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Comments
In fact I've owned both Mazdas and Subarus, and the Subaru parts have been a lot cheaper.
Subaru oil filter runs $4-5 from a wholesaler. The hood is just $125 unpainted. The entire bumper is $150. The cup holder mechanism was less than $20. The entire tail light was something like $75. Touch-up paint was less than $5.
When my Forester got hit I shopped around and found prices that were actually lower than expected.
Mazda was the opposite, though in fairness my wife went to her dealer instead of a wholesaler. A gas cap was $28. Oil filters were $8. An O2 sensor was $220 (yeeouch).
We traded her 626 in for a Legacy and parts prices were actually something that helped me talk her into a Subie.
-juice
I'm sure my wife's mechanic would appreciate the reference and maybe knock a little cost off our next Honda brake job.
Actually my fave used to be in TN but they folded. I've always used mail order. Lately I've used Liberty Subaru.
Out of state means no sales tax, which sort of covers shipping costs.
-juice
But a blown gasket AND a bad guage circuit could co-exist. The engine temperature sensor itself might be an easy, cheap item to replace as a test.
Craig
~c
Fitz.
In can be anything related such as wiring, mechanical, or body problems.
I will start with one that had a lot of people tearing their hair out. A friend of mine bought a low milage 6 Cylinder Toyota Camry from a dealer. After he had it for couple of days this noise started and it was driving him nuts.
I tried locating it without success the noise was something rolling around when he started the noise would occur and when he stopped he got it again, was like something in the vent. ducts.
Anyway the dealer concurred and pulled the dash and took apart the ventilation system but no luck.After literally nearly disassembling this car over a number of visits, the noise was found!
A marble had got into the seat track and when he started off it rolled one way and when he braked it rolled the other way.
I can hear some of you laughing from here but believe me it was no laughing matter until it was found it was like chinese torture.
Cheers Pat.
-Brian
well...
ok maybe just a bit. glad it ended well.
~Colin
Craig
The wife and I just took in an '01 Forester S model w/53k miles on it. I know the 60k service is looming ever so near. I like to do my own service and it doesn't look like Chiltons or Haynes has a manual for it I've seen some listed for the '00 models on ebay motors for around $25 shipped which gets you a CD basically. Is the '00 model similar enough to the '01 to be useful? And moreover, has anyone tried these CD's and found them useful?
I'm going to need to change out the brake pads shortly, the transmission fluid and ant-freeze. I changed the oil already. The lower cowell(sp?) was the most difficult part of that task, lol.
I like manuals...paper ones but not really looking to spend $300 on the shop variety flavor <sigh>
Anyway, it's nice to be a Subie owner
You can prevent the mileage from accumulating by temporarily disconnecting the speed sensor. Please note though, that this may be both illegal and inconvenient.
Craig
You can pay for time at techinfo.subaru.com and download all kinds of things for your car. If you knew what to look for, you could pay for a 72 hour session ($20) and then start downloading sections of the manual that you need (it is possible, but difficult, to download it all in 72 hours -- if you have a UNIX/Linux OS, it can be scripted).
For routine maintenance, I think there's probably enough knowledge here to get you going.
Craig
Subaru models in general lend themselves well to DIY maintainance and are for the most part simple to do most routine work on.If you have problems ask here, there is enough info among this crew to get you out of trouble.
Cheers Pat.
Also, the bezel around the instrumentation cluster squeaks really bad. Sounds like plastic against rubber. Is this something that needs to be lubed or should it disappear over time?
You can also find lots of information online. There's one particular site that has photos of most routine maintenance, including a very good write on changing brake pads. Try searching derivitives of "scooby".
Jim
Best thing for interior squeaks/rattles is to line the offending parts with nylon tape, felt, etc... If you can pinpoint and reproduce the noise, the dealer can probably fix it if you don't want to poke around in the dash.
Craig
Eric
--jay
I average 25.1mpg overall. I calculated average per season, and get about 26 mpg in fall and spring, 25 mpg in summer with the A/C on, and 24 mpg in the winter.
So the fuels cost more in terms of mileage than the A/C does, about double!
-juice
I imagine if you unplugged the battery that would do it. But then the ECU would be reset and you'd get bad gas mileage for the next tank. For a long trip it still might be worth it.
Can anyone answer if a fuse would have the same effect?
-juice
Eric, the only "mod" that car will get is a K&N air filter and maybe an air freshner hanging from the rear view mirror.
Here's my engineering solution to eliminate Yakima rack noise:
Just some bungie cord wrapped around the bars 4-5 times.
Craig
Elissa
They are being ridiculous.
-juice
If you hear a distinct speed-dependent hum, the bungie will eliminate that. If it's general broadband wind noise, then maybe a fairing would help.
Craig
Is this warranty that of Subaru's extended warranty or the dealer's house flavor?
Does sound like a house flavor to me, and they're avoiding a claim. I can see an Area Mgr. needed to approve a claim on the 5/60 warranty but on an extended warranty I believe not.
-Dave
This was the warranty that was announced in the recall letter provided that you had the dealer put the sealant in your car. To the best of my knowledge it is backed by Subaru USA.
Joknecht
~Colin
I'm leaning with Colin, dealer might not be playing with a full deck.
-Dave
My initial call to the 800 number resulted in an exchange between them and the dealer, with the 800 person saying that the dealer's service guy really didn't have too much in the way of consumer friendliness. The subsequent call to the 800 yielded a request for additional service records. I am waiting to hear from them now. The car has been at the dealer for a week as of today.
-juice
-juice
Worse, though, about ten miles up the road, my right rear tire went out. It's one of the stock Geolanders on my '03 XS and they all have only 21K on them. A Good Samaritan - Gracias, amigo! - and I got the spare on in under 15 minutes and I continued on my way. Later, I stopped in at a used tire shop and bought a compatible used tire for a spare, and had them switch the old spare onto the regular wheel. The tire that went out went totally out and was useless, which was a drag since there was a lot of life left in it. For $41 all told, I think I got off easy - but I wish I'd gotten that derelict's license plate!
Anyway, will this spare switch mean anything in terms of my next rotation? The tires have only been rotated once since I bought the car, with no apparent problems. Any other issues to be concerned about? Im hoping I can get at least 50K out of these tires, since most of my driving is on freeways and streets, with almost no unpaved or off-road use.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! - Mike.
I lost a tire at 19K miles in my first Outback, and needed to buy four new tires because I exceeded the 1/4" difference in circumference with the new tire.
Congrats on Jeopardy by the way!
Craig
Over the weekend I was at my dealer getting some service done. While waiting, I asked about the tire monitoring system on the 05's, specifically if you could do the tire rotation yourself (which is what was asked here). The repsonse I received is bring it to the dealer. They have to use a computer device to reset the tire monitoring system so that it works properly. I guess if you want this to work properly, for now you will need the dealer to do the rotation.
Mark
You might actually want to put the used tire on there if the circumference matches more closely.
-juice