hawksoob

Mine taps constantly between oil changes. After a change, it goes away for about 2-3 weeks, then it starts to creep back. I guess consumption over time reducing oil pressure and I need to be more on the ball about topping off every 1,000 miles or so? This last time (about 1,000 miles ago) I filled up with semi-synth and used a PureOne oil filter and no clicky so far.

Thanks!

If I decide to do just rotors and not pads, is it necessary to remove the pads, or is as simple as loosening and moving the caliper up out of the way and pulling the rotor off?

First thing this morning, my brain gave myself a dope slap upon remembering the fact that I have a hill holder! (How could I forget? It's one of my favorite features on this car.) I called them immediately and told them to check that out. The guy didn't know what I was talking about. I told him to call a f-ing Suby dealer and find the F out. A couple of hours later they called back and said they had their master tech working on it. I picked it up after work and everything is working great. Hill holder even works! They weren't all too vociferous about the fact that they were making up for their screw up, but they definitely made up for it and made things right. They also did a very thorough test/check of the entire braking system. I have nearly worn rotors, but I knew that beforehand. As per why I went there in the first place? It is very close and I didn't want to risk going 25 miles to my dealer because the clutch was starting to act very scary. Anyhoo, I suppose it could have been a lot worse than it was. Thanks for the input, guys. By the way, they left the windows open all nightt, so it's pretty much funk-free.

SO, I take my car in to Pep Bastards today to replace my clutch. As referenced in another thread, I was getting weird crunchy crunchy noises when the pedal was depressed (throwout bearing, I am told) and last night it had some periods of not shifting, though this morning it was doing fine. Anyhoo, when I get back to pick up my car, I of course asked if they test drove it and everything. They said they did (actually, the guy who worked on it was driving as I was paying).I looked at their checklist of all the stuff they checked ... tires, good; brakes, good; coolant level, good, etc.... Cool. I get in the car and notice two things. One: the brake pedal was very stiff, a LOT more so that usual, until I started the car - like no freeplay at all. Two: The clutch pedal freeplay was waaaay freeplayin' .... Well, I started her up and drove around the parking lot. Seemed nice and clutchy, despite the fact of a much lower catch point than I'm used to , or like. When I got on the road, within a block I noticed I just couldn't go any faster than about 25. Shift to 2nd ... no more speed. Shift to third ... no more speed ... Stall... Turn around and ake it back to PB and the car dies and there's smoke coming out of the wheel area. I go in, tell them what's up, and the guy who did the work, takes the keys and tears off in the car to see what's up. A few minutes later, he comes running back down the street to the shop saying that the brakes locked up and the car wouldn't budge an inch. After a tow truck finally comes and brings the car back to the shop, he tells me that "that's why your clutch fried. The brakes were locking up." Well ... the brakes weren't locking up before the clutch was acting up. I had no problems with the brakes other than a shimmy when braking at high speeds, but in 99% of my driving, the brakes were just dandy. Plus, the pedal was NEVER so difficult to push before starting as it was tonight after picking up the car. So, the question is, what, if anything, could have happened with my braking system that could have been a result of a clutch job? Someting in the power braking assist mechanism? ABS? Or, could it actually be true that, despite the fact that there was never any lockage of the brakes prior to them working on my car, that somehow, mysteriously, they lock up the first time it's driven after they work on it? Oh ... I may have a Seinfeldian issue, too, with B.O. funk throughout my car. Thanks

Started making crazy noises last night. Wouldn't go into gear a time or two. Smelled clutch. Whiny. Decided to take it in this morning for a new clutch., just to be safe. Odd thing is, after that incident last night, it worked "fine" on the way home and it barely did anything bad on the way to the shop this morning. Oh well, better safe than sorry. That clutch only has about 40K on it, but the last 15K or so were in stop and go Atlanta traffic. The 25K before that in very hilly East Tennessee. I suppose it's done its duty?

Had same deal a year ago. New VC unit. $950 for parts and installation. Binding gone. Unfortunately, the "easy fixes" that I've read many claim for torque bind in their ATs (new ATF, adjusting tire pressure, etc ...) don't do it for the VC in the 5MT. Gotta get a new one o' dem....

