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Comments
I didn't blame you, I was just trying to head off the idea that harming someone else's property would right the wrong somehow.
We're better than that... carelessness ought not be repaid by intentional destruction.
-Colin
The Subaru OEM trailer wiring interface on my '02 OBW was D.O.A. - it does happen. Mine was actually an odd failure mode. The lights were on all of the time with no control over them. Hopefully your dealer will take good care of you and make it right...
Steve
Two weeks ago I told you (actually in MTM & Modifications) that I bought Dunlop Winter Sport snows on wheels for both my Outback and Odyssey from Tire Rack. The OB tires are still in the garage next to the wagon, but I put on the 4 for the Ody as we were taking it on the Thanksgiving trip. Spur of the moment - forcast of snow the night before we left.
The next 400 miles reminded me of the 'magic fingers' bed massage at a budget motel. I called Tire Rack yesterday from here in Fredricksburg, VA, and they referred me to a local shop for rebalancing and roadtest. Nice shop. Very understanding, prompt, polite - verified that 3 of 4 were way out. We went for another roadtest. What an amazing difference a few ounces of lead can make! Looks like Tire Rack's equipment is way out of cal, and I suspect that I will end up going thru this with the OB's tires. Sounds good, right?
I knew from my around-the-block roadtest that something wasn't right, so I had thrown my torque wrench and 19mm socket into van. After dropping off the tire shop guy, I headed for a remote spot where I could check the lug nuts myself. The sound of ratcheting impact driver told me I best do it. The spec is 80 lbs for Honda 12mm x 1.5 lugs. Some came off fairly easy - taking about as much effort as it took to put them back on. But most required that I turn to the Gorilla bar and practically jump on it to turn them. When one came free, I really thought I had snapped it off! Over, and unevenly torqued - a perfect recipe for warped rotors.
But it is not just independent shops. I need to visit my Honda store when I get back to NY. They too use the air gun, although they are not as heavy handed with it. But they apparently cross-threaded one stud at a visit only a few weeks before. Another nice find on the eve of a trip. I got an acorn nut full of thread shavings from one very difficult to remove lug, and had to use my thread file and tap set to recut the stud's threads.
Is there anybody out there that cares anymore???
Steve
-mike
Something else to be thankful for!
Cheers!
Paul
I know that at some point in the rest of my ownership of the Titan I will probably be going through this exercise again, and probably more than once.
Cheers Pat.
I agree that there is something not right.
Karl
I set the parking brake always.
I don't have the time to let the dealer have the vehicle for the whole day to fix this. I gotta get to/from work so I can make the car payments. What a hassle!
I will ignore this recall and just set the parking brake.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
elissa
Also, are both your posts the same car? If so, is it not possible the two things are related?
Any damage the low tranny oil could have caused is already done now, and cannot be easily found by a transmission inspection. Plus, I would think that as long as it had some oil, there would not have been much damage.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
On the rear diff lash. Based on the history of the vehicle, I'd have someone check the oil level in the rear diff. I doubt your noise is the rear gear lash as it would be very consistent. That's simply improper gear spacing, which would stay the same no matter what gear you used. See if you can reproduce it in other gears as well by repeatedly letting off and pushing on the gas abruptly.
IdahoDoug
thanks to you and IdahoDoug for your comments. i still wonder what could be causing this clunk. i'll be taking it into the dealer soon to have them look and will let you know what i find. was just hoping some folks might be able to help me point the dealer in the right direction... any further insight would be much appreciated! -elissa
I'd do the same for the rear diffy. While you're at it have them put in synthetic and consider it an upgrade. But make sure they fill it up! :-)
Nice save Patti. Good to hear, Brad.
Low mpg - how cold has it been? Consider a block heater if it's below freezing every day for more than 3 months. The oil gets real thick and mileage is awful until temps warm up internally. Or use a thinner oil, 5w20, or synthetics, which flow better. Plus try a different gas station.
Mark: I think since it's documented you are fine. Look at it this way - I doubt they've ever had a block failure 3 times on one car!
Or trade up for a Phase II (2000 or later on Legacy/Outback), which seems to have cured that problem.
