Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Personally, I'd stick with the NGKs named in your owner's manual. Truth be told, there's really no measurable difference in performance from a spark plug. If it's clean and in good shape, a spark is a spark. Don't tell me the special plugs have a hotter or faster spark - it's all up to the power coming through the plug wire and the spark plug cannot change this.
Save your money for better oil, or something else...
IdahoDoug
Joayn
The same goes for "hotter" plugs. All that means is that there's less of a heat sink to help remove heat. Therefore, the temperature of the plug is higher. It has nothing to do with the spark.
Jim
I have taken the radio out, and it has no manufacturer name on it. I need the circuit board which holds the LCD and the little LEDs that light up the front.
Does anyone know who makes the radios, or where I might get parts for such. OR where I might buy some of the LEDs which I could solder onto the board to fix this thing!!
Thanks
LCK
As for the dealer, that's just plain stupidity on his part. Ask him if he'd spend $900 on a factory radio if it were his car. You could get one of the finest audiophile level systems installed in your car for that.
IdahoDoug
-juice
Is this a common problem? I did some research on edmunds and i-club but did not find much.
sjs
IdahoDoug
-mike
be careful asking for a "leak down" test at your dealership or independent servicer. if someone came to me asking for that, they'd get a pressurized combustion chamber. this is the only test I've ever heard of called a "leak down" test and it is used to determine the rate of pressure loss in the combustion chamber. this tells you how healthy the rings, valvesprings, valves and valve seals are; it's a more thorough test than a simple compression test.
I never owned an H6 subaru, but my four cylinder did take a just a few seconds to fire when cold. I'd be inclined to call it normal versus immediately suspecting a fuel injector or other fuel delivery problem.
-Colin
If the leak is caused by a faulty injector, this test would not reveal it as the flooded cylinder would still hinder starting even after the 5 seconds. If this is the case, you'll hear a dead cylinder for a few seconds before the cylinder clears and starts burning correctly.
Good call, Mike.
IdahoDoug
Don: I'd suspect the battery. My new battery has almost twice the CCAs as my original, and it starts better now, FWIW. Cheap, too, at $40 from Wal Mart.
-juice
bit
Looking to change the spark plugs very soon. They look alittle difficult to access. Any thoughts or experiences on this..? Thanks
Currently, Chilton's and Haynes have no repair manuals for the 3rd generation (MY2000-current) Legacy/Outback. Per email in 2001-09:
Chilton's: "[has] no information as to when or if this manual will be available"
Haynes: "It is in review at this time for an update in mid 2002."
An expensive alternative is the 2000 Legacy/Outback Factory Service Manual. Tacoma Subaru (subaruparts.com) sells it for $288.07 + $29 shipping. It may be less expensive at Liberty Subaru (no online catalog). Contact info:
Liberty Subaru
66 Kinderkamack Rd.
Oradell, NJ 07649
888-782-9493 (888-SUBY4WD), 201-261-7495, fax 201-261-3261
http://www.newsubaru.com/
Tacoma Subaru
3838 South Tacoma Way
Tacoma, WA 98409
877-473-6200
http://www.subaruparts.com/
If you call Liberty for the price, please post it here.
Hope this helps.
..Mike
..Mike
I think it's a little "hit & miss". It gives info on bleeding the brakes but not about changing pads (that's found in the volume I didn't buy). The volume on body & interior makes no mention of outside mirrors at all!
Someone listed what each volume covered, perhaps 6 to 9 months ago?, on this thread and possibly the cost of each volume.
HTH,
Jim
Hope this helps.
Jim
"Not to be obsessive about this, but I happened to find the message from Darlene with the breakdown on the individual books.
Volume 1 general information $16.38
Volume 2 mechanism & functions $41.94
volume 3 Engine $48.96
volume 4 Fuel & OBD II $44.70
volume 5 Transmission & diferential $36.65
volume 6 mechanical components $44.90
volume 7 body & electrical $36.76
volume 8 wiring diagram $11.40
A good "starter" set would be 1 and 2, add 8 if it fits your inclination. The others could always be added if needed. Vols 3 - 7 are the "heavier duty" stuff we sould rather not do.
About 90% to 95% of what I have wanted to know has been in 1 and 2, although I have read them all... can't help it, I am an engineer 24/7.
It was only when I wanted to bleed my clutch system did I get more info from another book. It was the engine book... the manuals take some getting used to... although I could have managed without that book.
Regards,
Frank "
Again, thanks to Frank for the original post.
Look out Daves!
Cheers!
Paul (the original, I think)
IdahoDoug
My tranny is manual (one plug drains both tranny and front diff), hopefully it will go much easier.
Jim
1st gear was always really notchy in my old OBS, if I tried to get into it while the car was moving. So mostly I didn't! But I did notice it got worse and worse as the clutch aged. if you have been driving your WRX real hard, you might have put a lot of wear on the clutch...car and driver said their long term test car was just about ready for a new one...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I'm curious - how many quarts for each? The Miata took 1 qt for the rear diffy, about 3 for the trans IIRC.
-juice
-Dennis
Tranny is 3.7 qts and the diff is .8qts.
bit
The manual tranny was much easier. But next time, I will use a small piece of foil to keep the gear oil from dripping onto the exhaust "Y". Detected a slight "Eau de Gear Oil" driving to work this morning.
