Subaru Crew Cafe

zman

Bahston Scrahds versus Caalina Grets?

Zman

subewannabe

Frank,

The University of New Jersey at Durham is pretty strong again this year, but the Heels are a thing of beauty when they are hitting on all cylinders!

MMMMM...shrimp 'n cheese grits! blue crab cakes ! Who needs New England seafood?

Mark

c_hunter

With the dock connected, you can plug the cassette adapter right into the dock's line out. It's level is more powerful than the iPod's headphone jack, so you don't need the Belkin's amp at all (at least I don't with the aux-in on the Alpine).

Too bad the positioning doesn't work out!

Craig

c_hunter

Sounds like Alta is the place for me. I used to often ski at Mad River Glen in Vermont, which has some amazing trails, no snow making, and slow chairs. One of the chairs is a single!! The whole idea is to keep the slopes from getting crowded. Only purists & locals go there, and it's like a religious experience.

I am amazed how short skis have gotten. I have three pairs of old-school skis: 195, 200, and 212. I went down to a local ski shop the other day, and their longest ski is a 181 now!! (I think I learned on 185s when I was a kid). I guess I should try out some of these new skis, maybe I'm missing something. I certainly would not miss the 212s -- you can't ski casually on those boards without catching a tip or tail.

My 200s (K2 Merlins) are only about 5 years old, but I guess they're obsolete. To think, they were the "hot" ski when I bought them! Now, they look like dinosaurs. I guess 5 years old is pretty good for me -- in my heyday, I would go through a pair of skis in 2 seasons before they'd lose their spring. So now my skis go out of style before they wear out.

Ian, I'd do stereo installs like that for free. It's a load of fun, especially customizing things. Was even cooler when I had access to a machine shop, but I still manage OK in my garage.

Craig

kens

Craig,

Is the line out from the dock amplified? I didn't think it was so I didn't even try! One of the reasons I specifically bought the Belkin was because it was amplified (vs. the SiK connector).

Ken

c_hunter

Ken, it's a "standard" line out signal, whatever that is (4V, 5V?). I was surprised to find out that it's louder than what comes out of the headphone jack, so my guess is that it's got more power to begin with, without amplification.

I dissected a Belkin when I installed it in my Outback, and it turns out their amp knocks down the signal power for the lower end of the "knob" scale, and then amplifies if for the upper end. So, putting the Belkin knob somewhere in the midle approximates the normal power level coming out of the dock to begin with.

Craig

toboggan

Re: the ski box

My Thule ski box (Summit model) is long enough to handle 210 cm skis. It will handle 6 pairs of skis and poles. But now my "rock" skis are 200 cm and the "fun" skis are 185's. I'm not really happy with the shorter shaped skis as all they want to do is turn. At faster speeds they "hunt." Whereas my 200's, even with the coke bottle waist, are a bit more stable at faster speeds. Of course for many years I skied on 210's with Ski-Free toe pieces and Marker Long Thongs on a turntable for the heels (geeze, leather boots and Rosemont boots). Been skiing since I was 6 years old in North cental Montana. I've even been ski patrolling for 38 years (Yeah, I'm an old f**t).

rsholland

Apparently this is regarding 2.5 cylinder head gaskets. More info over at nabisco.

Bob

subaru_team

I still am not permitted to share anything. That is an early communication to dealers. I'm going to try to push for the okay tomorrow. I'm really sorry about this. I'm afraid to just do it and lose my "permission" to participate here. It almost feels like it would be worth the risk at this point because I know you are counting on me to fill you in.

Once again, I'm sorry.

rsholland

Don't do anything to jeopardize your status here.

Bob

lucien2

on the HG bulletin, wanna tell me which forum that's in?

dcm61

In Warranty Issues and SOA problems.

FYI - It only relates to '99 to early '02 2.5L SOHC.

DaveM

kens

Loosh,

Check Nabisco's News & Rumors Forum.

Ken

bigelm

Email was sent...

lucien2

no kiddin'? :-) Guess I'll call my dealer today for this. Haven't had a peep out of the temp guage or the radiator in a couple of weeks....

dcm61

Yours is a '99 GT, right? If so, that's the DOHC which is not covered under this particular campaign. Foresters and the 2.5RS got the SOHC in '99 but LEgacies / Outbacks still had the DOHC.

DaveM

paisan

How are you guys dealing with the non-removable battery dealio when it dies?

-mike

ateixeira

Should be interesting to see how they handle this, i.e. will they treat all engines preventatively, or only the ones that show symptoms?

We'll see.

-juice

lucien2

in other words, not covering the engine that has the biggest issue? Sorry Dave, I missed the bit about SOHC only.

kens

mike,

There are two options:

Apple now offers and extended warranty that goes an extra two years beyond the standard one year and covers the battery if it can't hold more than 50% of the spec'd charge (8 hours). That's $99.