Reminds me of the "Ultimate Potato Bug Killer" story from the 20s/30s. A mail order item that was "the most efficient potato bug killer EVER!!!! Guaranteed to kill potato bugs INSTANTLY!!! ONLY $2!" People would order the thing left and right because times on the farm were tough and potato bugs were severely damaging crops. When the Ultimate Potato Bug Killer arrived, the recipient found two pieces of wood attached by a hinge with the instructions: "Place potato bug on board 1, slam board 2 down on it." Well ... it does exactly what it says it does.

So, this past January, I was contemplating doing my brakes ... new pads and rotors and all. I kept putting it off and then I started a new job with crazy hours, so I didn't have the time to do it. I took the car to the Sears near my work and they put on new pads all around, and cut the rotors. A few months down the road, I start noticing a shimmy/pulsation while braking at highway speeds. Yesterday I took it back to Sears to have them check it out. I come back to pick it up and they tell me the rotors are out of spec. Apparently, according to the technician, they were very very close to being out of spec when they cut them in January, now they are for sure out of spec and I need new rotors. "Of course, if we replace the rotors now, you'll need new pads, too." $180 is the estimate. Now, am I wrong in assuming that, when they were doing this job in the first place, that they should have informed me that my rotors were so close to being out of spec that I should go ahead and replace them instead of cut them, saving me time, money and frustration having to come back only 7 months later to get them replaced anyway? I would have been fine with that, then. I had the money then. I was pretty much expecting to have them tell me I needed new rotors then and was actually a bit surprised when they said they could cut them. I just feel like they were/are trying to screw me and had full intention of letting me go with close-to-out-of-spec rotors knowing I'd have to come back and get them replaced. Any thoughts?

Is that something I need to take care of, like, TOMORROW!!!!??? Or can I hold out a bit? I'll likely take it to the dealer tomorrow just to have them do a look-see, but I was halfway planning to go ahead and do the clutch ASAP if it's necessary, although $$ is tight at the moment. If it can hold off for a little while, that's be swell.

Wondering if my issue is the same. The noise I'm hearing when I depress the clutch pedal is sort of a grinding, scraping noise ... sort of like someone crumpling tin foil. It shifts fine and there is no slippage, although last night there was some difficulty with the pedal coming back up from being depressed going into first. That went away this morning after adjusting the cable. I may have overtightened it yesterday. D'oh! This morning the scraping noise was occurring at pretty much every stop. On the way home this afternoon, I double clutched a couple of times and it stopped doing it while I was in stop and go traffic. After sitting awhile, I went out and started it up. At a standstill, depressing the clutch, whether in gear or not, the scrapy/grindy returned. Ideas?

I've had great luck with Purolator. I usually get them at Advance Auto Parts. They're about $15. Supposedly, the OEM is Purolator, as is the oil filter.

For sure on a 2.2, no ... draining of coolant is not necessary. Neither is removing the intake manifold as the Haynes says. Going by Haynes, this would be a one hour job. Going by reality, it's less than 5 minutes.

On a similar note: I get a kick out of the Outback ads where the other cars are driving along only on their front two wheels, indicating that unless you have AWD, you're only taking advantage of half your car. The fun part is the disclaimer underneath when the cars on the two front wheels are going past that says, "Professional driver on a closed course. Do not atttempt." Dang ... I've always wanted to attempt to drive on the front two wheels ...

On the road the other night, luckily on a not-so-busy throughway with many pullouts, the sooby decided to die. Dash lights galore, no power, the works. I pulled over to a safe spot, got out, opened the hood and checked the engine. I looked down inside and noticed many chunks of frayed rubber coming from the timing belt cover. D'oh! I got a tow to the nearest shop ... Pep Boys(ugh). This was after hours, so I just had to leave it there and use the drop key service. Anyhoo, the next day they called me with the estimate. $945 for T-belt, water pump, T-stat, accessory belts, timing belt tensioner and various other parts and services needed for the job. Oh well, over the barrel at this point, so I had them do it. Thing is, the T-belt was replaced about 14 months ago when I was having cam and crank seals done. The Pep Boy said, by his estimate, whoever did the T-belt the last time over torqued the tensioner bolt, which eventually broke causing the belt to get off track and become shredded (it never actually broke, only shredded). Anyone ever hear of that? If that were the case, would it have taken 14 months for something to have happened? If that can be proved, could there be any restitution attained from the mechanic whose gorilla grip over torqued my bolt? What else could cause a shredded, not broken T-belt? So glad the 2.2L is noninterference.

