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Comments
Bruce
For example, I just read that the BMW X5 has been recalled 9 times. I thought the Escape was bad with 5 so far, but the X5 takes the cake. BMW would probably gladly take any of them back because they can't meet demand as it is.
-juice
Thanks.
..Mike
..Mike
How about any of you Subaru reps. Is this a concern that should drive us to replace it even if we are not having a problem.
This may not apply to the VDC, but I have an LL and I believe it is the same transmission. Also for info I average around 25 mpg in mostly suburban/city driving.
I also concur with the shifting back and forth in gears on hills especially if you are in automatic speed control.
My rear hatch door was very hard to close to get the door open light out, so I took it to the dealer and they adjusted it and now it closes fine.
I promised the board that I would update after my engine replacement, but have been delinquent. After a total of 2 weeks + 1 day, we got our VDC back with a brand new engine and nothing more than a 'sorry' from the dealer or Subaru of America. Yes, they gave me a loaner - but nothing like making a half-month worth of payments for a VDC while driving a base model. I tried to talk them out of a bike rack for my misfortunes, but with no luck (IMO, I think 'sorry' is not enough in this situation).
In the meantime, we have racked up almost 2000 trouble-free miles on the new engine, and all previous comments about lack of road noise and the great McIntosh stereo hold true.
Craig in Seattle
Glad to hear it's back on the road, and in your driveway. I guess the H6 is an interference engine!
-juice
Yep, the powertrain warranty was effectively re-started from the time of repair. The loaner was given out to us on day 1 thinking that it was only going to be a 1-night keeper. After a several days, we realized we weren't getting our baby back and asked for an equivalent. The answer was 'no', even with repeat requests.
Sure would like to hear was SOA found out in regards to the engine mysteriously seizing after the dealer replaced the tensioner (Patti - any words that you can share???). My bet is that the timing chain was put on out of phase with the other and they found out on first attempt to crank that it is an 'interference engine'.
I'll be curious to see if Brucel1 is suffering the same problem we had...
Craig in Seattle
Glad to hear SoA re-started the warranty.
-juice
The Subaru parts department says that they do not have a touch paint for this part of the car.
The person I spoke to in the parts dept suggested that I match the black color as best as possible and use spray paint to repair the scratch.
Any suggestions? What "shade" of black is the cross bar? Is the color, matte or glossy?
Thanks
Anthony
I know somewhere back in this thread was information on when to switch the oil and tranny fluid over to synthetics. At the risk of being repetitive, could anybody fill me in? It's a long thread to run back through. Would be nice if there was a search engine to find things written previously, but probably just wishful thinking.
Can't wait for it to snow!!
Also, does anyone have any dealings with Sharret Subaru in Hagerstown, Md or Winchester Subaru in Winchester, Va? Is one service dept better than the other?
thanks------ Dukephoto in Martinsburg, WV
The cross bars are aluminum, so no need to worry about rust. Under normal wear and tear, aluminum won't corrode so to speak, unless you plan on getting near a lot of salt-water (I've got plenty of scratched aluminum mountain bike parts that have held up to years of abuse...). If the scratch isn't very big, I would pull out a black permanent marker and use that to fill in the scratch. I think you'd be surprised at how well it'll work...
Craig in Seattle
I'll tell you what I was told and what I did. It was recommended by my dealer that I change my tranny fluid to Redline (their choice), particularly on the VDC, as soon as possible. I did it at about 1000 miles. Most posters on various forums seem to go along with this recommendation.
My dealer, as did many posters, recommended to wait until about 15k miles to switch the engine oil. Many other posters said to switch as soon as possible since modern engines didn't need a protracted wear in period for internal part seating. I actually switched to Mobil 1 at 6000 miles with the blessing of the service manager; upon questioning, he really didn't see any reason to wait.
The bottom line is that you can find many expert opinions to justify almost any time frame for changing, but almost all agree that for long term ownership, switching does make sense. I just decided to go with my gut feel and did it quickly.
Mike in Texas
Did you ever get that high performance custom Folgers exhaust tip on your Forester chrome plated...?? Just checking in for an update.
I'm still shopping, still shopping, still shopping...hey, some new colors for 02 Soobs, now things are getting interesting. Been going out and driving the competition and then swinging back by the local Soob dealer after whatever I test drive to see if I still get velcroed to the driver's seat of whatever OB happens to be on the lot.
I need to figure out how to generate real cash flow in my new career as a full-time potential purchaser test-driver....
Two weeks ago I drove an MDX (believe it or not), last weekend it was a SAAB Aero wagon (what a hotrod....), next weekend, after all my Honey-Doos, we are hitting the Toyota dealer, which coincidentally is just down the street from the Soob dealer...
Later guys,
Jesse
Citrus Heights
Jesse: no, but it adds 15hp and resonates so loud that it sounds like you're driving through a tunnel.
You're shopping some pricey competition. Nice to have the Soob in that kind of company.
-juice
It's interesting because Audi used to have torsen differentials, which are better than Subaru's VC setup on the manual tranny. They abandoned that and went with a simple open diffy. That allows the traction control to manage both axles.
Subaru also allows the T/C to manage both axles. Letting the electronics do the work means less weight and cost, and it's more sophisticated. The trade-off is that the brakes may slow your momentum if you are racing.
-juice
I'm glad we did. Go to Edmunds' "Volvo V70 Wagon Experience" chat room and check out recent #s 350, 351, and 352. True war stories say so much (thank God for the Internet - and Edmunds!)....