The other option is to buy an aftermarket one for $49 from http://www.ipodbattery.com/ and DIY.

Since the battery is Li ion, it should last quite a while as long as you avoid deep discharge cycles.

Here's a funny website made by some people who were angered by the battery life:
http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

Ken

paisan

What was apple thinking... I find it funny, just caught a quick clip of it on the news and figured I'd ask this group of Ipod users what the dealio was.

-mike

fibber2

Many Li Ion battery powered products are non-replaceable by the average consumer. Case in point - two recent purchases in our home:
Sony PDA (Clie SJ30)
Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP

Steve

goneskiian

I've been meaning to ask the same question. I read about the guys who put up this site in the Newspaper a few weeks ago. Sure doesn't seem to have slowed the sales though.

Apple definitely needs a better solution than this extra $100 warranty though.

-Ian

ateixeira

The power of the internet.

Toyota would have gotten away with the sludge issue has it been two decades ago. But now info moves too fast, they were quickly overwhelmed and had to own up to it.

Subaru has, at least, covered the issues we know about under warranty. Fortunately it won't likely have to come to that level.

-juice

c_hunter

It's only non-replaceable for idiots. For everyone else who can use a screwdriver (or afford to send the unit into Apple), it's a non-issue. I think the whole debate started because some people panicked when they couldn't figure how to get the back cover off. I've heard similar cries of wolf when someone's motherboard battery dies on their computer, but that's not the end of the world either (though it sucks replacing motherboard batteries on laptops).

$49 for a replacement Li-Ion is not too bad at all. That's about what replacement batteries cost for my digi-cam.

Craig

kens

The iPod competition all have removable batteries, but at the cost of being bulkier. For me, I'd rather get the slim form factor and deal with a battery replacement once or maybe twice over the life of the product.

The current 3G model is apparently a little tricker to replace than the 1 and 2G.

Batteries are the Achillies heel of portable devices. They simply have not kept up with semiconductor processing and storage growth.

Ken

twrx

My nephew has the original 2001 5 gig iPod and has no problem at this time with the battery.

Mine is too new--fall 2003 10 gig model.

hammersley

I can remember the longest skis I've ever been on were 190s, & I'm on shaped 178s now. It was about 12 years between my last skiing & now, and what a difference the shapes make! I'm a type II cruiser, so 'always wanting to turn' isn't a bad thing. Grace picked up a lesson a couple weeks ago, and the instructor said with shaped skis, you should keep your skis slightly apart. Doesn't seem to matter to me, I still fall down about twice a day

Cheers!
Paul

lucien2

except for the Phase I head gaskets...

ateixeira

No, not really. They are covering those under the original 5/60 warranty, is was I meant.

Remember, with the sludge issue, Toyota immediately blamed owners and denied claims made under warranty. Later they changed course, but only after the publicity on the internet.

-juice

hondafriek

All in all it has been a pretty cruel month here Temperature wise, yet I have to continually scratch my head when I see folks out freezing their butts scraping and cleaning cars every morning while the garage sits so full of household junk they cannot get the car in.

In some cases it is a one car household with a two car garage stuffed to the rafters with stuff that is never used, can somebody explain this apparent screwball thinking. To me a garage is for the car and the landfill is for junk you never use.

  Cheers Pat.

c_hunter

Well, my garage is taken up by my WRX on one side and all my lawn equipment on the other (in fact, before I got the WRX, my John Deere was my baby). So, our two daily drivers (Forester and Outback) are out in the cold. Thankfully, the frost isn't too bad next to the garage. If either car is 20 ft back, at the end of the driveway, they look like popsicles.

Craig

subearu

I was surprised to see our recently moved in neighbor parking her black '03 Tahoe in the driveway, meanwhile all her junk was in the 3+ car garage. :rolleyes:

We do have a lot of toys and stuff for Brooke (and Brogan) that are outside. Instead of putting in the garage, I neatly stacked them next to the garage, using the neighbors fence as a holder. Out of the way, and NOT in my garage.

-Brian

hammersley

Pat: Guilty as charged. Aside from the bikes, it's all junk that I haven't yet been able to convince my bride to part with. Granted, some are keepsakes, but they belong at the storage unit, not in the garage.

Her car won't fit anyway, with the cargo box on the roof.

Cheers!
Paul

rsholland

http://autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_cod- e=motorsportsnews&loc_code=index&content_code=09621446

rsholland

http://www.imakenews.com/autospies/e_article000218361.cfm

rsholland

http://wardsauto.com/ar/transportation_hummer_jeep_sling/index.ht- m

ateixeira

How much volume can they compete for? I mean, the H2 is successful, sure, but any segment like that gets crowded and profits are history.