-juice
I had CEL for some time (usual remedies like Dry Gas and changing gas brands did not work this time), then it disappeared... but I'm getting a much lower mileage now: about 17-18 mpg in mixed city/hwy! I used to get at least 21.5 in mixed driving, and 23.5 on hwy.
Thanks in advance!
--kate
Greg
P.S. be careful not to simultaneously contact the positive and negative terminals with the wrench.
Dings are such a bummer. I make sure to tell everyone riding with me to open doors carefully, even use my own fingers wrapped around the edge of a door to prevent a ding. I also park in end spots no matter how remote, it drives my wife crazy! I tell her I need the exercise.
But even when I park at the last spot, way, way, over to the far side, some eejit STILL manages to park crooked next to me and swings the door wide. I have a couple of dings myself.
Another time, my nephew was banging his power ranger against my paint. Hard enough that the white paint from the action figure came off on my 1/4 panel. Luckily, it came off with a good waxing. Hard to be mad at a cute nephew, though.
Anyhow, I think Pat was looking for moral support, and that's cool. Noone likes to find a new ding, an OCD Clubber in particular.
Any time any shop works on our cars, even for free, I re-check wheel torque. Often it's off. Heck, they might make more money on a future brake job if they overtighten.
-juice
Anyway dings are gone, taken care of by the dent specialist, if it were not for the chipped paint on one of the dings you would never know they were there, $80 CDN. covered the cost, a lot less money than repainting panels and still keep the origional paint.
Cheers Pat.
I still have that dime-sized ding I touched-up, looks okay a year later.
-juice
Burt - $670
John Elway - $480
Needless to say that I've chosen Elway dealer for my service next monday. Plus I got a 20% off coupon on both parts and labor, so the damage shouldn't be too big.
When you reconnect/restart REMEMBER...do not touch the gas pedal! Let it run for 10 mins or so...shut down and VOILA....you should be good.
Also note that a reset takes you back to the factory PRESETS and will start to adapt to things from there. It does NOT necessarily mean you will have bad gas mileage...in FACT given your situation it may be BETTER.
Hope this helps.
-brianV
http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/ding_king.html?gid=ELECTRONICS
By the way...............did it clear the non blinking CEL ?
I bought my car from John Elway West, but I wasn't too impressed with them. Their "no haggle" price was a bit ridiculous, but I got the car on the VIP program, so I was able to side-step all of that nonsense. I think it annoyed them no end, and they treated me like they were losing money on the deal. I won't be back.
At the time, the service department was sharing space with the John Elway Jeep, and they were a bunch of Jeep guys. Couldn't spell Subaru. The only reason I went there was that I had test-driven a few times from there, and I thought I'd offer them the business. Won't make that mistake again.
I understand that they've now built a new facility across the street, and are much improved.
I work in Broomfield, so the trip to Flatirons in Boulder isn't that far out of my way.
-brianV
Even on old ones, it affected a small % of Subies, all of mine are original (1998, 49k miles).
As for the clutches, the key is they don't "wear out", they just tend to chatter on a cold/damp morning, until they warm up. So owners complain about how they feel, even though they still work and last a long time.
It goes away after you warm up, and this bothers some far more than others. What I would suggest is that you test drive a used Subie to see how you think the clutch feels. Again, mine has the original clutch, despite some towing and beach driving, plus constant heavy loads.
In addition, the 2003 clutch supposedly got a valve that limits their clamping force, at least that was the case on the WRX. My guess is kids were dropping the clutch for quick starts, and Subaru found a clever way to prevent clutch abuse. I'm not sure if the RS gets the same clutch.
Finally, my last comment is that it's common knowledge that most bad clutches are on WRXs, and even then on cars that are heavily modified. If you ask me, if you modify your WRX to make 260-300hp and expect a bone-stock clutch to handle it, you're being pretty naive. Budget for an ACT or Ludespeed Stage II clutch if you spend that much on the engine, to keep it balanced.
Good luck shopping for your new car.
-juice
-juice
cheers Pat.
-Frank P.
