Boneyard

Fair enough, but I hadn't made it to the recommended interval before it blew. I had every intention of getting in at that time and changing it. If I had suspected for a minute it was losing oil, I would've been all over it.

The car is in vancouv er wa right now, not seattle. I left it at a shop last night, I won't get the skinny until tomorrow (maybe), but it is sounding grim. I am not a mechanic enough to do a rebuild, nor do I have the facilities, here or in seattle. I am afraid I just have to educate myself and then leave this up to the pros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oVoYjm3FrU&feature=youtube_gdata_player This is similar to the sound I heard. So if it actually did real damage, I an better off trading my lower milage rebuilt for a higher milage one?

I just watched a video of an ' almost' thrown rod, and that was more of the sound I heard, so if that is the case, is it possible that the engine is still ok, and they will just have to rebuild the cylinders? Assuming of course the parts didn't jank it up too much.

I am pretty sure it was as is. I would have to check my paperwork, but I don't recall any warranty. That being said, I may actually just fall outside of it. I believe I bought it on september 22, which would put me a few days past it. So I am probably on my own here regardless.

I made a rookie mistake and didn't check the oil (didn't see any leaks or lights), and I was five miles short of my destination this weekend when my check engine light came on, engine lost power, started rattling, and the oil light started flashing. I was in the left lane on I-5 and no one would let me over, so I probably went a mile before I could pull over. I am pretty sure I threw a rod, so my questions are: about how much will this cost if I just have to replace the rod(s)? If I have to replace the engine? What are the odds of having to replace the engine? How long does a repair like this usually take? Finally, how big of an a$$ am I for not checking the stupid oil? (Answer: HUGE). Thanks Car: 2003 Baja, 78k, just made first payment (ouch)

Yeah, I usually buy a Haynes manual because it is cheap and easy to read. Usually good for most repairs, as you say. Of course the cloud hanging over my head never lets the repairs be easy. That being said, I am still not getting spark. The coil I put in is probably ok, so I will try getting some wires later and make sure they are good, even though the resistance checked. I checked the Transistor, and there were some funny measurements on mine. I will need a new one anyway, as I broke mine trying to disassemble it. Going to a junkyard, since a new dealer part is $300 So if the wires don't do it, then my options are down to either another coil attempt, a distributor, or possibly an ECU issue, right? The alternative to those would be some crazy wiring issue that would pretty much scrap the car and start over. For what I have spent on it in the past month, I'm half way to another car. So to be clear, a distributor problem could cause no spark at the coil if the coil wire is detached from it, right? I get no spark from anywhere that I see. Thanks

Ya, brought the part into work. Colleague had a spare coil with the same part (same everything). I am going to hook it up when I get home. If it solves the problem, I will hunt one down. Parts store couldn't find it, said it might be a dealer part. Auto Algebra 101: Dealer part = cost * 2.5. I can always use the spare to get to the junkyard though. It still disturbs me that the Haynes manual didn't have this part in there. It seems like a pretty important part to omit. They left out the MAF as well.

Ya, brought the part into work. Colleague had a spare coil with the same part (same everything). I am going to hook it up when I get home. If it solves the problem, I will hunt one down. Parts store couldn't find it, said it might be a dealer part. Auto Algebra 101: Dealer part = cost * 2.5. I can always use the spare to get to the junkyard though. It still disturbs me that the Haynes manual didn't have this part in there. It seems like a pretty important part to omit. They left out the MAF as well.

It doesn't look like I have an ignition amplifier (that's the part I was wondering about). From the diagram in the Haynes manual, it looks like it's a condenser. I think there is some variation depending on the year. Of course I could be mistaken. I'll take the part in tomorrow and show my colleague, but I don't know how much we can glean from a visual inspection. A new coil is only $20, so I don't see any reason not to replace it. Like I said, the spark wasn't coming from the coil wire; I never checked an actual plug wire from the distributor itself. If I still have problems after replacing it, I will start looking at the distributor. Thanks.

Greetings, I was poking around earlier, trying to find some information on coils, and I have some questions. My car died the other morning. It started right up, and a few blocks later it suddenly died. I put starter fluid in, but it doesn't seem to get spark. I pulled the coil wire from the distributor and put it up to the frame, but I didn't see a spark. I pulled the coil today and measured everything, and I get about .9 ohm across the contacts (pri. windings, I believe), and 9.96k ohm across the secondary windings (measured from output to neg terminal). I don't know if that would determine that the coil is necessarily good though, just that the resistances are ok. A colleague at work told me that some Subys have a timing module next to the coil (hooked up to the ECU) that can go bad. I am not sure if the one attached to my coil's bracket is that, or just a suppression module for the radio. I am including a couple of pictures just in case. I would also like to know if anyone can tell me if this looks like a replacement coil or the stock one. I would go by the rusted bolts, but every bolt on my car is rusted. Does this sound like it may just be a coil issue? I had a lot of fluid in the engine compartment due to coolant leaks, so it doesn't seem unreasonable that I may have gummed up the electronics. It may just be old as well. Do I just replace the coil, or do I need to replace the module attached to that bracket as well? What exactly is it (the parts store didn't have anything in the system when I called them). Thanks, J 92 Loyale, Manual, 1.8L, 230k mi

Do I have to have to remove it to do so? I am a renter, and it is my only vehicle, so removing the throttle body is a pretty involved task, especially with the rainy season approaching. The Air sensor next to the air filter should be a quick clean though. I don't think that is the MAF though. I looked it up online, and the part is $200 and looks like it belongs somewhere on the intake. I assume there is more than one air flow sensor?

So where exactly is the MAF? I am looking through the Haynes manual, and I can see an airflow sensor near the air filter, but nothing that is label MAF. Are they the same?

