ThosL

I called Subaru dealer, with vin number they said throttle body and springs had been serviced in a recall. So no dice on that, the other side I already did with spring/strut, on the side with the broken spring the strut is still goo.d

I have a front spring on my 1997 Outback, limited and have been delaying it due to yet another cost. Is this covered by the dealer even though I have not done business with them? https://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/111-gen-1-1995-1999/169665-1998-coil-spring-recall-question.html

You will pay a premium through the part finding service at the local junkyard like LeBlancs, I think they said $150; I would go online where the going rate is around $60.

I was blindsided by a wheel bearing failure last Thursday night, I did not get the usual tell tale warning of a grinding bearing but something else. Simultaneously the rear brakes were entering the pad failure stage at least on one. A friend from the eastern part of CT who visited and helped me when my car broke down was critical of my not paying attention to potential car failure issues. But his economic situation is a lot better, and I live with a 100% disabled sister and work in a big box outdoor store with part time hours. So the way this played out was I was driving to see my friend in the Lyme area; I turned back as the noise and driving got worse around Milford. In Bridgeport the car broke down, with the front right knuckle literally breaking with the wheel bearing failure. The last thing I remember was a screeching noise as I pulled over to the right side. My insurance covered the tow, but the guy tried to get more $$ out of me due to the broken axle. The car was put in front of a garage in Norwalk; they got to it yesterday, with the front rt. knuckle I provided. They also replaced the front exhaust gaskets that had failed, charging me $200. Any "post mortem" thoughts on this situation?

On my '97 2.5 I don't worry about an oil leak, as the valve cover gasket replacements involve a lot of hours and oil is relatively cheap and if I put in a quart every couple weeks the level stays safe. That looks like an ambitious plan, I wonder how many hours you are estimating the work at and expense.

I would call around for how much parts are and then get the shop estimate hours. I know a couple local shops that charge around $75 an hour, maybe a little better on cash and let you bring the parts. Rock Auto and Advance may not have OE quality but it is worth checking what their near OE parts would cost.

Yes, that's how I did it; I checked out one guy's vids. on it and it looks like it is on the inside.

I had a hard to remove rotor earlier and saw this video after trying to hammer it from behind, this did the trick: Quick question, is the low pad sensor on the inside or outside of the disc brake?

The emergency brake will sometimes fall apart like that; had it happen once creating a god-awful racket!

I called around; LeBlancs and LaJoies have shrunk their yards and crushed older cars, so no dice there; I called a lot of places, LeBlancs said there was a unit in Hartford, not sure where they were going to get it from there. In retrospect, I should have waited for shipping to get it as the going rate looked like around $60 online.

Good points, but I wonder if there is any scientific correlation between external rust on a car and the wheel bearings where you have ample grease protecting the unit. I would think variables would be how old the knuckle is? Whether there has been abnormal wear before the vehicle broke down, ended up in a junkyard and whether it sitting there has anything to do with the viability of the bearing? Does grease inside these units degrade? Does salt, which is less used these days, get into the units? I'm curious whether shoving a bunch of lithium grease into the area would do any good long term? Too bad they don't have grease fitting any more.

That was the problem, M and J had the part only it is rusted. I guess I will find out if the bearing is ok. The problem with putting in bearings in hubs where the bearings have failed is they can go bad a lot faster if the hubs were damaged. It happened to me within a couple years with a shop that installed bearings and they offered no remedy at that point.

The point of my topic was how do you make sure when you check around for used parts, the quality is acceptable? I contacted 6-8 parts places none of them had it; this one up in Colchester said they had several. The others were apparently crap, so they sold me this one at full price with a lot of rust and a cut ball joint boot. What options did I have in an hour and a half drive?

I needed a front knuckle/spindle for my 97 Subaru earlier; checked all around, was told by a Subaru specialist that 97 Outback front knuckles were hard to come by. An online search turned up a number of them, but nothing in driving distance. I asked one of the local junkyards what was the closest one that came up on their parts finding service, they gave me the name of one about an hour and a half away. I called them, they said they had several. So when I got up there they had pulled one that was very rusty, the wheel bearing looked ok, but the ball joint was torn or cut. They said the other ones they checked out were no good. Was there a way around having to spend $100 for a substandard front spindle?

I appreciated a lot of the work the shop has done and I really hope they get back to normal. For the record I did stop by later and gave him some cash for his trouble. I found the job relatively easy though initially I thought I would need power tools; just some wrenches and a ratchet with the right metric tools should be enough.

There is a lot of hatred and hostility in your statements. I don't know why you are looking for a fight. Liver complaint, just an overbearing control freak mentality? If the facts were lined up properly on the case the state would consider the shop to be at fault for having an inexperienced helper working on vehicles. All that was required was to have the rotor brackets loosened, and if the pins are frozen the best option could be replacing the brackets and putting in slide pins/grease, etc.. Easy job, he said it was a half hour job but his guy bungled it. I had been told he'd do it the day before, stood around for quite a while and he said his mechanic wasn't going to be back; next day I come and he has a helper work on it breaking parts...If I can do this quickly as it turned out any idiot can. There is no good reason to break parts.

The local snow crews are using non-caustic melts as far as I know. But old rust remains a problem.

I've been using the gauge, I didn't realize they are unreliable. Could be the gas additives, they always seem to lead to poorer mileage in the cold months. Car runs very well, no drag from brakes or other sources when in neutral. MPG around 20.

As jeryst rust was a perennial problem with Subarus until when? You should have seen my 84 1.8 Wagon I got cheap from a Vermont mechanic named "Van". Totally rusted with sheet metal riveted on body panels. Those 1.8s were easier to work on. I like fully manual functions, including high/low 4 wheel drive; do not like all the automatic stuff. 2.5 engines definitely have a lot more power. EJ22s can be bullet proof engines, I always owned station wagons, not sure if the smaller versions have any advantages.

I did the driver's side rotor today; noticed the caliper bracket also has a non-sliding pin. These cost around $30 for the bracket, and then slide pins, are around $10. If the caliper is good no reason to change out on high mileage vehicles. I have no idea why a mechanic (or wannabe) would force slide pins, breaking them, unless they were trying to prove one of Murphy's laws.

I have been noticing the mileage dropping to under 20 mpg. I changed out the plugs with standard NGKs today, care runs very well. I checked the air filter, cleaned it out. Are there any other good candidates that could be causing this? The plugs were down to toothpick points, they are not easy to do unless you have quality tools.

I have never had a bolt vibrate loose; I tighten reasonably, don't make a point of killing it. So the whole idea is reasonable force; mechanics are much more aware of torque specs which become critical in certain applications.

I'd just asked Frank to install the rotor, I said I couldn't get the bolts off. He was having a non-mechanic work on it, a mechanic probably would have caught the frozen slide pin, not forced it/broke it. Frank had said I should be able to do it, but he said he would be able to do it for me in a half hour, etc.. On the mechanics not being liable for damages when they break things, and then upping the ante if the customer complains with legal liens if they don't comply; the customer can always go over the shop's head and should with state agencies, filing complaints with relevant authorities. One unhappy customer can cause a lot of headaches, why issues should be addressed man to man without the need to resort to the law which ends up being a lot more expensive for all concerned.

Good analysis, thanks. I think we should all be using neverseize, teflon tape and similar products when necessary. I would just hope mechanics would be mindful of necessary vs. excess force.

Is there any commercial or other counter, push-back if a mechanic "kills" the bolts or nuts? Have any studies been done to show real risks if the tightening is not cinched down fully?