I have a 2003 Forester with 6700 miles on it. Today I noticed an occasional shimmy in the steering wheel while going 40 - 55 mph. At first I thought I had a flat tire and almost pulled over. Then it went away. On the way home from work, it happened again, a couple of times. When I took my hands off the wheel briefly, I could see it going back and forth about 3/8 of an inch, to give you an idea of how noticeable it was. When I got home from work, I noticed big chunks of ice stuck near 3 of the wheels (I live in Buffalo), and I kicked those off. Do you think that could somehow have caused it? Should I take it in to be checked? Anyone else run into this?
THanks for any comments,
Misty
BMW X5 3.0________$3382
Ford Escape XLS___$2259
Honda CRV LX______$1743
Hyundai Sante Fe__$2410
Jeep Liberty Sprt_$2277
Land Rover Disc'y_$5528
Lexus SportCross__$2665
Mercedes E320_____$3042
Subaru Forester___$3685
Subaru WRX Sport__$3919
Subaru Outback____$3785
Toyota Rav4_______$1922
Volkswagen Jetta__$2500
Volvo V40_________$2653
It has the highest service cost among wagons and 2nd highest among SUV's. Do you guys find that Subies cost a lot more to maintain? I always thought Subies are low-cost & relatively trouble-free.
I recently sold a Volvo. Any magazine that believes any Subaru will have higher maintenance cost than a Volvo is not credible.
Did they list all the details? if so, please list.
Mike
1) Front strut mount
2) Passenger seat rail
3) Wheel bearing
4) Head gasket
5) Short block
6) etc
But in 4.5 years of ownership and 65K miles I don't think I have spent more than maybe $1200 (WAG). Service average of $3785??
My costs:
15-20 oil changes
30K maintentance
60K maintenance (cheated a little in that I did some stuff with the shortblock replacement at 53K)
Front brake job
Rear brakes soon
If some of the warranty stuff had happened outside of warranty it would have been a lot more but I find it hard to believe that the average is $3785. How do they calculate that?
Cost Guide available @ http://www.intellichoice.com/
Kiplinger's does not mention the details of how the costs are calculated.
If the costs are off, maybe Subaru can get them corrected.
I just ran the side-by-side comparison on intellichoice.com, and the repairs for the Forester, CRV, and RAV4 are about the same, $730, $633, and $677, but the maintenance are $2955, $1110, and $1245, respectively. Wonder what was so expensive to service on the Subie.
Either way, on my new car 60K servicing runs around $349 and is the most expensive service there is for this car. I will bet that the book cited is quoting prices for service performed at dealerships, which is usually the most expensive way to go.
And for the record, my '97 still had the original clutch when I sold it - they do chatter some, but they last plenty long...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I looked up maintenance costs on several other cars that I was familiar with and they seemed to be about right: Volvo V70 ($2057), Honda Accord V6 ($1400).
The bottom line; The Subaru costs are more than 2 times higher than they should be. Patti, it would seem SOA could and should get this corrected.
Mike
-Frank P.
For 30k miles, $400
- oil/filter change
- replace engine coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, transaxle fluid, fuel filter, air filter, wiper blades
- Rotate / balance tires
- inspections / lubrications
for 60k miles, $490
- same as above plus
- Platinum plugs
- pcv valve
Mike
Keep your wheels clean, and if you have time, I'd even wax them. Just like water beads up and runs off freshly waxed paint, ice will not stick to clean/waxed wheels.
On 2001s that is not common, especially with such low mileage. I usually suggest people with Phase I engines (up to 1999) have the front seals replaced at 90k along with the timing belt, since the labor is paid for and it's cheap insurance.
Warranty should cover your gasket failure, I'd even ask for a loaner.
I've had a '98 Forester for 4.5 years and 49k miles and haven't even spent $300 on maintenance yet. I do it all myself, and parts from a wholesaler are cheap.
You do have a rear differential that most FWD cars don't have, but that's about it. 60k is the most expensive service, and my dealer charges about $20 more for a Forester vs. a Dodge Neon. That's hardly even worth mentioning.
-juice
Camry, Volvo(V70), Accord, Outback
60k -- $1482--- 2200--- 1850--- 1361
75k -- 1873--- 2600--- 2215--- 1549
I didn't interpret the numbers; just added them up.
Mike