-juice
-juice
I lost faith and confidence in my dealer's service dept. and brought the car to another Subaru dealer. This dealer said the same thing that they could not find anything wrong with the car or hear any strange noises from the engine compartment. I told them to keep the car overnight and drive it again in the morning. They called me the next morning and said that they found a problem with the timing chain assembly and that they are going to replace the timing chains, gears, and tensioners. My car won't be back to me for almost two weeks. The car has 250 miles on it and these miles were accumulated by driving the car to and from the dealership and the dealer testing the vehicle. This really sucks. I'll keep everyone updated as the saga continues.
Sorry to hear, hopefully yours goes smoother than ours - took the dealer a week just to get the new tensioner from Subaru (not to mention a week after that to replace the engine after botching something up during the repair...). Sounds to me like Subaru has a legitimate design and/or manufacturing problem on their hands.
The good news is that all has been well in the 2000 miles since. Beyond this problem, it really has been a wonderful car. Good luck and keep us posted.
Patti - Haven't heard much from you lately. Any comments about this timing chain tensioner problem?
Craig in Seattle
-Jack
..Mike
Community Leader, Subaru Crew
..Mike
Greg
Greg
I don't own a VDC, but I'd considered getting the Alpine on my '98 OB. I got a Garmin Street Pilot III instead for probably considerably less than the Alpine. Also, I get to switch it back and forth between the '98 OB and '99 OBS.
My take on the Street Pilot - haven't gotten lost yet.
-Dave
Happy posting,
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Theo in Colorado
if mounted low, (a) would be inconspicous; (b) may obstruct access to McIntosh; (c) get in the way when shifting; (d) not good to look down at screen while driving.
if mounted higher, (a) flow of dash contour may be disrupted; (b) disrupt airflow from vent; (c) still obstruct access to McIntosh and other controls; (d) still would have to look down at screen, and right hand may block screen...
I guess you'll have to sit in the VDC to get a feel. Try cutting up a cardboard and play with the placement.
As for warranty, I don't think there would be any if the installer knows what they are suppose to be doing
-Dave
Sure there is a spare spocket floating around in the US somewhere, probably many at the factory. But if your inventory controls are not set up to record or make it availible it will just collect dust where it is not needed. In order to be "efficient" and "cost effective" you want to warehouse as few parts as possible, make a few numbers of large batches of requests for parts (saves on shipping and warehouse personel). All of these measures tend to pile on top of each other and lead to most unexpected delays and expenses. But the accounting system is usually not set up to report those excess expenses or if it is they don't get charged against the weenie that caused them.
Case and point
A number of years ago at UT Austin they were running low on disk space for one of their computer operations. Every time the disks would fill up (despite the best efforts of the computer personel to clear things off) the system would crash, some rebuilding would be nessecary and it would cost somewhere around $3000 in extra labor to get things running again. This was happening on a weekly basis and other important things were not getting done. So the computer dept in question went and submitted a PO for some extra disks. The would be in and installed and up and running by the end of the week, problem solved, life goes on.
BUUUTTT some bean counter realized "Ah, if we put out a competitive bid for the disks and the hard drive controllers seperatley we can save a buck or two" and dug up some regulation to the effect of requiring that. So rather than having the problem solved by the end of the week they had to wait 2-3 more weeks and ended up with hard drive controller made by company A and disks by company B. For those of you who deal with tech hardware you know that just because the label says they are compatable doesn't make it so. The end result was well of $10K in extra labor costs, weeks of down time and a flakey system until the whole mess was replaced a few years later. All that for a net savings ot $300 on hard disk controllers.
But you see that $10K of labor didn't come out of the budget the bean counter was responsible for (materials purchases) so at the end of this whole sad affair he was patting himself on the back and strutting and crowing to his boss for saving $300. Heck, he probably got promoted.
Since the dealers sell alot more of the 4 than the 6 cylinder models, they probably get some priority in production.
Duke in Martinsburg WV loving his car.
-juice
So, we would then have 16k Beanies and just 4k VDCs per year.
-juice
Actually, I am not sure that Subaru is really that interested in seriously moving up the luxury food chain. I believe they perceive the VDC to justify its cost from superior technology. When they really put a unique and highly finished interior in their top end model (sans plastic), then I will believe they are serious about the near-luxury class. Until and if, they will probably just offer a small percentage of VDC's.
Mike
Andy
I've been doing the same (looking for a VDC on the road) for 4 months now, and that sure is a long dry spell.
I did alot of research before plunking down my 28 grand, and I feel that anything close would be alot more $$. Granted, I would probably get a nicer interior, but I couldn't really go for more money just for the interior. The interior wasn't the key- AWD, traction control, The VDC were what I paid for.
Oh yeah- That Mac cranking out the Dead at max volume doesn't hurt either. You'll never read about me complaining about road noise.
Dukephoto in West by God Virginia
Keith
Duke, do you really play that thing cranked all the way up? I haven't had the courage to do that although I do play it pretty loud. It is really an exceptional system.
Mike from North Texas
Unfortunately, in my audiology practice I have seen too many people (usually teenagers) with permanent hearing loss for driving their cars with super loud music systems.
Enjoy the Mac but save your ears, particularly on long trips (the risk of hearing loss is a function of sound pressure level and length of exposure). The last thing we want is to add "Subaru Induced Hearing Loss" to the list of diagnosis!
Pat.
Theo in Colorado
Look at the SVX. Those still turn heads.
-juice
I have no doubt that the speakers would blow if the amp were turned up all the way.
And my ears too.
The few times I go to see live music nowadays (especially since the birth of my daughter), I always plug my ears with tissue or cotton. Too many years of rock shows NOT doing that has already cost me a portion of my hearing.