OB99W

Another simple thing to check is the PCV operation. Make sure the valve is working freely, and the hoses aren't "gunked" up. If the engine oil gets sufficiently fuel-loaded, it will affect emissions.

By the way, just because the filter was changed 10k miles ago doesn't mean it can't be a fuel delivery problem. Sometimes you can just get a tank of gas that's contaminated, and the filter could be partially blocked no matter how new.

If you don't already own a vacuum gauge, a perfectly adequate one (it doesn't have to be fancy) can be purchased for about $20, and sometimes even less. Start by thoroughly warming the engine. Connect the gauge as in the link below. Determine the initial idle vacuum reading -- a healthy Subaru N/A typically reads over 20 inches at idle, and is pretty steady. To test for exhaust restriction, bring the engine speed to 2000-2500 RPM, and hold it there for several (10-15)seconds. The vacuum should remain relatively constant, not slowly drop towards zero. Click on Scenario 14 in the link; only a very plugged exhaust would cause the gauge to actually reach zero, but partial blockage will cause a noticeable drop. (The gauge demonstrated in the link moves counterclockwise with increasing vacuum, while some others have the opposite rotation. That doesn't matter, as long as attention is payed to the scale on the actual gauge being used.) I'm not anticipating other specific problems, but if you see a reading that wavers, rhythmically drops, etc., click on the other scenarios in the link to interpret it, and let us know what you find. Link for vacuum gauge reading interpretation: http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

Caliper mechanisms should be free to slide, but greasing the pistons :-\ ?! The noise would concern me somewhat, but even more so, where, exactly, did you lubricate, and with what?

Not to be cynical, but did you get the old parts back? You might find these of interest:http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/Fuel.pdf http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/07FebFuelEW.pdf Possible exhaust restrictions can be tested for with a vacuum gauge.

You're welcome; hope is a good start. Sounds good to me. But first let things cool down completely, make sure the radiator and recovery tank are properly filled, then verify that none of the bubbling/pinging/fan-running problems crop up immediately on start-up, just to be sure. Obviously, don't run it very long until the overheating cause is resolved. That should give decent boiling point elevation, especially if the system is otherwise okay.

Note that I said "Not every product from China is inferior..."; I didn't say that all Chinese goods were to be trusted, nor did I defend their governmental policies. A good portion of the US debt is held by foreign countries (they buy our government bonds); China is only second to Japan in those holdings. If they stopped buying the bonds and started cashing them in, do you have any idea what effect that could have on the US? If you think China is retaliatory, maybe we should all buy lots of their products, just to keep one of our major lenders happy. I personally think it stinks that that US manufacturing has dwindled to where it is now, and that we're buying from countries that in some cases don't control the safety of what they're producing, whether they're accountable for the situation or not. In the long run, I suspect that the economic damage to our country will eventually outweigh (and by extension, add to) the health/safety issues. If you don't like what's happening, you can vote with your wallet, but electing leaders who aren't so prone to give large corporations what they want most of the time might also help reverse the trend. (Okay, soapbox mode OFF. )

With the engine off for a while, it was still bubbling? Those bubbles obviously weren't exhaust gas, but steam from boiling coolant; the engine must have been darn hot. Since the upper hose didn't expand right away, it's also obvious that there wasn't much flow through the radiator from one side to the other. You might think that was caused by exhaust gases, but with a very hot engine, unpressurized water (I'm assuming that you didn't add any "antifreeze") could boil just about instantaneously when it hit a hot spot, causing the geyser; even a proper coolant mix could, given enough heat. Still pinging and both fans still running after cooling down for two hours? As I said, darn hot engine. I'm with Nipper, slow down. You mean, unlike my posts? What else could explain the pressure difference between radiator tanks, especially with the engine not running? Of course, if a radiator plugs suddenly, there's a question of what caused it. In an old radiator, there are often deposits that already narrow the tubes and limit the flow. It sometimes doesn't take much more to plug them almost completely, and "gunk" caused by a bad HG can do that. However, sometimes an engine that's overheating can cause deposits in the cooling system to loosen (the heat and pinging can help knock some material free) and they wind up at the radiator tubes, further clogging them and creating a rapid upward temperature climb. If that's what happened, your heater core might have the same problem. Without proper flow, thermostat operation is compromised, making the problem even worse. By the way, what ratio of "antifreeze" to water do you normally run?

