Rooster2
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Everything posted by Rooster2
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Best rant of the day. Subaru Legacy sales keep increasing year by year. If the cars are that bad, how could sales be increasing?? Compare similar repair bills of Subaru vs. Mercedes at a dealerships.................. Let the rant begin against Mercedes repair cost.
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Nice looking Subie. Looks like you and your car are parked on an alien planet. Looks like shot gun shells on the alien terrain.
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I don't think that pipe size matters that much. Yea, 1.75 or 1 7/8 should work just fine. The size is not a critical factor. Don't recommend a straight pipe. It will sound great for the first five minutes of driving, but then the sound becomes dronning noise that will drive you and any passengers crazy. Also, you won't really be able to listen to your car radio/sound system. Cops can ticket you as well.
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Yep, not that cold here in Indiana. Years back I lived in Minneapolis, where it got down to the level of cold you are describing. Yea, heated garage is the only way to go. I would hate to have your heating bills. I bet your Subie has one of those block heaters, or oil dip stick heater electric power cord units hanging out the front of the car. Try a new gas cap to see if that will fix your problem. It is a cheap fix if it works.
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The concept that is missing here, is that engine load is not being considered. A Subie with bad HGs will idle in Park gear all day without over heating, or casually driven at low speed with no over heating. However, take the car out on the interstate, and climb some hills, and watch the temp spike to hot. The work load on the engine increases to climb a long, or steep hill forces, when the driver to gives the car more fuel to keep the speed up. Engine RPM doesn't go up, but the engine is stressed more, so creates more heat, and then "wham" the HGs start failing big time, by allowing that extra hot engine heat from the exhaust to get pushed right into the engine cooling system. The cooling system of water pump, fans, and radiator can't compete with all that hot exhaust gas entering the cooling system. Game over, the engine over heats suddenly. This is how all Subies with bad HGs behave.
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I have the same problem on my 99 OBW. I got advise to replace the gas cap, but that didn't help. Now it is too darn cold and snowy here in Indiana to look into fixing at this time. Car seems to be down on gas mileage, maybe this has something to do with it, or just the cold brings down the millage. Prolly next thing I do, is to remove the plastic shield around the fuel fill pipe. I don't know how to go about that, if anyone can advise both Ravenwoods and me, it would be appreciated............Rooster2
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My preference is Legacy Outback. Just a little bigger then the Impreza product line family of Forester and XV cross over. IMHO, with the longer wheel base, the Legacy rides better, and is less of a choppy ride found with the Impreza family. Leg room is also better in the Legacy line. All Subarus are much the same technically, with motors and trannys often interchangeable, so reliability is good on both. Which ever you pick, welcome to Subaru, and to happy motoring.
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yep head gasket........when said that the temp suddenly spikes, that is a dead give away that it is the head gasket. Since you just bought the car, I suspect previous owner sold the car because he figured out that over heating was head gaskets. Maybe you can get some of your money back, or have previous owner chip in on paying for the head gasket repair.
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Also suggest pulling out the dip stick if the Forester has an automatic transmission. If ATF is black in color, then tranny fluid is really old and prolly burnt. If rose color or reddish, then ATF fluid is in good shape. Dip stick is way up against the firewall on driver's side. Can be hard to find, as dip stick gets buried under hoses. This test will also give you an indication of how well the vehicle has been maintained during its life time.
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Yea, Subies get driven in spite of needing all kinds of repairs, because owners just don't have the money to get things fixed. I have read that repeatedly, as posted by many others on this fourm. Used Subie owners are often people just financially barely scraping along in life. That applies to me as well.
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check out the archives on this forum. Search for lift on a Legacy. I haven't done it, but read enough to know that transplanting in the strut suspension from a Legacy Outback is the route to take. I remember pictures posted of the transplant results. Pixs will give you a visual of what your car can look like.
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Such an unusual question. Unlikely anyone has tried to do this before...........maybe easier to use a tape measure to compare hood dimensions?
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Someone on Craig's list in Indy is selling a 97 OBW with known bad head gaskets. In the ad write-up, seller says he removed the thermostat, so he could continue driving with the bad HGs. I guess this is the red neck approach to HG repairs. Learn something new every day.
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US & Canadian dollars are close in value. If anything, the value of the Canadian dollar is worth a little more then the US dollar.
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+1 on way too expensive. Time to shop around for a much lower price to have the work done.
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I too did the knuckle swap, sourcing one from a wrecking yard. That has been 2 years ago, and is still good. So much less costly then pressing bearings out, then in. Knuckle cost me $75 from a yard. 4 wheel alignment here cost $79, can be talked down to $59.
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+1 all that is written above. I could not have said it better. Suggest your immediate focus is on replacing the t-stat, and see where you stand.
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Yep, a bad rod bearing can come on suddenly, and be really noisy. Motor will still run, but knock like hell with a loud nasty banging sound. I have not ever gotten into engine rebuild, but know that crank shaft, rod, and bearing will need work. Others will tell you more about having the crank "turned" etc........Motor will need to be pulled out to be bench rebuilt. Does make me wonder why the bearing went bad. Maybe driven low or out of motor oil?? If so, repairs may dictate a new or used motor.
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Suspect that the HID light kit is pulling more amps then a stock set up. As a result, the extra current pull is heating up the connector and frying it. Suspect the stock connector is not up to the task of an HID. I don't have a solution, but am thinking that some auto companies may sell their cars with stock HIDs. If so, source one of their connectors from a dealership, or a wrecking yard. It is possible, that who sold you the HIDs, may have bulb connectors as well to solve the problem. You can't be their only customer to have this problem.
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If you do replace the T-stat, install a good one, either OEM Subaru, or after market one costing about $30+ dollars. Cheap after market T-stats just don't work properly in a Subie. Lots written by others in the past on this forum about problems with a cheap T-stat. If you do go to a parts store to buy a T-stat, ask to be shown a cheap one, and a top of the line unit. Comparing the two side by side, you will see that the cheapie has a very short coil spring, vs the longer coil spring in the top of the line model. For what ever reason that short spring model won't open and close properly in a Subie
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Yea, never fun working on a car, when it is winter cold, really necessary to work in a heated garage. If you think there could be additional issues with the starter, then I would suggest a new, or rebuilt starter. Otherwise, repairing a bad starter with multiple issues can be extra time consuming, and really frustrating.
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My 99 OBW made it to 192K miles before blowing its original HGs. Some 2.5 motors will make it that far. Like others wrote, I immediately thought the thermostat has been removed from that car. I suspect the HGs are bad, but not terribly bad, so car driven easy doesn't over heat.
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I tried the switch to leather heated seats in my 99 OBW, but did not find any unused wiring to plug into. I brought a huge hunk of wiring harness from the donor car, a 97 OBW, but could never figure out the wiring. So, I got the nice leather seats installed, but not heated. Can someone tell us how to do this project, or where to look for unused wire harness?
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Slightly narrow snow tires on the 14" wheels is the way that I would go for winter. Slightly narrow snow tires put down a higher pound per square inch on the pavement to give better traction vs a wider tire.
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Certainly agree with you about crap getting in your eyes. I can tell you have been there, done that. That in itself is one of the biggest deterrent against a "do it yourself" exhaust replacement project.
