Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

nygreg

Yeah, called Tirerack again and explained the situation. The red and yellow triangles indicate high and low spots on the tire and is there to help with installation. It does not matter how they are mounted. He said it might be radial pull which is not really a problem unless it bothers me. If I find which tire it is (if it is even the tire) they can replace it if I wish. I'll leave it for now.

Greg

ateixeira

Agreed, Ken. I had actually considered "upgrading" to S model sun visors, but it didn't seem worth the effort. Even my Escort had two lit mirrors with covers and a padded cloth fabric.

The new Impreza also has the same cheap material.

-juice

kens

I wonder if the Legacy has the same kind of visors. Wonder if they fit our vehicles...

Ken

ateixeira

Uh-oh. Break out the measuring tape. Where's Darlene when you need her? ;-)

-juice

locke2c

nygreg-- what you describe sounds like one of the tires is improperly balanced or has excessive runout (simple talk-- "is warped").

did you buy just tires and have a local place mount them or did you get new wheels too? the reason I ask is that when you buy wheels & tires, the tirerack mounts and balances them with a Hunter GSP9700, a balancing machine like no other which when properly used assures a good balance and can identify a tire with excessive runout or other defects. many local shops won't have something near that good, even chains.

-Colin

pattim3

I'll call you tomorrow. Meeting city today. We're with you!

Patti

hondafriek

Glad to see you are a happy camper again.

KEN my GT has the lighted vanity mirrors both sides and as far as I can see they are a straight swap, while they are nothing to write home about they are not too shabby.

Cheers Pat.

c_hunter

The visors in my Outback are quite good, and look very similar to the visors I have seen in recent Chrysler sedans. They are also identical to the visors in my wife's 2000 Mazda 626 (made in USA). I think they must be a typical OEM design from a US supplier.

From what I remember, the visors in the Forester were like the visors in most Japanese produced Hondas, which is to say vinyl stretched over foam and what feels like a coat hanger!!

Craig

lark6

I am keynote speaker at a conference in New Brunswick, NJ, that runs all day (9-5, plus schmooze). Will try to speak with you during a break. I seem to be on the lecture circuit quite a bit since early September. I'll try to get back home in time for the chat.

Dennis: Too bad there's not one of those meets in Woodbridge/Edison that you keep trying to get me to attend!

Ed

rsholland

I grew up next door to New Brunswick, just across the Raritan River in Highland Park. My dad taught at Rutgers. My mother was a school nurse in the New Brunswick public schools. Small world...

Bob

snizave

Hi everyone.
I've been having a problem with my 92 legacy. At low RPMs, i get no heat from the vents and the car will overheat very quickly...at higher RPMs (>2500), the car will return to normal temp quickly and i can get some heat. I guess the water pump is only periodically working or something like that. I'm hoping that by tightening my belts(which were a little loose) that things should work normally. What are your opinions?
Also, I have noticed recently that when the car is driven hard(high revs, fast shifting), it will sometimes shudder pretty bad as i'm engaging the clutch, especially in reverse. Sometimes the shudder is really bad, and i don't always have to be driving hard for this to occur. This isn't normal is it? (I'm not bogging the engine or anything like that)

Thanks,
Mike

bluesubie

Glad you're back in action. I'm live about 20 minutes from New Brunswick. Usually when there's a Woodbridge meet, it's on a Wednesday. I think the North Jersey guys have dinner meets almost every Wednesday.

Dennis

ateixeira

Craig: that's a fair assessment of our sun visors. I looked and it kind of seems narrow, I bet the Legacy's is wider.

Mike: I was thinking water pump before you even mentioned it. Also check the thermostat. If a belt was loose, it's possible that is was slipping and not powering the accessories properly.

The shudder is probably a sign of a worn clutch. The first sign I notice when my Sprint's clutch went out was that reverse was extremely difficult to engage. Does it slip at all? By that I mean to revs slip higher than road speed?

-juice

nygreg

Tires were purchased at Tirerack and mounted at Costco. The pull is very slight. Not sure what to do since I am going on a long trip soon. Get them rebalanced?

Greg

ateixeira

Costco uses air guns to tigthen the lug nuts, so I'd re-torque them. Have you already?

-juice

locke2c

juice, he actually removed the offending tire and remounted it at a different location on the vehicle. if it's still overtorqued, that's his fault. ;-)

greg, yes I'd consider getting them rebalanced. use this applet to find a local shop with a Hunter GSP9700:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/Findgsp9700.cfm

as I mentioned before it can balance like no other machine and can spot defective tires if they cannot be balanced properly.