Good braking is dependent on the pads making contact with the rotor over as much of the pad's surface as possible. It's also dependent on the rotor being able to dissipate heat well. A rotor can be scored, and rusted over a significant portion of its surface (which is bad for reasons including that rust doesn't transmit heat like solid metal), and still not induce vibration. That's because the pads and rotors have had lots of time/miles to conform to each other. New pads are flat, and if the rotor surface isn't, there will be poor contact between the two. "Bedding-in" won't resolve the problem if the rotor surface is sufficiently uneven. Therefore, braking can actually be poorer with new pads on bad rotors than with the old pads (assuming the old pads arent so worn as to be down to the backing plates). If you're going to do a pad replacement yourself, you need to examine the surface of the rotor that the pads contact. If there's significant grooving or rust, I'd suggest that just replacing the pads is a bad idea. Also, don't forget that the caliper mechanism has to move freely, and if it doesn't can lead to inefficient braking and short pad life as well. Under any circumstance, if brake work is needed, either do it properly yourself or get it done by someone else, but don't wait.

A decent technician should be able to resolve things; it shouldn't matter whether that's at an independent shop or the dealer, but having Subaru experience may help get the job done faster. I'm assuming that we're talking about high readings of CO (carbon monoxide), not CO2 (carbon dioxide). High CO is typical with an overly-rich mixture. On the other hand, high CO2 is usually found when the exhaust stream is diluted with air (as from an exhaust system leak), and the car will fail I/M (or won't be further tested) under that circumstance. Although the ECU can compensate to some degree, a badly obstructed intake can cause the mixture to be rich by limiting airflow, so a simple thing to look at if you haven't already is the air filter (and make sure there aren't any mouse nests ).

The voltage source is the car's battery (and charging system' date=' with the engine running). The ECU provides a switched connection from that voltage to the CEL. I'm concerned that you may not be understanding the relationship between "voltage" and "current". The amount of current that flows is related to the battery voltage [b']and[/b] the characteristics of the "lamp" (bulb with filament, or LED); that relationship is determined by Ohm's Law, which anyone interested might want to search for on Google. By the way, although Ohm's Law explains the voltage/current/resistance relationship, measuring the resistance of a bulb or LED with an ohmmeter won't provide very useful data, for several reasons that I won't get into here. (For those of you needing at least one more word on the topic, it's "nonlinear". ) Not exceeding the current draw of the original lamp is key, although that may or may not be directly related to the problem you're having.

Yep; read my posts in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=71584 Not every product from China is inferior; if someone is willing to pay a fair price, they are often capable of producing quality goods. The problem is that the Chinese need to employ a lot of people, want (although less so, as time goes by) US dollars, and will make things for a negotiated price that doesn't leave a lot of room for good materials and QC. As in other Asian countries, quality will likely improve over time as goods from China are more accepted, and the prices will rise accordingly; remember what happened with Japanese, Korean, etc., products.

Although "Canada" and "China" have the same first and last letters, and an "n" inbetween, the ones we got definitely were Duralast branded (2-year warranty) and made in China. Just so there's no misunderstanding -- the rotor's seem to be working fine, even though they varied slightly from OEM specs. Not quite being to spec isn't unusual with aftermarket parts, since they're often reverse-engineered; they start with a sample or two of the original, then work backwards and figure out how to make the part, without the benefit of engineering diagrams or specs. In the fashion field, they might be referred to as "knock-offs".

I found my first post to the board, which covered efforts (successful, with help from members!) to fix my own ABS system. It seems at that time I wrote that the diagnostic connector is near the accelerator (not the brake) pedal, and that's more accurate. Here's a link: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46918

There's some brake- and ABS-related info in the August 2002 issue of The End Wrench; the articles can be retrieved from the archive.

I certainly can't answer for Susie, but I suspect the sealant that was used partially clogged the radiator. The heater core is like an auxilliary radiator, and cranking the blower up full blast can remove quite a bit of heat from the coolant. It's likely the correct resolution of the problem would be thorough flushing, new HGs, and probably a new radiator. (If the sealant was "holding" the external HG leak, flushing/radiator might work temporarily.)

