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Comments
What part of the US do you live in? 5W-30 is the generic viscosity that Subaru recommends for most conditions, but if you look in your manual, you'll see that it will call for higher weight oil depending on temperature and usage.
10W-30 is a better choice for the summer, NOT because it's thicker (at operating temperature, a 5W-30 and 10W-30 both are designed to flow like a 30weight oil) but because oils with smaller spreads tend to be more shear stable. Basically, you want to pick the narrowest band of multigrade oil that covers your needs.
Ken
~Colin
btw, the dealer charged me $96.08 to change the front and rear differential fluids. is this a bit too much?
i appreciate all the input, guys.
Anyway, while researching the problem I found some Subaru tech info that suggested measuring the tire circumference -- a difference of 1/4" could cause the problem I'm having. I measured them tonight (all at 32 psi) and found that the left rear was 83 1/8", while the other three were 82 7/8" (!). So, maybe I'm onto something. The tires are Michelin XW4s with about 46,000 miles. Tread wear looks even on all four. I tried dropping the pressure in the left rear to 20 psi and drove it around the neighborhood a bit. It seemed to help, though I couldn't be sure.
So if you're still reading this, does the above make sense? I could buy a new set of inexpensive tires (the Michelins probably need replacing within the next 15,000 miles anyway) and see if the problem goes away. Or I could take it to my Subaru dealer, tell them the whole tale, and see what they can find. My concern is that diagnosing the problem could involve quite a bit of labor taking the tranny apart. What do you think?
Fluids - the rear is quite easy, but the tranny oil not so much. I'll admit my Forester got a little messy until I figured out a way to hold the tubing in place. So I think I'd pay that amount, sure.
Tires are cheap, that's what I would do. Get a set of Falken Ziex 512s from Discount Tire or Vulcantire.com, they're not that costly. Your AWD system is.
-juice
Current Falken owners say they are much quieter. They won't last as long as the Geos, but yours haven't lasted very long anyway. I have 39k on mine and they are about 50%.
I am going to try them first on my Mazda MPV, they have the weight and speed ratings exactly the same as the stock Dunlops, but are about $40 less each.
John
On another note, this morning I had this god awful rattle coming from the roof. I haven't figured out if its only if the sunroof is open or not .... then I think it went away. Phantom rattles drive me insane !!!!
I also had a real bothersome one from the steering column. I flexed the plastic around the column (underside) and that seemed to have taken care of it; at least momentarily.
Jopopsy
******************
Oh yah, my wife just picked up a 05 CR-V LX 2WD. Now I can start to adequatly contrast the two vehicles on the general subie board in time. Some of you may remember I was very active on these boards when my wife and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to purchase ......
I have Falkens on my Miata and I like them, wet/dry grip are a big improvement over the previous tires. The one catch is supposedly they do not last long, but to me it's easily worth that trade-off.
-juice
So, while Sears has nothing available online, are you guys saying I can go to a Sears Auto center and find something that will work?
Also, do I need to know anything about resetting the car after the battery is swapped out? Does the computer need to re-learn, will the alarms go nuts, radio fail to work, etc.?
--Jopopsy
-juice
Just my $0.02 - I'm sure there are a lot of good batteries out there, but the NAPA is the longest lasting and most dependable I have encountered thus far. To be fair though, the OBW did have a faulty alternator for the last two years of the Die Hard's life which may have contributed to its demise. Fairbanks, AK is a tough place to be a battery.....
'96 - must be a 2.2l. We don't see a lot of leaky gaskets for the EJ22. Just keep adding and don't let it get too low.
-juice
If the car runs well, you do not have a CEL illumination, and you do not see significant (or any) leakage on the exterior of the engine, I wouldn't worry about it, but do check and top your oil at every fill up.
The valve cover gaskets on mine leak a fair bit (at 190K) and I add between 1/4 and 1/2 every 3-5 hundred miles. Oh, I have the EJ25.... I may be way off base on the EJ22, but I imagine that there are some similarities.....
-Wes-
Ken
Well, after much back and forth between dealer, SOA and myself, problem still exists. Pinging with regular gas, especially under load (gentle hills, A/C on, passengers in the vehicle). This is moderate to gentle driving with 24k miles.
