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I meant when they are out of the car. You can't tell much when they are installed. Except for gross failure, wobbling loosely. Sorry,.

Hey all. Thought I would share a new to me discovery about Subaru Ignition lock cylinder replacement. I had a customer who's 04 Forester Ignition lock failed. Seized up, wouldn't return to "off" position so was draining battery in ACC. So, I call dealership, talk to them about ordering a new lock cylinder. Now, I've done this I think 3 times in the past. Always purchased a new cylinder and customers then just used 2 keys, 1 for doors, 1 for Ignition. Not a big deal as all those cars had keyless entry, so they didn't really need the "door" key ever. Now, for this Forester, the customer does not use keyless entry, and wanted all keys the same. So I inquired from dealer this time, is there a kit available to replace all 3 lock cyls (Ig., Drivers door, glovebox) in the car with matching keys? Well sure enough, AFTER I ASKED, they tell me "oh, yes, there is a whole car kit" It's $60 dollars cheaper than just the Ig. cylinder. DOH! Why the HELL don't they volunteer that info! Anyhow here's the kit for a Manual trans, 04 Forester. I imagine kits for other models are available too, but I haven't confirmed how many. Comes with Master key (top), Sub-master (middle w/code tag) and Valet (does not operate glove box) IMG_0101 by Dans Subaru, on Flickr

Yes that's the ignition switch. It connects to the back of the Ignition lock cylinder, on the left side fo the steering column, under the plastic cover. Beware of EBay switches. I've seen several that were almost correct, but the body rotated so they won't correctly bolt into place. Test for 12v+ at the starter solenoid (small female spade wire at starter) While an assistant truns the key. If you have voltage, then the problem is not the switch.

Pull engine. Doing them in car is messy and can lead to poor sealing due to difficult surface prep and bolt thread cleanup, etc. It only takes about 2 hours to pull the engine. Little more to put it back. GD

Perform the test I mentioned. Do you have a factory security system?

The classic Subaru no crank / no start. When this conditions happens you need to perform this test. Pull the thin black wire off the starter. It is a spade connector. Put your multimeter on that wire and see if you have 12 volts when you try to start the car. I am guessing you don't. If you do you have a bad starter. If you don't welcome and get ready to jump into the rabbit hole. If you wait 10 to 40 minutes do you notice the car starts up?

Ramps will be fine as you’re not playing with the suspension or wheels. I’d recommend lifting the engine out to do the work. So much easier! Cheers Bennie

I didn't see any kits on RockAuto for your vehicle with a hydraulic actuator which are used in second generation legacies/outbacks. They all have a hydraulic tensioner which fits your vehicle. On the older legacies a separate hydraulic actuator is used to push the tensioner pulley. On your Subaru it is an all-in-one part as pictured in the kit.

Oh yeah. We have both. I haven't had to fire many customers (or employees for that matter) but it has happened. I once packed a customer's dissasembled turbo engine into the back of his Forester and told him to F*ck right off my property. That guy took it to another shop I know, they performed the improper repair that he asked me to perform (which I refused to do) and a few months later that engine blew up and he was back in there blaming them for screwing it up and threatening legal action. GD

When you're dealing with customers driving late model modified STi's you can't take that risk. The clientele that's looking to save $200 on a timing belt job don't usually even bring their car here - I have enough trouble with people that get overly sensitive about watching the DAM on their access port and call me immediately if it drops down to 0.9 I get it. I work on some vehicles like that. Used to work on a lot more but rising overhead and now being a mainstream shop that charges very near industry average hourly rate.... it's not how I want to be percieved by my customers. When we go in there we replace all wear items. And the tensioner is a wear item. They can and do fail. It's the same reason I use a $750 Snap-On digital torque wrench.... perception. People expect a higher level of work from us, just as they expect to see me and my tech's using tools they don't have at home. If the customer is budget limited I have financing available, or sometimes if it's a real basket case or the customer is just down on their luck I will put in some lightly used parts to help them out. We do this type of stuff for people. We highly advise against it and they are warned up front that it's a temporary fix. But for the general public that intends to maintain their car on the Subaru reccomended interval... well the price is (currently) $950 for the typical SOHC timing belt job and they should have known they needed to budget for this long in advance. It's not a repair. It's scheduled maintenance. GD

check your owner's manual to confirm, but, I think it's a 'warning' that the pass side is presently disabled. weight of an 'adult' should turn the light off.

Our experience is that the tensioner piston may not make it to the 2nd belt interval even if it's visually ok. We always replace 100% of the timing components. The Aisin pumps always come with the metal gasket. Sometimes the NPW one's do also. We stock the factory ones in case. Sometimes we can't get an Aisin pump and have to use NPW. GD