Bangle shouldn't "just" be fired, he should serve jail time for ruining BMW design entirely.

-juice

joybell

I'm taking my 2003 Forester to the dealer on Thursday. A few days ago (record cold temp of -32deg C) the engine overheated and smelled when I started the car to warm it up. Dealer said over the phone that since the temp guage only went a little over the halfway mark five minutes after being started and not into the red part of the gauge it didn't overheat. The coolant is low. Will they add the stop leak conditioner coolant even though there is maybe no problem at all and since this is the later Phase 11 2.5L engine?

subaru_team

I don't think that this conditioner would apply to your situation. It's not meant for more serious "overheat" conditions - more of a preventative. I'm not sure how involved Subaru of Canada is with this process we're working on. If you want - and if they can agree, maybe ask them to contact me directly at SOA? Normally I can't do anything with our Canadian friends, but it would be interesting to give it a shot with your situation being our first? I can always work with them from home on my own time (unless I get contacted on Monday and told differently). What the heck - we can give it a shot?

Patti

joybell

I will talk to the "technical adviser" at the dealership on Thursday and see what he says. I'm still hoping it's nothing serious, yet I know what happened is not normal. I'm watching the guage all the time but we haven't had another day as cold as that one. Today it was a balmy minus 20deg C and it was fine barely getting past the first mark, with two adults, three kids, and enough gear loaded for three days of Winter Camp. Frozen coolant on startup the culprit? Husband says it probably idled too high while I was in the house waiting for it to warm up? Engine looks extremely clean.

ateixeira

Hmm, that's the first case I've seen on the latest generation Forester. I'm sure the dealer will take care of you, I would at a minimum ask to have the coolant flushed and have the conditioner put in when they refill it.

Keep us posted?

-juice

p0926

the engine overheated and smelled when I started the car to warm it up. Dealer said over the phone that since the temp guage only went a little over the halfway mark five minutes after being started...

I'm curious as to why you think the engine overheated if the temp guage didn't reflect that. And could you be more specific on what it was you smelled? I'm sure it had something to do with the outside temperature being so cold but I haven't a clue what. Any of you hardy northerners ever hear of something like this before?

-Frank P.

locke2c

Depending on the type of antifreeze used, the percentage of water and the age of the coolant, -32C ambient temp could definitely be a problem.

But I don't understand how it would react like Joybell's car did. Generally if you have frozen coolant, you'll blow freeze plugs out of the block.

Could be a head gasket problem, though.
~c

dcm61

Sounds like it may have been slushy but not frozen.

DaveM

fibber2

For close to 20 years at the old house, one side of my detached two car garage was my wood shop, the other was lawn/garden equipment, and the cars stayed outside.

I have a 2+ car garage on the new house (one side is deeper than the other, plus there is a center door between the garage doors & about 6 feet between cars). But it still took me about a year to get the garage emptied after we moved in. I had the builder put in a set of pulldown stairs and lay plywood on the attic floor so that I could use the space, and over time moved 90% of the stuff up there. Then I added a 10'x10' shed for the lawn equipment. Now both cars sleep comfortably at about 30' or so above outside temps. Needless to say, I am a whole lot happier with the new arrangement!

Steve

hondafriek

Car is a relatively new car and here in the frozen north the dealers make doubly sure that the Anti freeze is up to strength.

The Titan normally runs at half the temp gauge when fully warmed up but I have noticed that on occasion when I have left it idling that the temp will creep up higher than that,but will return to normal as soon as I start driving.

I have never experienced an antifreeze smell though.

  Cheers Pat.

hondafriek

Don't have the luxury of a regular garage, but the very first thing I did when I moved here was to get a portable garage for my car to live in.

  Beats the hell out standing cleaning off a car
  especially when the temperature is 40 below with a windchill.

  Cheers Pat.

joybell

More specifically: No block heater (have never had to plug in a Subaru yet), temp -32deg Celcius (which I think at that point is almost the same in Fahrenheit), started the car, ran back to the house to wait for it to warm up, 3-5 minutes later came out, engine idling maybe a little higher than normal but not excessive, cabin smelled very strongly (of disinfectant and of burnt mittens on a hot wood stove...how do you describe a smell?), temperature up to the last mark before the red zone. In a normal very cold situation the temp guage would not go much above the first line at that point. I really would like to know if other later model Subaru owners in cold climates experienced this. My dealer said not to be concerned unless it goes "into the red" on the temp guage. Again, maybe I will know more on Thurday. I have had problems with the "idle valve" on this car, causing irratic idling and stalling on startup. Back in September when the car was two months old, the dealer "cleaned the idle valve" and blamed me for not using the Forester enough! So maybe there is still something wrong there.

locke2c

up to the last mark before the red is not normal no matter what. if you leave it idling in any temperature I bet it'll reach that point. a healthy car will not.

~c