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Subaru Outback Brake Questions
bhirish1960
Member Posts: 1
I have a Subaru Outback 2001 Wagon with the 2.5 liter boxer engine. It has 163,900 miles on it and runs well, that is, when the check engine light isn't on. The coil pack has been replaced twice, amongst other repairs. Safety-wise, it is a great car, but there are too many little things that go wrong that add up. 1) Is there a "recycle" feature in the ECU of this model that will shut off the light if the flaw has been repaired, or does the code stay in the ECU for a period of time and periodically repeats until the ECU updates? 2)Is that not a feature of the ECU in this car? 3)Also, are front rotors and pinion bushings common replacement items in these cars? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Comments
Bushings and rotors, at your mileage are indeed to the point of needing replacement, as well as the bearings.
I think its time for you to be merciful, and say a loving goodbye to your trusted old friend.....
They're a wear item. Some cars would be on their 3rd set by then.
Coil packs are cheap. $80 from an on-line Subaru wholesaler. Takes about 5 minute to change it, too.
Try this - get a Chase Subaru credit card, and start accumulating Subaru Bucks. 3% back, basically.
-juice
I will say I have spent quite a bit of time and money on this car to maintain it, but the longer I have it the more I doubt I would have spent any less on a modern car of any other make. I keep a practical mindset toward it and look at how much utility or return I get for every dollar/hour invested. So far, I think I have done well enough. Approximately $2,500/year TCO so far, and that amount tends to go down as the purchase price continues to be diluted by time (barring any more catastrophic problems!).
As for the ECU reset, self-diagnosis happens either on real-time or under a pre-determined set of driving conditions. Once the problem is fixed the code will not re-log, but unless it is reset upon fix, it takes something like 40 (diagnosis) cycles to fully clear. If you do not have a OBD-II scanner with which to reset, pull the battery cables for 10-30 minutes and it will reset the whole she-bang.
-juice
-mike
Some people live in the 'burbs and just don't have to brake that often at all.
-juice
-mike
I am not sure why it is unbelievable. After all, the original fronts were replaced at 125K and the rears should not wear as quickly as the fronts. I replaced the fronts again just about a month ago, at 218K, and they had a little over 50% left on them. I guess I was just getting a lot of rocks, but one was squealing for a week and I got to the point I thought it must be a squealer going off.
I am also not much of a braker, I prefer to look ahead, use the gears, etc. I would guess that I touch the brakes less than half as often as most other drivers. An artifact of learning to drive with old pickups, I suppose. I still have all the original shoes on my 1969 Chevy C20 and I just turned 70K on it this summer. I have had to replace the brake cylinders and the master, though.
I'm sure it helps not living in urbania.
I still find it hard to believe but then again if you put 70k miles on your 1969 Chevy pickup, that explains a lot. 70k is about 3-4 years in my cars and I have 2 cars for road use at any given time.
-mike
So she's the opposite, I guess the rides the brakes all day long. My pads lasted 4 years longer (similar mileage pace).
-juice
That car was amazing. 100K on the OEM Michelins, 197K on the original clutch, which was still serviceable when changed, and about 168K on the original muffler (the rest of the exhaust was changed at around 210K). Lots of highway driving.
Len
As for engine braking, I always keep my vehicle in the most appropriate gear for the speed so that if need be, I can quickly react to an emergency situation should it arise. If I have to slow quickly, it is the brakes all the way and I just try to keep pace with the shifter. But, if I see that I should slow, I will do that gradually rather than racing up on a slow down situation (intersection, traffic congestion, etc) and then braking. I also do not use my brakes during highway driving except in emergencies. I see so many drivers applying their brakes coming into every curve and it just seems so pointless to me. With the truck, I haul heavy loads and pull obscenely heavy trailers on a regular basis. If I were to rely on my brakes all the time, they would be fried come the first steep grade. If I hit an 8% grade at 35-40, I can keep the speed reasonable with only periodic applications of the brakes. Were I to hit it at 60-65, I would fade those buggers to oblivion and be going 100+ come the bottom..... not that it stops others from doing so. Every day I see folks at the top of "the hill" (short, steep hill near my house) riding their brakes all the way to the bottom. Again, pointless and a lack of foresight in my opinion. I guess that unless I have premature failure of a clutch, transmission, or other driveline component then I have no basis for deterimining that I am causing undue stress on the system. My truck's clutch is still original and my car's tranmission is (seems to be?) doing fine.