-Colin

ateixeira

That's right. I'm on so many threads I lose my train of thought after bouncing around so much.

-juice

hondafriek

The clutch could also be broken motor mounts or transmission mounts, could also be oil on the clutch plate.

I experienced the oil induced clutch shudder when a rear oil seal let go this happened years ago on a German Ford Capri I once owned.

Cheers Pat.

lark6

Sorry to double post, but I have run into more problems with the Forester on the trip back from New Brunswick.

As I pulled into my driveway at home about 20 minutes ago, I found that I cannot turn the ignition key into the full off position, nor can I remove said key from the ignition switch. In addition, the horn no longer sounds when I press the horn button, leading me to believe that something has gone awry in the steering column.

To answer the obvious questions: yes the car is an AT, yes it is in park, and yes, the parking brake is activated.

I called Subaru roadside assistance (800-SUBARU3), which could only offer to tow the car to the dealership - not to send someone out to extricate the key from the ignition.

I will be on the chat board at 9:00 to discuss this issue.

I have no idea what my next step is, but rest assured I will be spending this Saturday doing some comparison shopping. It's pretty obvoius that with 31,800 miles I will absoultely need the extended warranty.

I guess I didn't stay a happy camper for long.

Ed

PS: paisan: please refrain from calling me "chisel chest" on this one. It is readily apparent that reliability is fast becoming an issue with this car.

hondafriek

IT is probably only a problem with the shift interlock switch, they probably forgot to hook up a wire.

Cheers Pat.

lark6

I hope you're right, man - I'm just pretty jumpy right now. 90 minutes in US 1 traffic will do that to you even if you don't experience mechanical problems.

See you in a bit.

Ed

paisan

Nah, like they said it's probably the interlock. Or is there something like a cell phone cord possibly stopping it from going fully into park? I know on my trooper my dad kept putting it in park, but there was a cell phone wire causing it to ever so slightly not go fully into park thus the key wouldn't come out.

-mike

paisan

Try to get a GM or FORD and then you'll see problems.

-mike

bigfrank3

Check for air pockets in the cooling system.

Regards,
Frank

nygreg

Yeah, took off the tires and retorqued. Costco actually torqued them correctly. Had the van up to 90mph and it was smooth. Toyota replaced the rear drum yesterday (counter balance fell off). Think I will leave it for now and test it again in a few weeks.

Greg

lark6

Well crew, here's the diagnosis in a nutshell:

The bolt holding the horn and its ground wire to the body worked loose, allowing the horn to short out and blow its fuse. The horn fuse also controls the shift interlock. A tightened bolt and a 15-amp fuse and all is right again.

As for me, I guess I am a little quick on the trigger these days. Good thing I'm not a MLB pitching coach or Strategic Air Command pilot. Maybe someone can e-mail me some Paxil.

Sorry,
Ed

juliewen

I wanted to check-in on this forum to let everybody know how things have been progressing. To refresh your memories, I have a 2000 Forester with 34k miles and was experiencing 1 qt./ 2000 miles oil consumption. Initially I was told that it was in SOA spec. and would not be fixed by Subaru. Patti, from this forum, intervened and( long story short) I just got the car back with a rebuilt engine. The rings were replaced (matter of course, they looked fine) and both cylinder heads were replaced. There were 2 bad valve stem seals. This was what I suspected so I am not at all surprised. To be honest, my actual experience with Liberty Subaru in Oradell, NJ was not good. But Patti was great and her intervention was responsible for the fix. So I am very grateful to her. Thanks to all of you in this forum for the help. Really!!

There is still one thing bothering me, well maybe two. I will keep you updated as to this; I am experiencing the same anti-freeze burning smell in the engine compartment that Ed was writing about. I noticed it immediately when I opened the engine to look at the work that was done. I am hoping it goes away as things settle in again. But I am a little concerned. The fluid level in the radiator was a little shy of full so I am monitoring it to see what is up. Also, the left side valve head is making some pretty significant tapping noise. More than before and certainly way more than the right side. So I am concerned that the valve lash is off on the left side. I never noticed any noise on the brand new car, during or after break-in period. I hope I can get everything sorted out soon.
Thanks,
Scott Wendholt

armac13

Glad it was that simple. Just repeat 5 times as needed "This too shall pass, this too... :~) You'll never make it to the Subaru OCD Club if you don't care passionately about the proper functioning of your Subie.

