friendly_jacek

2000 legacy, no codes, O2 sensor works fine, but the mixture is super rich with cold engine, terrible smell of unburn hydrocarbons and 16 MPG on short trips. 4% gas in oil after some idling. I understand that subaru engines tend to run rich but this is too much. Is there a way to adjust somehow? How? Thanks!

At least Subaru paid for the HG and you should have warranty for it for 100000miles/8years. Think of all these folks who paid $1000-2000 for HG outside warranty. BTW, the splashguard story sounds like BS. Do find where the oil leaks from and confront the dealership. Passanger axle is a common site for oil leaks.

Thanks for the advice. I had a talk to the service writer this AM. His estimate included timing belt, labor (2.2 hrs), pulley x3. Tensioner was “free” under warranty. The car has only 53000 miles. What a scam. I asked him to forget the timing belt and just replace the defective tensioner under warranty. He was so angry he put “customer refused to replace timing belt” in the service computer. What a jerk. Now I am worried that he will put a defective or used belt in. Can’t win with these stealers. The other dealership in the area (60 miles away) is very incompetent and once broke the engine cover while doing O2 sensor recall and refused to fix. Once the warranty is over, I will have to do all the services myself. Can’t trust them.

Koby Subaru, Mobile, AL The only dealer in town. You know, Subarus are not exactly popular here ;-)

OK, I have a similar question with a twist. Brought my 2000 legacy L to a dealer for engine noise I suspected to be timing belt tensioner. Car under the 60mos/60000miles warranty. The dealership confirms bad tensioner and offers to replace the timing belt. I agree. However, the machanic quotes me $380-450 for the timing belt and possible 1-2 pulleys (tensioner covered by the warranty). This sounds high since he probably needs to take the belt off anyhow during the tensioner replacement and the belt is only $59.95. Is he trying to rip me of?

Thanks! I was aware about the turns, that explains the front wear pattern I experienced in all the cars I drove. The inner wear puzzled me a lot and the alignment guys were swearing everything was within specs. I tried to compensate by increasing pressure a bit but I never saw any benefit of that in terms of thread wear.

I wouldn't be surprised if any fluid sucked via PCV would do the trick. I know that people also use water and/or brake fluid for decarbonization of engines and it works very well. I guess water is cheaper and even more environmentally friendly!

Thanks for this excellent advice. I purchased a "lifetime" alignment from a tire shop and the tires are not wearing right. At some point I suspected a conspiracy to sell more tires, but it may be that the setting are on one side of the tolerance range (within specs), I need to check. Would heavy load in rear by itself (family trips with lots of gear, towing, etc) explain abnormal wear pattern with more wear on inner side rear and outer front? Yes, I rotate the tires but they are trashed by 25000 miles.

This is truly a generous offer. I hope that posting your email will not generate a very excessive burden of spam. Cheers!

Ha, ha, ha. When I bought Subaru in 2000 I was brainwashed by CR and I thought they were reliable cars. Well, after I had a few repairs at 50000 miles, several recalls and the HG and center diff issues to look forward to, I’m not so sure. However, my friend has 2 new Hondas and had his share of recalls, too. He also pays $400 for 15,000 miles and $600 for 30,000 miles services. While Subaru is maintenance intensive, I pay $300 for my 30,000 service at my local dealer. I recently bought new Toyota and can tell you there were many annoying issues too, but rather minor. Toyota beats Subaru on maintenance big time, though: oil/filter every 5,000 miles, air filter and coolant every 30,000 miles and ATF and spark plugs (iridium from factory on corolla) every 120,000 miles (yes!). That’s it.

Man, there was just a theread on plugs, several pages long. Why is it so hard to search? BTW, single platinums are a nono in subaru's waste spark ignition, get the double platinum ones (NGK laser platinum). I understant thay are OEM on new cars. Check with your dealer.

It is normal. This light is coming from TCU and seems not in sync with ECU. Persistent light=overheating blinking light=error detected by TCU

It may be a good idea for someone with oil consumption or semi-leaky seals. Otherwise, why would you want to swell your good seals?

