredibly complex. Perhaps they cut corners and it came back to bite them.
-juice
They found a couple of mis-fire codes and inspected the heads and pistons on the drivers side.
According to the service writer, the problem is a valve guide that came loose, fouled the valve travel, and resulted in a bent valve. :confuse:
They're going to put a brand new head on this afternoon.
Has anyone ever heard of this happening on the 2.5L engines? I've never heard of it happening on any engine, period.
On the other hand, I've no reason to distrust the veracity of the service writer's staements. I believe she's always been squre with me in the past.
Larry
* water in the intake, an Isuzu off road took in water
and
* broken timing belt.
-juice
These, I'm assuming, were the actual valve guides. That's what the service writer said as well. They were by no means loose. The fourth was flush with combustion chamber.
I haven't seen a dismantled Subaru cylinder head before, but I'm assuming they're all supposed to be flush.
Wes, if you happen to read this, do you remember how your heads looked when you had them off?
BTW - The intake valve seats looked bright and shiny, the exhaust seats were dark, but still very smooth w/no deposits. The head's combustion chamber was black, but no carbon build up. The head had 43k on it.
This car has not been a money-maker for Subaru - so far its had almost $8000 of warranty work. On the other hand I'm gaining a lot of respect for Subaru's and the dealer's warranty support.
Larry
Hardened steel valve stems riding in an aluminum head would wear the bores very quickly if it were not for these pressed in steel liners. But I have never heard of them coming loose before. Wonder if the head is not getting proper oil flow, and maybe the valve is intermittantly welding itself to the guide and pulling it free?
Steve
Sounds like on startup the battery voltage took a deep plunge, glitching the 'keep-alive' ckt in the radio. Do you drive it every day, or did it sit for a while? It could be time for a new battery, or something is now draining the battery while it sits?
The other possibility could be a bad capacitor (noise filter) in the electrical system. These provide a small 'reserve' of juice to sustain the keep-alive ckts during startup. I had to add a capacitor (1000uf) to a digital clock on a car once to keep it from daily reverting to 12:00.
Steve
Don't know about the oil flow, the valves were never unduly noisy on that side. But sounds like a viable theory.
Could it be the dealer inadvertantly blocked an oil port when they re-installed the head after doing the pistons on that side?
Very strange, never seen it happen before. Just glad there were no issues with getting it replaced under warranty.
Larry
Too bad you do not have any photos of the head. I did not think to take any shots of the combustion side of my heads when I had them apart.
Honestly, I did not see my valve guides because I had no intention of pulling the valves out in order to replace the guides. When the valves are IN the head and working properly, they seat fully into the head casting unless they are being pressed open by the camshaft node. Without the camshaft in there, it would take more than a thumb to press them open. But, with 13K+ on the car since the head gasket replacement, I have to assume that the guides are seated properly (i.e., no protrusion into the combustion chamber!). You must have had an oil flow issue in that head. If your newer engine is anything like mine, there are high pressure ports that bathe the camshaft bearings in oil (it does not have a sleeve or anything there... just the aluminum head against the camshaft w/ a thin layer of oil as the bearing surface) and, it looks to me, a passive return system back through the block to the pan. If something caused a reduction or blockage in flow, things would go sour REAL fast. How many miles on the '03 since the piston replacement?
Some genius at subaru designed the hitch so that there is only about an inch of clearance between the bottom plate below the receiver and the small curved plate above the receiver. Therefore, since the lock is a little wider than an inch, it cannot fit over the pin between the two plates. From what I've read, its not just Thule - Yakima has a similar lock and the same problem.
Anyway, I've contacted the dealer to see if I can get my money back - which I think they will give me for the hitch, but they have to talk to the manufacturer about refunding me for labor that was already done to install the hitch and also the labor that will need to be done to remove the hitch.
So, my question is this - has anyone installed a Hidden Hitch (or other brand) on the 2006 Outback Wagon. If so, where did you purchase it and did you install it yourself or have someone else do it? Are you happy with it?
I'm kind of hoping that I can get the dealership to just swap out the OEM hitch for a Hidden Hitch (maybe if I buy it and bring it to them?) since they have to remove the old one anyway - that way they don't have to refund me the labor and I get a hitch that works with my bike rack.
We'll see.