Ross

armac13

we'll keep our fingers crossed for you. It is great having Patti here isn't it. Not only is she extremely helpful, but also charming and beautiful and (is this helping any?).

Ross

lark6

So am I OCD or not? Most of you seem to indicate that I am.

Scott: Based on my own recent experience, obviously you could have head gasket problems. Since you have new heads installed I would assume they also have new gaskets as well. There is always the possibility that coolant was spilled in the engine bay during the head/ring job and you are simply smelling the coolant burning off of the engine or drivetrain components. A cleaning of the engine bay could help. Remember to cover all the electricals if you steam clean it yourself.

If that does not help and you suspect bad gaskets, have the dealership perform a leakdown test on the cooling system. That's how they discovered my problems.

Hope this helps - it helped me simply by calming me down and allowing me to rationally explain what I have recently observed.

Good luck to you too,
Ed

hondafriek

Are you flirting?

Cheers Pat.

subearu

Now I'm OCD'ing (more) on making sure my wheels are straight when I park either of our cars. That way the rubber boots on the CV joints don't get stressed.

As if waxing the wheels wasn't enough.

-Brian

armac13

Flirting?? Moi? With madness, definitely! With Patti? Only in the hopes that I can get some of the wonderful perks that she can provide for loyal, lucky worshipers (like me - hint, hint). :~}

Brian, you are coming along nicely with the OCD. Keep up the good work.

Ross

jabukwa

hi, new to the discussion.
bought a blk wrx 5spd wgn about 3wks ago. just suffered thru 1000 miles of restrained driving. live in minnesota so took it in to dealer yesterday for engine block heater. drove home (3mi). then later drove slowly (<2000rpm) to get coffee. foggy and windows wouldn't clear so looked at temp guage and it was in the RED!!! stopped and towed to subaru.
they admit to having screwed up, "air lock".
what do i do now? they say it is fine, and are going to give me some oil changes. that doesn't make me feel much better.
any suggestions

pattim3

you need something, just say the word!! ;~}

Scott - I'm glad things are okay. Just let us know if there continues to be a problem. Your case will be on file with us for years to come!

Patti

pattim3

Just to be sure, I'd call us and get your concerns documented. The Rep. will start a case so we can make sure you don't have any future problems. Good catch that you didn't drive it too long in the red. Since you are new here, the number is 1-800-SUBARU3. Let the Rep. know that you want your situation documented (even though we document everything), but we should follow up with the dealer to see what they checked after they fixed the problem.

Sorry for the problem, but "us" humans are prone to make errors.

Let the Representative know that I want to see your case after they have started to work on it. That way, I can keep an eye on it. I don't actually work on cases in my role at Subaru, but I can provide some direction.

Patti

c_hunter

I know you are probably worried, but I don't think you drove far enough to do any damage. Definitely get it documented in case there are any problems in the future.

Good luck!
Craig

bluesubie

Too much caffeine? ;-)
Believe me, I know what it's like to be visiting a dealer for multiple problems. A year ago after so many dealer visits, my wife's salesguy stopped greeting me with hello. He replaced it, "What the heck are you doing here again?!?"

In hindsight, couldn't you have manually overrode the shift interlock to remove the key? Doesn't the manual have instructions for that?

Good luck in the future,

Dennis

lark6

Dennis: Looking at the owner's manual it appears I can override the shift interlock in order to move the gear selector from "P" to "N". There is, however, a "key interlock release" which I could have activated (after removing the plastic cover on the underside of the steering column) while turning the key that would have released the key from the ignition switch.

Shame on me - I did read that manual through cover to cover when I bought the car, I swear ;-). Too much caffeine? Not likely. Too much US 1 corridor commuting, more like it.

Thanks,
Ed

ateixeira

You mean you only read it once? ;-)

Scott: glad to hear Patti could help. Did they change the oil? I would, and the coolant too.

What viscosity are you using? The valve tap may be cured by thinner oil.

-juice

hammersley

Is there really such a thing as "too much caffeine"???