My van, though... ugh. That darned thing idles at about 30 mph (if it is in drive... 1st limits it to about 20) and I cannot seem to get it adjusted so that it idles properly. It takes quite a bit of force to get it stopped so I often throw it in neutral just to take the added resistance off. I put new shoes on it back in 1993 when I rebuilt the mechanical system on it. It needed new front pads already after 35-40K miles, I think I replaced them in 2004. But then, I feel like I am always having to ride the brakes on it as compared to my Chevy or Subaru. Considering I might drive it a couple hundred miles a year, working out the bugs has been extremely low priority.
The FXT was aaaalmost ready for pads at 40k. I drove it hard though. It has fantastic brakes that begged the driver to go deep in any given corner. I miss them more than the power.
The little GF8 will be interesting. I know she needs new shoes (!) soon. Front brakes are likely going away completely in the Spring, in favor of WRX or GC8 bits. These one pot dinky jobs are not cutting it.
-mike
As for towing though your vehicle brakes should not be effected as you should have adequet trailer brakes on anything over about 1000lbs sometimes 1500lbs on the trailer.
-mike
Oh, right.... trailer brakes. I am sure they would help, but that means I would have to install an electric brake controller first.
You can also go with WRX 4-pots but they require pre-02 RS rims to clear.
Either way shoot me an e-mail before you get anything as I usually have brakes around the shop that I can hook yah up with.
-mike
a) find a set of cheap 16" takeoffs for winter (WRX, etc.)
or
b) run the SSRs all year with UHP A/S tires
maybe I can swing a hall pass at some point, come on up and we can do the install up there, have a couple brews, finally meet (well, for the 2nd time anyways!)
-mike
Continuing the hijack.
-mike
-juice
-mike
1) After 40 drive cycles, most codes will clear if the fault never occurs again. Light goes off, 'snapshot' of sensor status when error occured clears out, and readiness status required for some state inspections will be restored. If the problem is still there, the error log will remain, and you cannot pass an emissions inspection.
2) Front brakes were upgraded early in the '02 model year. I have a very early '02 that was built with '01 brake hardware and had persistent problems with the OEM stuff. I'm not surprised that you had issues. Last Spring I put on aftermarket rotors and pads, and many of my complaints went away.
Steve
while 'interesting', it's just another example of a thread that should have just been posted in an existing discussion rather than separately ...
Brenda
Would you be able to look at message #34, it concerns brakes and it's wearing me out.
Appreciate any help.
Maggie
-mike
Meg
Auto or manual transmission?
Mileage?
Does it happen when it rains, in dry, or both?
Does it happen before the brakes warm up, or all the time?
In a straight line, in turns, or both?
The more info you can provide the more likely someone here can help. We'd be happy to try.
-mike
When I step hard on the brakes (panic-stop) I get a very loud noise or racket from the front of the car. Otherwise the brakes function normally.
The car has the original tires and I noticed that there is very little clearing between the front tires and the fender panels.
Might the noise becaused by the car "tipping down" enough to scrape the tires against the panels when doing a panic stop??? :mad:
If the tires are worn, and at 22k I would think they may be, the ABS may be activating more often.
-mike
Subaru Guru and Track Instructor
Now, the car developed homing noise when I brake (3 out of 5 times) and it sounds like a airplane when I brake on an empty street at night (you can hear it all around. I had people asking me '..what that F*** is wrong with this car and if I am driving with no brakes). And to top it all this car, sometimes, when you trying to increase the speed basically stops, you can hear the engine spinning, sometimes, engine making a noise like it's a 400Hs engine and the car is not moving.
I think this is my last Subaru ever. Or by the way,how about a driver site space. Did you notice that the right side (right next to your right leg (right and left leg) but it feels more for a driver since all of the pedals) is taking more space then a regular car. This is because of the engine type, but what it will do at some point, it will realign your body and you might at some point develop back pain issues due to design ergonomics.
About the brake issues, they checked and checked and checked and nothing. So, I decided to take a brake cleaning solution and sprayed in....and....after power washing the rims....it's gone! I spent hours in the shop and they took tires off...nothing. They could just clean it?