Well, that seems like something that shouldn't bee too hard to check. As long as I don't have to replace it ($200... ouch). It seems like the most innocuos parts are the most expensive. I saw some stuff online about being able to hit the wires with a bit of carb cleaner and get some more life out of them, so I'll give it a shot. Apparently these are one of those parts that just never get serviced.

Greetings, As much as I would love to come here and gush about a new Suby, I have yet another problem with the old one I am driving... My car usually starts fine (it was hard starting on Monday), it idles fine, and cruises fine. The issue comes when I am accelerating or when I am decelerating. If I am idling and I punch the accelerator, the engine will lag out and try to die. If I fan it a bit first, I can punch it all I want. Accelerating from a stop will cause me to lag unless I have been fanning the gas for a moment (I assume it is the same problem i.e. pressing the accelerator from an idle). Finally, when I am driving down the freeway and hit the offramp (or anytime I am lugging it) in high gear and low RPMs, I notice my engine start to sputter and cough until I down shift, in which case it seems to run fine. I have not noticed a change in power while cruising, and once I start to accelerate, I do fine. I changed the fuel and air filters, and that has not resolved the problem. I have run some injector cleaner through, and am running a couple more cycles to see if that helps, but the problems seems to be getting worse, not better. I changed the plugs, wires, etc last August, so they should still be good (less than 10k on them, maybe even less than 6k), although they might have issues. In the past year I have also replaced the fuel pump, catalytic converter, and had it go through emissions adjustment. Any idea what else (or what of the above) may be causing the lugging on acceleration pedal? I know my car hasn't had the same amount of power since it got adjusted for emissions (August 08), but these symptoms have only been happening for maybe a month, and I would like my car to last for at least another year. Thanks.

This was a while ago, but just for follow up... The piston did not come all the way out, but extended as far as it could without actually coming out. I had to screw it all the way back in, and I didn't have the time to get a tool for turning it back in. You can bet I will be dropping the money on a piston tool before I do this again. Even $20 is worth it compared to the time it takes to do this with the other tools at hand.

Perhaps I didn't change the cone washer. That could be it. I know new axles aren't that expensive, and I can find another hub in a salvage yard for less than $20. I will have to consult the fellow that helped me change them. Thanks.

Greetings, I have heard that older subarus have weak hubs. My driver's side hub bolt kept coming loose, which eventually ground out my hub to the point where I had to replace it. I replaced the axle while I was at it (both parts from a salvage yard), and everything seemed ok. Here it is, about a year later, and my driver's side hub is loose and grinding again. It is two completely different parts, and yet they are behaving the same way. Is this a design flaw in the Loyale? Any ideas what could cause two different hub bolts to behave identically? Thanks.

Yeah, I loosened it at some point. I turned it right, left, I removed the whole hooya from the caliper (by accident). I think that may have caused the problem. The top hinge coming undone may have led to the piston completely discharging. I now have the brake on. It didn't solve my problem though. That is for another post. Thanks.

I was changing out the brake pads and using the needle-nose to wind down my pistons. I was doing the 'right is tight' thing, but the passenger side didn't seem to want to work. I gave it a turn in the other direction, and now it seems like my piston has extended all the way out. Do I need to be turning it counter clockwise? Have I ruined the calipers? Will I make it to B.C. in time to see Black Sabbath? Thanks. 92 Loyale, front disk.

Ign Coil fuse was fine. It worked perfectly. My initial diagnosis was in the Fuel (Height) fuse, which I though went to the pump. It measured 0v when in the ON position, which led me to believe there was a break in the circuit between the battery and the fuse. It was only after reading the wiring diagram and looking at the fuse box more closely that I realized I had been looking at the wrong fuse altogether. The Ign Coil/Fuel fuse read 12V during ON and START. I thought it might be the relay/ECU but everything else was working, and I heard a relay click when I turned the key on. I assumed that everything else was working and the pump was the problem. Since I am an electrical guy, I tend to think electrical problems, and I didn't want to fall into that trap. If I get the issue in the future, I will probably replace the relay, and then the ECU. I did get some weird burnt electronic smell in my cab a while back before I replaced the alternator, and had some problems with my CD player not wanting to eject CDs (which miraculously fixed itself just recently), so maybe the ECU is fried. I don't even want to think about how much those cost. Or about how I am going to get the dash panels installed AGAIN.

Replaced the fuel pump, and it started right up. I think the problem came from: 1) I was testing the wrong fuse. There are two in the box that say fuel. One also says Ign Coil, and that is the one that (according to the wiring diagram) goes to the fuel pump. If I had been checking that from the start, I might have saved myself some time. 2) The fuel pump probably started seizing, freed itself, then froze again for good. I have had this problem with computer fans where they don't want to start when you put power on them , but once they are moving they are ok. I probably should've replaced the pump as soon as I had the first incident. I think the two weeks I got from it were just a fluke. Thanks for your input. It really helped me a lot. Perhaps my process can help to see what others may be doing wrong when diagnosing a similar problem. Hopefully this really was the root cause, and it's not some crazy intermittent in the harness that will leave me stranded somewhere crazy next week. Like Redmond:eek: Thanks, J

I didn't hear the fuel pump turn on. I got the tools to drill the bolts, and will do one last test on the connections tomorrow, but it looks like the pump is actually giving out. I am still trying to figure out why it would give out only while starting, and not while running though. Maybe it is seizing up or something, and the fact I got it to run for two more weeks was just dumb luck? The green connectors (which I haven't seen mentioned in the Haynes manual other than a cursory appearance in the wiring diagram) basically hotwire the pump, right? So if that doesn't make it start, than can I assume either the wiring on the pump is bad, or the pump itself is probably bad? Thanks.