You should be able to confirm any codes using the diagnostic connector (B82, if memory serves) and a ground probe. They're taped to the harness under the dash in the vicinity of the brake pedal. Do a search here for details. The sensor tips can corrode, the tone wheels can be damaged, something could affect the spacing between the two, wiring or connectors could have "issues", etc. Since the sensor is magnetic, the tip may have attracted some ferrous metal to it and be causing a problem. You could compare resistance of the two rear sensors to verify that the coil is intact. Basically, start with the code to determine location, then troubleshoot further to determine if the problem is with the sensor itself or something else. I believe that the right and left wheel speed sensors are different, due to the angle they mount at.

I haven't used AZ Duralast rotors on a Subaru, but my brother and I did the front brakes on his Corolla (sorry! ) using them. They're Chinese-made (not a factor unless you believe that the alloy is poor, or have some other concern), not badly machined, but not OEM in quality either. I miked them -- they actually were a bit thicker than stock, which might seem a plus until you realize that with new OEM pads, you'd better get the caliper piston fully retracted, or you aren't going to get things back together again. (Yes, there was just enough clearance so that the brakes weren't hanging when it all went back together.) Also, the center hole for the hub was slightly oversize, meaning that there was the potential for a bit of imbalance due to mis-centering. The surface finish was just a bit rougher than I normally like to see, but at least it was properly angled relative to the direction of rotation, and not concentric, which sometimes leads to poor pad seating and scoring. After all was done, my brother reported that the brakes felt good, and last time I asked he still says so.

Could be as simple as a loose gas cap, as annoying as a rusted-through fuel filler pipe, or something else that causes an unintended venting of the tank. See: http://www.endwrench.com/current/02SpringInsiderInfo.pdf

...but not in that order... Leak checking can usually be done with a relatively low refrigerant charge. If some fitting is loose, it might be possible to just tighten it and recharge without evacuating the system (since it's obvious that it never fully lost charge, based on only needing a small amount to get it running). If a seal is bad and requires opening the system, that's another story.

Rotor runout isn't a myth, and the thinner the rotor the more prone it is to develop the problem. Sure, keeping the pads in contact with a hot, stationary rotor can cause some of the friction material to transfer, but that will usually get resolved after a few "normal" stops. It's a judgment call, based on experience and conditions. I've replaced rotors when cutting them didn't make sense, I've done only cross-sanding when they were basically sound but I wanted the pads to seat fast, and I've occasionally just mounted pads and left the rotors alone if they looked good (minimal scoring, little rust) and I knew that the driver would be easy on the pedal until pad surfaces mated with those of the rotors. I've never cut new rotors. If the surface isn't good enough as it comes out of the box, then I reject the part. The only "service" I've done to new rotors is degrease them.

Which not only can make the brakes more prone to fading, but also the rotors to warp (with the typically pedal pulsation, etc.). It's usually best to change the rotors unless only a very superficial cut will clean them up.

You don't like the "dangle a piece of toilet paper" approach? If the rings are gone or the cylinder wall is scored, head work would obviously be a waste of time/money. Unfortunately, it's hard to do a wet-versus-dry compression test (or a leak-down) to check ring sealing when the air's all coming out the exhaust. At this point, pulling the head to examine things is probably the next step, and certainly if any scoring is evident it's probably time to look for an engine. If nothing is obvious in the cylinder, it might be worth a gamble to do the head work.

Exactly! Running new pads on rotors like those doesn't lead to great braking or long pad life. If there's enough solid material, they might be able to be cut on a brake lathe without getting below minimum thickness spec, but even that doesn't always lead to a satisfactory/long-lived job.

Either under- or over-tightening of the lug nuts could lead to what you've described. Too loose, and they can back off as you drive, then the lugs could flex/fatigue/snap. Too tight, and the lugs could be stressed beyond their elastic limit, no longer "clamping", and again the nuts could loosen as the lugs fail. All lug nuts should be tightened in a manner that the correct torque is applied, whether by using a torque wrench by hand or torque "sticks" with an air wrench. The threads should be clean, so that the torque properly represents tension in the lug, and not significantly friction of the threads. Also, to be on the safe side with alloy wheels, the torque should be rechecked after a hundred or so miles. Highly unlikely. In which case the lug nuts were probably not sufficiently tightened initially, and you were lucky that you noticed the problem. You might want to start a separate thread on this topic, or use the search function first. It certainly doesn't relate to the lug/nut issue. Oh, and welcome to the forum.