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Welcome to the hell that is planned obsolescence consumer products coupled with highly integrated CANBUS and non mil-spec wiring. These cars are EXTREMELY sensitive to grounding problems. I would suggest not just cleaning them but actually taking EVERY ground apart that you can find, clean or possibly even replace the ring terminals after cutting back into good copper, and then cleaning the landing pads and using NEW properly sized star washers to ensure paint, corrosion, etc are successfully pierced and good contact is made. Coat the whole mess in dielectric grease. GD

So I posted some pics on FB and then realized I had included a page showing the kit for a Manual. Hang on and I’ll locate the p/n for the kit for the automatic. I know you don’t need the whole kit , and it may be incredibly hard to obtain but for sure there’s guys sitting on 80’s NOS. This may work but it may ask you to sign in. I apologize if so. https://m.facebook.com/groups/730768337106149/?multi_permalinks=1985226878326949&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&notif_id=1641146833719147&ref=m_notif

Happy New Year , Jim and the rest of you. Here’s to less leaks , less spots in the driveway , more time driving or not fixing them. Cheers !

We have seen multiple occurrences of the ground straps from the frame rails to the bottom of the cylinder heads killing the ECU - either it doesn't run or runs REALLY bad and undriveable. We had about a 2010 or 2011 Outback that was towed in..... barely would idle and idle was horrendous. After HOURS of testing we made up new head to frame rail ground straps and it ran fine again. I told the customer it was a rusty mess and to get rid of the car - which they did not do. A year later almost to the day the car once again showed up with nearly the same problem. This time after more HOURS of testing we told the customer - can't find anything wrong going to have to throw an ECU at it. And after ECU replacement the engine ran fine again. Going through a similar problem right now with a 2008. Engine runs but heavy throttle produces a flashing CEL and misfire codes even though it doesn't appear to be misfiring. Another shop recently replaced the engine and never attached the main ground from the battery to the starter ear/bell housing. It also had a bad rear hatch harness where multiple wires were broken and shorted - put the car in reverse and it would blow illumination relay control fuses and the headlights would go out. The other shop couldn't figure out either of those issues after the customer had returned reportedly 15 times to have them diagnose it. In frustration the customer brough the car to us and we immediately identified the missing ground point and after a bit of investigation replaced his faulty rear hatch harness and now we are just left with the collateral damage of the previous shop's ignorance. GD

Radiator fan is ECU controlled and will not come on till 204. Temp sensor is a 3-wire and is actually two sensors in one housing. One for the ECU and one for the gauge cluster. Sounds like possibly a wiring short. A short to ground in the gauge circuit will peg the gauge all the way to hot. Resistance of the sensor drops as it is heated so a short to ground (0 ohms or close to it) will cause the gauge to read full tilt. Unplug the sensor while it's running - should drop the gauge to zero and the ECU should throw a circuit code for it's side of the sensor and will kick on the fans till the circuit is restored and the code cleared. GD

Plastic radiators have a useful lifespan of 8 years. After that they should be replaced. We are already seeing 2014's fail. Usually the upper radiator nipples get soft and shear away from the tank. Seems to be a shorter life with the new blue OAT coolant than the green stuff. There's obviously some chemistry going on between the plastic and the coolant and the heat cycling. Meanwhile my '69 GMC C2500 still has it's factory 4 row heavy duty radiator. Copper/brass FTW. GD

I have bought them many years ago but never changed them. Since they were sitting in the same package I assume they all go to the driver side of my 3AT. I hope this helps. Sam

Yesterday, just rewired my front Led lights. On my 85 loyal. They would randomly go off when i hit a bump. Soldered those suckers. Now they only go off when i want them to.

'05 was the last year of the EJ253 (MAF-based) that did not have the i-AVLS heads. I've read that you can use your '05 engine and perhaps block off/disable the i-avls system (w/out it causing a code) but that would take some googl-ing on your part to determine 'how'. Also, not sure if the '05 and/or '06 was DBW yet. You'd need to use the Intake Manifold from the '06, too. And may not matter? But '06 was the 1st year of the immobilizer for all models. Cars101.com is a good reference for some info.

fred, are your aftermarket parts usually from a chinese maker? I have read that, chinese factories with German-inspected ISO certs are OK, but the Chinese ISO certs are suspect. Adds to the risk of non-Japanese part purchases. aftermarket here often requires some research, or, for many 'consumable parts' at least, avoiding the the very cheapest. No parts supplier wants to lose a sale because you went 2 blocks down the street to save $1.25 so, there's a bit of a race to the bottom. Those cheap parts often get purchased for cars being flipped/sold immediately - but a savvy buyer would avoid them for his own daily driver that he intends to keep. Oh, they may work well-enough at first, but may not be long lasting. Plus, we may have dozens of 'brands' to choose from, that makes it a bit tricky as well. The actual number of factories building the item may be small, but it seems a lot of companies are convinced they can make money with the right packaging and marketing approach. We must have 60-80 brands of batteries, even though there's only 5-10 manufacturers (w'ever - made-up number lol!)

Yes, the water pump will swap. The exhaust will swap (you might have to swap oil pans for clearance). I would do some research before spending any time on it. Confirm (one way or another) that the 06 is VVT and 05 is not, and what that means for the swap. Best practice is to keep the intake manifold, wiring and sensors that match the car (hopefully you got it with the disassembled car).

I got into rally when my friend's STi got hail damaged. The insurance check paid for the cage....