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Comments
Brent
There are a lot of factors that influence tire wear. Since most tire wear occurs in cornering, the biggest factor is how often does a substantial turn occur. I use the term: Turns per Mile.
Obviously, driving in the city is going to be worse than driving in the country.
Other factors include the inflation pressure (more is better), alignment (toe in has the same effect as cornering), weather (rain and snow covered streets don't cause much wear), pavement, (some are more abrasive than others)
40K is a good figure for all season tires, but high performance tires won't get that much because grip and wear are trade-offs.
Hope this helps.
Definitely measure all the tires to make sure the new one is within 1/4" circumference of the others. You can get a pretty good idea by measuring tread depth and using calculus:
C=2*PI*R --> dC=2*PI*dR
So if you know the difference in tread depth amongst the tires (dR) you can compute the difference in circumference (dC). Or go in reverse: for dC=0.25", dR would be about 0.040", so the tread depth of the new tire shouldn't be more than 0.040" (forty thousandths) greater than the old tires.
I agree with earlier posts -- the most economical thing to do would be to get the new tire shaved to match the old ones if there is indeed a disparity.
Craig
That is great news. The circumstances were strange all around, so it is good to SoC do the right thing. Out of curiosity, did anybody every explain how/why the pin broke upon removal?
Steve
I don't know what subi parts go for, but I would suspect that the belt and pump should be under the $150 mark, plus maybe an hours labor.
Steve
the water pump is $67 from subaruparts.com, another $2 for a gasket... yeah I don't have a clue how they dreamt up this $470 nonsense. that's insulting.
~Colin
Steve
Cheers Pat.
I trying to decide whether to let the dealer do it or tackle it myself.
Also, what are the other things to replace at the same time...water pump?
Thx,
Jim
Yes, good news indeed. Shows that a little polite grumbling can be well worth the effort.
They had no explanation for the pin breaking, Steve. But it is only because of that pin that the service manager could persuade Subaru to cover the parts for the brake job.
Can you give us more details -- how did it behave when you first tried starting it and what did your dad do differently to get it started?
It would not surprise me if it was a fuel issue. I noticed that our Forester would have a hard time starting in the following situation: take a long trip, park the car for a day or two, and then try starting. This would occur if we got in and turned the key to start immediately. However, if I turned the key to on for a few seconds and waited for the fuel pump to pressurize the system (you will hear a whirring noise from the back of the car) then turned it to start, it would fire right up every time. So that became my habit.
In all those hard-start cases, you could smell fuel in the exhaust right after the car started, so I concluded that it was somehow flooding. And of course, if that is the case and you keep cranking the starter, it will start eventually but you will run the risk of running down your battery. I might wager that's what happened in your case. SO try letting the fuel pump pressurize the system for a few secinds before craking the engine over.
Craig
Bethany
I'd replace the water pump at the same time yes. It is less than $75 with gasket if you buy through one of the big parts wholesale dealerships on the web.
~Colin
Julie: my first guess is wheel bearings, because the pitch is speed dependent. Does it happen even when you are coasting? Could be the diffys but the bearings are more likely.
Bethany: the OE battery isn't very strong, I replaced mine with one with more than twice the CCA rating. It was $40 or 50 or so, so it might be worth just replacing it for the peice of mind.
Having said that my OE battery still lasted about 5 years.
-juice
I agree with your dad that the lights would have been dim or the starter would have cranked very weakly from the get-go if the battery was the root cause. I think we can rule that out.
Craig
Bethany
I agree that you should be able to rely on it to start every time.
-juice
Now if Bethany goes out to start the car and it barely cranks, then I would pursue looking at the alternator and battery. I'd only look at the starter if it made audibly sick mechanical noises or was seized up, or if it was apparent that the starter was not engaging the flywheel.
Craig
Again, many thanks for all your help.
In my experience, that solves about 95% of the oddball starting issues people encounter with fuel injected cars. I definitely encountered the problem in several cars over the years (not just Subarus) and in all cases letting the fuel pump pressurize the system before cranking the starter remedied the problem. You should notice a difference immediately -- the car will start much faster.
Craig
I always prime the fuel pump, it's part of my morning ritual. Keys in, turn and listen for the "whirr", then start it up.
It's amazing how much pressure fuel pumps operate under with modern fuel injection.
-juice
Thank you so much.
You've definitely given me some ideas on where to go. While it seems the original batteries are weak, I don't believe it is this weak, and it doesn't sound like a starter problem. I will try the fuel pump thing next time I drive it.
I guess if cranking and cranking drains the battery, and then I drive a half mile to the garage, that could explain the battery needed a boost.