Didn't think so...
Cheers!
Paul

stevek

I know you should not wash your car with dish detergent, but how about hair shampoo? Imagine the possibilites like body building shampoo (does that make your car bigger), anti dandruff shampoo (does that stop paint flaking?), shampoo that makes hair curl (does that make nice body lines) shampoo that rebuilkds damaged hair (does that take out dents)....etc......
Glad to be of help
Steve

hondafriek

I guess Steve missed his Ritilin dose today.

Cheers Pat.

c_hunter

My 2000 OB windshield got cracked this morning on the way to work. Some truck was spilling sand and gravel for miles along Interstate 64 in VA, and I bet I am not the only one who got hit -- it was crazy (state police finally pulled the truck over).

I called the trucking company, and they are going to pay for a replacement windshield. Is there anything I should look out for? I don't have the heated wiper elements, but would like to keep everything about the windshield as stock as possible. I remember some talk about this months ago, and various issues were discussed. Any guidance would be appreciated.

thanks,
Craig

hammersley

There was a thread about windshield replacement in the Outback chapter over at the Station Wagons Board, and the general consensus seems to be if you have a Safelite Auto Glass franchise in your area, go with 'em. Nationwide, lifetime leak guarantee, etc. etc. I've used 'em here and have had no complaints at all.

Cheers!
Paul

hondafriek

Since you found the culprit and they are going to pay, my advice is to check with your dealer and see who they use for replacement and go there.

Cheers Pat.

c_hunter

The way it's working is that the trucking company is going to have a local glass shop call me and work out the details. They must have a contract in place, as this probably happens often. The glass shop is not a national chain, but the they have a pretty good reputation. I noticed the OEM windshield is by Carlex, so I'll start out by asking if they can get one of those.

Craig

muskoka

I'm a first time participant, from Toronto.
95 Legacy LSi wagon with 180000 KM. Serviced at dealer since new according to Subaru Canada schedule.
Ready for the 3rd of rear rotors, along with 3rd set of rear pads. (Fronts have been just as frequent). The dealer has two qualities of pads: OEM from Japan $145/set (which is what I've always used), and Six Star, supposedly made in North America for about $60/set, offered through Subaru. Dealer says the Six Star are harder, and prone to squeeling, and will wear my rotors faster. My driving is mostly highway, very little stop and go, and I'm not aggressive.
I have 3 questions:
1) Does anybody have any experience with the less expensive Six Star pads, pro/con;
2) Is this normal expectancy for rotors and OEM pads given my driving habits.
3) Will the "harder" pads wear the rotors faster?

Comments are appreciated.

Fraser

muskoka

95 Legacy LSi wagon
The "lights" on the fan switch, and temperature slider are not working. Are these some sort of tiny bulb, or a LED, or fibre optic light source?
Does anyone know how to correct the problem?
Thanks,
Fraser

locke2c

(shameless crosspost from the iClub-- if you want to read replies there click here)

On the 25 minute drive home from work today I lost close to 2 quarts of coolant. I noticed a bit of steam 2 lights from home and smelled coolant, but the gauge was normal. 1 light from home the temp needle suddenly climbed skyward, and I immediately cranked the heat to full blast but it still spiked while waiting ~30s for the light. Once rolling at 40mph it dropped to normal within 60-90 seconds but began climbing again as soon as I did 50yds @ 15 mph into my cul-de-sac.

Stopping in the garage I could see the coolant dripping and boiling on the left header, and both fans were working normally. I shut it off but turned the key back to ON to allow the fans to keep going and watched more coolant drip and boil.

Overflow tank is at the full line and not one bit high or low. I just flushed the system *extremely* well about a month ago to convert to DexCool antifreeze-- yes I know what dexcool and normal antifreeze do when mixed. Leak is coming from the back of the engine, under the left cylinder head. If you look at the back of the LH head from the top, look right past the end of the casting and that's where it's leaking, right onto the crossmember. Sure doesn't seem to be leaking nearly fast enough to be a freeze plug. No leaking at all until today, by the way.

Unfortunately the crossmember is blocking my view. Re-adding coolant immediately resulted in visible dripping and the 75% of the LH head that can be seen from below unobstructed by the crossmember looks free of coolant. The coolant looks very clean and the oil is also very clean (Mobil 1 10w30 done same weekend as the flush&fill) with no sign of coolant.

Possibilities that come to mind:

freeze plug from head or block
heater core or bypass hose
head gasket

Where are the heater lines? Are there any other coolant connectors or plugs in the immediate area of just under the left cylinder head?

Any other suggestions appreciated too.
-Colin