96 obw: avg 25mpg A far cry from the 40mpg highway miles I used to get from my Geo Prizm (it cost me $35 in gas to drive from Knoxville, TN, to Boulder, CO, in that thing!), but for AWD, cargo space and ground clearance, I'll take the 25mpg OBW over a 13mpg Jeep any day.

I went to Firestone a couple of months ago to inquire about installation of a new CV axle. The guy quoted me close to $260. I told him I have never paid more than $130 for an axle replacement - typically $70 or so for the axle, half hour of labor. He went on about how much better their axles were than EVERY OTHER one out there. Right. I went to Sears for a second opinion and they charged $160, including a 4-wheel alignment ... about what I'd expected.

Would stink to shell out $500 for a new cat when all that was needed was a $40 knock sensor ... or worse yet, a few squirts from a $2.98 can of throttle body cleaner into the TB. FWIW, the girlfriend's VW Cabrio threw a CEL last summer. AutoZone's device read "IAC Solenoid" and something else ominous sounding ["expensive"] ... on a hunch, I sprayed her throttle body with some Carb/TB cleaner and replaced the air filter... CEL went away and has yet to come back after 6+ months. Little, cheap things first.

Are O2 sensor and catalyst the only options? Couldn't be a misfire, knock sensor, IAC sensor, etc.? Made a trip to AutoZone and had them check the code for free?

Isn't that for AT only? There is no such mechanism for the 5MT, from my understanding.

Yep...about 3800 RPM at 85mph here, too. I seriously thought something was really wrong when I was riding in a friend's Pathfinder and noticed she was going about 80 and the tachometer said ~2500. Same with another friend's Navajo and another's Suburban. I thought, "This can't be normal." I guess it is ... :-\

Just noticed that my girlfriend's VW Cabrio has auto down AND auto up widows. Perhaps the Germans aren't as concerned with safety?

Driver's side window: The switch says, "AUTO." I assume that means it's supposed to do the "press up (down) and hold briefly and the window will continue up (down) even after letting go of the button" thing, correct? It doesn't do it. Hasn't sice I've owned it. Is this a fuse situation? A relay somewhere? Is the cost/effort/hassle small enough to bother with trying to fix it? It's rarely really much of an issuse, other than the occasions when I'm wanting to roll up the window while leaving the toll plaza while it's raining like hell and I have to shift gears while pulling away, but if it's a somewhat simple fix, I may as well try to do it. Thanks.

Heh ... Nowhere near what it was like when I lived in Boulder, but we had some chilly (low 20s) mornings for a couple of days. I know ... no northern deep freeze. But, hey, remember the iced over, snowed up Superbowl in ATL a few years back? That's kind of the area I was going ... vacuum ... sucky/blowy stuff. I went through and made sure everything was connected properly. I cleaned the TB a couple of months ago, and the inside of it looked pretty clean today, except that there was some gunk on the edge of the plate. I thought maybe when it's been sitting there over night, and it's cold, the oily gunk could cause it to stick a bit, sort of choking off the air flow. Reasonable assumption?

So ... I'd been having issues with cold morning starts. Crank ... start ... stall. Crank ... start ... roll. Only first thing in the morning. Not after sitting 8 hours during work. Only first thing in the morning. Anyhoo, I've been looking through the forums for clues ... fuel pump? Crankshaft position sensor? Coolant temperature sensor? Fuel injectors? Decided to work my way up from the cheapest, easiset solution on up to the pricier possibilities. The stalling reminded me of the time I accidentally unhooked an intake hose while replacing the O2 sensor from above the engine. So, I started to think maybe an air issue. I cleaned the throttle body and made sure all the hoses were connected and stuff. After spraying the TB, I went to start it. Started on the first turn. Yay! Then it stalled. Tried again. Start. Yay! Then it stalled. Started again. Oh %^&*......... !!!!!!!SMOKE!!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek: From the engine. Through the air vents in the cabin! What the %^&$@?????? Shut it off, went around to the front of the car. oooooops ... I forgot to put the hose back onto the TB. Threw a CEL. I reset the CEL by disconnecting the negative battery terminal and (luckily) it hasn't come back on yet. Also, there is no stalling, idle is calm, and pickup is much better than before. Runs much more smoothly overall than it has the last few weeks. I hope to find out tomorrow if it will start right up after sitting all night. Oh well. Any idea what sensor might have gone whacko due to this infraction on sensible car maintenance? Have I permanantly fouled anything? Thanks.