Again, thank you. If that doesn't do it, I at least have a direction to look in.
Craig
Here's an "opportunity" . . . we've gotten spoiled by the interior light in our '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee staying on until the engine is started. In contrast, the light in our '03 Forester begins going out after, what - 5 seconds? For one of the drivers in our family, that's just not long enough to get things settled and the key inserted while there's still some light in the cabin. Has anyone else out there considered this a nagging situation and figured out how to increase the "light on" time? Oh, and I have put one of those small LED lights on the keychain. That helps.
Have a great Day,
Lee
You could just leave the door slightly open until you start it, also.
-juice (always in search of the simplest solution)
* the lights fade out gradually
* parking lights
* auto-off headlights (keys removed)
I miss those when I drive other cars.
-juice
I'm having a little trouble with my automatic transmission in my '99 outback, and would appreciate any suggestions. When I put it in "drive", I have to tap the gas slightly to get it into gear. It only happens in "drive", "reverse" works just fine. I thought it might be low transmission fluid, so I checked the level and it was low, but the problem persisted after adding fluid. Any ideas or do i need to find a mechanic?
Thanks,
Ryan
An assembly called the 'valve body' takes all of the commands (shift selector, computer, etc.) and directs fluid to all of the main moving parts. The fluid acts as both the lubricant and the 'drive' media. If it gets gummy, particularly from lack of changing, overheating, etc., these little valves can stick and not direct fluid crisply when you select a gear. Increasing the engine RPM increases the operating pressure, nudging things into place.
To begin with, try changing the fluid. Problem with doing it yourself is that you can only gain access to about 50% of the total contents without going to some elaborate (and possibly risky and messy means). I have heard of some success stories about having one of the shops do it that has one of those recirculator that flushes out everything. Some even have a light duty solvent that can clean out the varnish that is probably causing parts to not move freely.
Let us know how this works out. We need the feedback as a data point!!!!
Steve
Thanks for the input. It sounds like i'll have to take it somewhere but i'll look at it and let you know what I find. Thanks again for the input.
We were away for 7 days over the holiday, and my OBW spent the week in a parking lot near where I picked up a rental to drive the family to the airport. About 5 miles away, we went thru an automated car wash, but everything appeared dry by the time we left it. Upon return, all 4 rotors were well brown. What I would have expected from a month of non-use, not a week. Got in, put her in gear and the tach hit close to 2k before a sharp "thump!" and the car shot forward. It is of course pulsing badly, as it will for probably a week until everything is shaved flat again.
Again, it isn't anything terrible, just consistently very odd. Never had brake pads that 'welded' themselves into place like these do.
Steve
The features that would have been cool but not required are:
(1) If the glass part of the hatch could be opened without opening the whole door.
(2) If the hatch could open (not unlock) with the remote.
elissa
The Europeans are still using high VOC formulations less friendly to the environment, resulting in paint much softer and more resistant to chips. Rumor has it that MB is about to change their paint, though, going with a unique formulation that is supposedly harder than anything on the market right now.
I'm not sure what regulations affect Japanese, Canadian, and Mexican built vehicles. My guess is that they use the same formulations as their counterpart U.S. built vehicles.
My last three cars, one German and two Japanese dating back to MY 2000, have had paint that chipped easily. When I got my Impreza I had the clear paint protection film applied to the front bumper and leading 12" of the hood. Best investment I ever made. There are a few small nicks in the film but overall after 14 months on the road the front end looks almost new.
Assuming bulbs are OK, inspect the bulb connector for signs of rust or frayed wires. Plug and unplug a few times to see if it improves the situation.
From here it can get tricky, depending on how the system is wired - what 'logic' it uses. Forester is a single bulb per side system? Then the bulb and connector has 3 wires. Some systems control power at the column switch and have a ground near the headlights, some control the ground and have 12v routed to the lights all of the time. A volt meter is your best friend in understanding how the system works and what might be wrong.
Steve
My paint has held up pretty well for a '98. My little nephew once decided to "draw" on my paint with his toy Power Ranger and the white marks polished right out.
Solvents are gone and newer paints are water based, I definitely think they're less durable than before.
-juice
Well I took it in and ad a full transmission flush done. The guys said it was long overdue due to the fact that the fluid that was in the tranny was black like motor oil, while when it's new it's bright red. the problem is still there, it still lags when i put it in drive although not quite as bad. i probly just waited too long to change out the tranny fluid. I'm not sure that he paid a whole lot of attention to the valve body but he did mention that there is probably a "varnish" on it that is causing part of the problem. Unless you have another suggestion, i'll probly have to take it in again and have him focus on the valve body. I really appreciate the tip, thanks again.
Ryan