I waited two months for a call-back from the dealer only to have the district service manager test drive the car and report 'performing withing specs'. Unfortunately, I couldn't be at the test. The dealer referred me to some vague statement in the manual about knocking with this type of engine being normal (also told me incorrectly that this vehicle required premium fuel). I followed up with SOA saying I was still unhappy and was told by a stubborn representative that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. He made me feel like I was the one at fault.
I am very unhappy but have given up. I'm stuck with premium fuel now (91 octane) because this produces the least amount of pinging. But at $2.90 a gallon (US-CA) and the lousy customer service, it's a case of 'first Subaru, last Subaru' for me. When it's paid off in another few months I'll be looking to get rid of it.
Hope everyone else with the pinging problem fares better than me.
Garrett.
Anybody experiencing a rattle in the sunroof area of a Forester? I have an 05 and it rattles like heck when I'm going over bumps; its a relatively new occurence as I've had no such issue for just over 10k miles ....
?????
Jopopsy
I'm really skeptical of "mechanic is a bottle" products, but this stuff works. Normally 1 bottle every 3000 miles is recommended but multiple bottles might be needed if your fuel system is really dirty. After the first addition I noticed no benefit, after the second I noticed a little and the third eliminated it completely. The downside is that using the stuff regularly costs nearly the same as filling with a higher octane.
Don't ignore the problem though- its only going to get worse. The higher octane gas is only a temporary solution. You'll eventually ping on 92 also.
Miata enthusiasts say you should redline the car once each tankful to help prevent carbon deposits from forming inside your engine. When they form, they occupy space and effectively increase your compression ratio. That can cause pinging in extreme cases.
So go get 3 bottles on Techron, use one in each of your next 3 tanks. And make sure you rev your engine, try to come near redline at least once per tankful.
Also make sure you are not lugging the engine. You don't want it to be pulling a heavy load at under 2000 rpm. Peak torque occurs above 4000rpm, so don't be afraid to rev it up. Especially when you have lots of passengers or cargo, i.e. a heavy load.
-juice
- justin
-juice
Can you drive in a tight figure 8 in a dry parking lot? See if that improves things.
Also check the circumference of the tires, they should not vary by more than 1/4".
-juice
if the noise is present it's the steering rack.
if it's not, it's probably the center differential. on a manual this is a relatively inexpensive viscous coupler. on an automatic, it's an electronic clutch pack, and it's pricey.
~Colin
~c
Dave
dcalkins75080@yahoo.com
We received a junk-mail invitation from Subaru to extend the factory warranty. I said to my wife that it was mighty pricey and, given that the dealers can never diagnose a problem or deny a problem exists, the warranty is not worth a great deal, much less an extension of the same.
Its going to the dealer next Wednesday; I would assume they have to take the liner off ????
?????
Jopopsy
Jopopsy
PS Hey Juice 2 more weeks till baby Jopopsy arrives !!!!
We used to call that an Italian tune-up. I need to find a place to do that again!
Jim
hth
I just hooked up the battery, have your remote handy to cycle the lock/unlock button a few times. Mine goes into a mode where the parking lights blink. Yours may have an alarm, so have the key fob with you.
-juice
if it's not getting noisier, that's usually a good thing but YMMV.
~Colin
Thanks,
Dave
dcalkins75080@yahoo.com
on your pressure monitor, it probably can only be reset by a late-model subaru OBDII scan tool which of course pretty much only a dealer would have. however if you haven't already tried, you should try disconnecting the positive lead on your battery overnight. you can also disconnect it briefly and apply the brakes, but on some cars this won't discharge the ECU.
~Colin
Good luck.
Jim
Thanks,
Dave
RE: center differential. If it is going out on you, I'd not recommend having a shop repair it at this point. You might get quite a few more miles out of it before failure.... or not. As sad as it may be, our poor '96s are not worth a $2500 repair any more. The nice thing is that it will keep talking to you to let you know just how bad it is getting - so it shouldn't be any great surprise when it finally tells you "no." If you haven't had the fluid in your front/rear differentials changed recently (within last 30K or so), you should consider doing it. It is a quick & easy job that either you or your lube shop can perform. If you do it, have a long-nosed funnel on hand for the front differential - it will make the job much easier! Oh, and this is just speculation on my part, but if the differential IS going out, generally avoiding situations that cause the binding will extend its life a little bit - obviously this will not be possible all the time.