There are lots of posts on piston slap, if you scroll down the page, you will see the following Similar Threads: Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post Piston slap and 6 cyl engines? stevemeeters New Generation of Subarus 5 02-10-2005 01:23 PM The Dreaded PISTON SLAP Setright New Generation of Subarus 14 11-26-2004 08:26 AM 2004 piston slap? or only older models? DMc-DE New Generation of Subarus 12 05-06-2004 01:19 PM Piston Slap blitz New Generation of Subarus 26 02-02-2004 03:54 PM piston slap on 98 Outback winterblazer New Generation of Subarus 8 10-24-2003 08:00 PM. Also, google search will give more than you can read in a day. As for the burning oil smell, read this recent topic: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=30381 Some people on the board may find annoying answering the same questions over and over again.. Happy Valentines!

Do you have this problem:? "Too-thin CV-joint grease. This is *NOT* a recall, but enough complaints have occured that I thought I'd mention it. Symptoms are smoke and a burning smell from under the hood on some 1998 Outbacks and Foresters. The cause is improper DOJ (CV joint...) grease, which is too thin and melts at lower-than-desired temperatures, leaking onto the exhaust and vaporizing. Subaru will fix this under warranty, and it is not a safety issue, though driving your CV joints dry will destroy them." Copied from: http://www.toad.net/~rrubel/bulletin.html I had that problem in a MY 2000 legacy.

This is a quote from Subaru's publication entitled "Subaru 4EAT Transmissions". It can be downloaded from: http://endwrench.com/main.php?smPID=PHP::article_detail.php&&RECID=247 "The 4EAT Transmission is a 4 speed, microprocessor-controlled transmission that was first introduced in 1987.5 Subaru models. It is not a 3 speed transmission with overdrive." Would that be enough to clarify that 4EAT does not have an overdrive?

That 400 rpm difference you refer to sounds like torque converter locking up. As for driving in cold temp, the tranny is supposed to use up to 3rd gear with cold ATF. 4th gear kicks in with warmer ATF. Do not know if that applies to torque converter. Living in south US, I don't know what cold is anymore :-)

I hear you, in heavy traffic, and low speeds, it helps to save some unnecessary shifts when you take the leg from gas pedal. I do it when I tow in city to save AT wear and tear and to avoid lugging in 4th. 4Th is not an overdrive in subarus. There is no speed limit for torque convertor locking/unlocking. In my 2000 legacy, I see it sometimes unlocking at 75 MPH when I tow a heavy load on mild grade,. Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent it, short of using lower gears and lower speeds. Fortunately, significant grade seems to prevent unlocking to prevent overheating. Reading this board made me aware that some sub owners forget to change ATF every 30000 miles. Do yours ASAP. Tranny cooler is also a good thing to have if you haul heavy loads. Good luck!

Ditto. It can even drip lube at the seal without visual cracking, check if wet with oil.

I just looked up the NGK laser platinum plugs and sounds like platinum is on both center and ground electrodes. This should be good for subaru's wasted spark ignition system. Where do you get them and for how much?

Interesting. Usually people say the opposite, that subaru engines are less noisy with heavier oils. I personally did not hear/feel any difference between 5W30 and 5W40. However, I never used the thin Mobil 1 oil (HTHS 3.0). And BTW, the manual states that heavier oils like multigrade30, multigrade40, or 20W50 are required when heavy duty or hight temp service is present. I find synthetic 5W40 (HTHS of 4 or more) a good balance between short trips and towing service. 0W40 would also be satisfactory for that (HTHS of 3.6). However, technically, the car manual does not mention 0W40 or 5W40 under recommended oils. If one uses the car for light duty driving, 5W30 or 10W30 of any kind (quality dino or synthetic) is fine.

Sorry to hear that. If the light is flashing, an error is detected by TCU. There is a "secret handshake" procedure for getting the code by counting the flashes. Do a search and good luck!

Good luck and keep us posted! This story and several similar posted recently worries me a lot. My first 2 cars with AT (mazda and nissan) failed miserably with AT dying at 60000 miles or so (for various reasons ranging from neglect of previous owner to overheating). I wanted to buy a manual subaru but caved under pressure from my wife. I would hate for the AT to die prematurely on me again. I took all the precautions (synthetic ATF, cooler, temp gauge, changed the AT filter). We will see, 54000 on the odo so far.

Just to clarify, the drivetrain warranty is good for 60000miles/5years. HG warranty is possibly extended to 100000 if your car was included in the coolant conditioner recall. You should be OK.

If you have a great service history with the all required services performed by a Subaru dealer, that would help a lot with the negociations. My dealer tells me that he stretches the warranty coverage a bit for his regular custumers. On the other hand, if you have no documented service (ATF change every 30000 miles), your chances are next to none.