Jim
-juice
bit
Right side control arm bushing (this one's ok):
http://www.zztrailer.com/outback/rhs1good.jpg
Left side control arm bushing (this one's pretty ugly):
http://www.zztrailer.com/outback/lhs1bad.jpg
There are more pictures in the directory:
http://www.zztrailer.com/outback
lhs... is left hand side (bad)
rhs... is right hand side (good)
Could this be caused by the left side front strut going bad in the past and causing excessive strain on this point? Any opinions? It was only pointed out to me this weekend ( I don't spend much time under the car ) and the dealer has failed to say anything about it the last three times I have complained about front end noise and when they replaced the strut, so I'm not sure if the bushing problem came after the struts were replaced (2k miles ago) or if it's been like this a long time. I guess I'll know more after I get this fixed.
Anyone else experience this on a Subaru, or any other vehicle for that matter? What causes a bushing on only one side to get so hammered? Anything else in the suspension or steering I should be concerned about this damaging? Any comments are appreciated, thanks much.
Anyway, my question is, since my car is still under warranty, would you advise taking it to the dealer, or is it ok to bring it to an independent garage, or let my husband at it, who claims he knows what he's doing if I get instructions?
-mike
In my opinion, 8k is way too early for front pads to wear out. I'd definitely have the dealer look at it. However, a recent dealer flyer had a comment about new pads not lasting as long because they're made w/o asbestos or something like that, still 8k is too short. On my 2000 Legacy, I'm on original pads at 53k.
Jim
8k for brakes is mighty early. Pads are cheap and I bet your hubby could do it, but I would consider having a dealer at least inspect them to see why they may be wearing so early.
Do you feel any pulsating in the brake pedal? This would indicate warped rotors.
-juice
http://www.zztrailer.com/outback/lhs6bad.jpg
maybe it was oily in the past for some reason? anyway, thanks for an idea that didn't even occur to me, that's why i like this forum, good info.
brakes: for what it's worth, i've had more problems with rotor warpage than brake pad wear, but mine's a 97, not new.
-juice
Whatever you do, don't go to Meineke.
I went there because I waited around too long and the brakes were nearly metal to metal. The dealer couldn't squeeze me in for two weeks and I was paranoid.
I got the lifetime pads and they were noisy as heck. A couple months after their warranty expired, my rotors became warped.
An odd thing with my brakes was the pads wore very unevenly. The left pad was still 50% there, and the right one was nearly gone. Some speculated here, IIRC, that there could have been dirt or something stuck in a caliper.
Dennis
Someone asked me in an e-mail (I lost it) how much the Magnacore wires cost for my GT: it was $105.00, the car runs better and get 2 more MPG, up to 29 in combined driving. For some reason it runs much better then the original wires, maybe they were arching?
changing the pad is quite easy, you remove one bolt holding the caliper halves together and swing it like a door away from the rotor. spray the piston liberally with Brake-Kleen (or other cleaner) and push the piston in by hand. if the piston moves anything less than smoothly, consider a more thorough cleaning with disassembly OR having your brakes checked at the next service.
remove old pad. insert new pad. push in piston by hand and close caliper. replace bolt and torque appropriately (not sure what that is anymore!).
easy-peasy. btw Caroline, 8k miles for a set of pads does sound pretty quick! you're really enjoying that OBS aren't you? :-D
-Colin
-juice
I have a 2001 H6 Outback and have noticed some that over time I loose a little coolant. I asked my dealer to top off it off during my 15,000 service and he said that would cost me $. I said I would do it myself. (though I really think that should be under warrenty work)
What coolant should I buy? I hear that it is important not to mix different brands.
Thanks, Dan
You can use the regular green stuff, i.e. Prestone or Peak, just mix it 50/50 with water.
-juice
I am using Mobil 1 5W-30 in my 2002 WRX wagon. I drive about 30% highway, 70% "city". Most of the time, I drive fairly sanely, though a WRX does demand that you hammer it every once in a while... ;-). Based on those facts and the owner's manual, it appears that Subaru recommends that the oil be changed every 3,750 miles (half of the regular 7,500 mile interval because of "severe conditions").
However, when I took the car to the dealer today for the change after 3,750 miles had passed, the service manager advised me only to change the oil every 7,500 miles, regardless of the driving conditions, "because it was synthetic oil." Anything more often than that, he said, was "throwing your money away." Of course, it's not his car.
The Mobil 1 web site says this, which I found unhelpful: "While Mobil 1 has given excellent results in extended oil drain tests, ExxonMobil prefers to remain conservative with oil drain recommendations. ExxonMobil engineers recommend that you can go all the way to the maximum mileage or time frame shown in your owner's manual for oil changes when using Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™. This allows the reserve protection capabilities of Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™ to cover unusual or unexpected driving conditions.
"Oil change intervals can be as short as 3,000 miles or as long as 15,000 miles on some new cars. Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™'s high-performance reserves can give you the confidence to go the full mileage or time frame recommended by the vehicle manufacturer. Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™ is especially suitable for the latest vehicles with extended drain intervals or vehicles with oil monitoring systems that vary oil drain intervals."
Anyway, what are everyone's thoughts on this topic? Should I stick to 3,750 mile intervals with the Mobil 1, or would it be wiser to extend them further out?
I'd follow the service manager's advice. If anything happens to your engine, I'd bet that changing oil at 3,750 mi intervals would NOT have prevented it. My $0.02.
FWIW - I use dino oil and change at 7500 mi intervals. Zero problems @ 53k miles.
Heck, I used dino oil with those intervals for a long time and never had problems with my Subie, and with excellent gas mileage to boot.
Besides, 3750 intervals requires some really odd arithmetic. Does 26,350 miles ring a bell, i.e. remind you to change your oil when you hit that mileage?
I'd go with a round number, 3000, 5000, or 7500.
-juice