ThosL

The guy at Auto Zone said yesterday that you have to use special hose for coolant lines due to the effect of antifreeze, though I have been using fuel line rubber hose in a couple lines. Will this fail in time, and is there any evidence of that?

My guess it's the switch. The tab originally broke off so I didn't have use of the drivers side window for a while. Now when I have been using it, it decided to stop going back up. The magic smoke was a few weeks ago.

If you want to play hard ball with their intransigence, you could contact the state AG filing a complaint with them. Plus lemon laws are pretty tough for used car dealers to fight. Go online and post an anonymous or a review in your name depending on whether they may retaliate. If you are a member of Angie's list they probably field reviews there. Lots of ways to fight back.

The guy at Advance Auto thought it was probably in the switch unit, not connections when he looked at it today. I had saw a puff of smoke once a little while ago coming from the unit, though it kept working for a while.

I spent about an hour on the main long coolant line between the airbox and the engine; both are hard to get to, one is much longer, the one with the original problem. I tried a couple of those finger tightening clamps to prevent the slight leak. They just made it worse. What would be a reasonable amount of mechanic time on replacing the two hoses, a half hour? Why are these two quarter inch or greater lines so hard to get to?

Does any one have a list of the steps for replacing the water hose(s) over the engine and under the throttle body? I had one blow over a month ago and used a temporary 1/4 inch hose with a two way tapered connector spliced in with no hose clamps though. 99 Outback wagon with 2.2.

Hi--I was having a little trouble with the driver's side window not going up, now I could not get it to go up but it will go down. It was acting finicky now it just wouldn't go up. Any solutions? Thanks. 99 Outback wagon.

I am probably way over that; when F and S did the water pump replacement, the timing belt was OK and we decided not to replace it. Well over 100K on a 2.2 with no replacement.

I spoke with F and S who are Subaru specialists; they said rear wheel bearing for the 99 OB would be an hour and a half per wheel ($100 per hour) plus parts.

Approximate cost of the replacement bearings installed per wheel vs. cost and difficulty of doing it yourself? Thanks.

99 Outback.

I have been hearing one of the rear wheel bearing going for a while. Both front ones were replaced and I was wondering how complicated the rear ones and what a reasonable cost is per wheel? Thanks.

To each their own and I doubt that quality mechanics would lose customers if they had posters around, as people just want quality work at reasonable prices. I remember seeing a poster of Shania Twain up in Monson Maine at Kent Bishop's garage 10 years ago. So I asked him who she was and he said she was a beautiful woman which she is.

Most likely, had the defrost on to suck excess heat out.

I was looking through this forum for a match on this topic, I didn't see anything that jumped out answering my question. There is a drain hose I have seen water coming out of near the back of the engine out a drain hose. I was wondering whether the heater has one of those or just the A/C? I virtually never have the AC on, the water was draining in a small way from the drain hose when the AC was not on.

I've never seen this discussed, but seems a universal trait of mechanics and garages to have various versions of pin-up models around the garage; from the Sports Illustrated versions to more racy types. Is this pretty universal at shops or do they have certain standards at shops where customers may be turned off? Like at one Subaru yard I asked to use the bathroom and their was a pile of "Swank" or similar mags. around.

Probably in ideal circumstances you can get excellent mileage especially with those superlative newer models. The winter with the fuel mixes and oxigenation it is always worse. I'm getting around 25 mpg even with a bad head gasket apparently. Also speeds affect mileage, or used to; the higher the speed the worse the mpg

Blue Devil is clear, I don't know what is in it; but the guy at Advance Auto said you have to also show radiator flush on the receipt or they won't refund. It looks like I will have a Fiber Lock double refund coming as well as the Blue Devil as I am still getting bubbles in the system (steam).

What is a reasonable charge for one rear wheel bearing? I'm hearing tell tale noises on one side.

I originally had a 2.5 engine in the Outback; they transplanted a 2.2, not sure if it is phase 1 or 2. I wrote down the code in the engine compartment of the Impreza, will post it when I find it.

His landlord said he would probably take around $300 for the Impreza; the engine and other surrounding components look a little different. I will check around on prices, plus I would have another car with remaining parts that may be worth something, but significant rust otherwise.

I looked at a 99 Impreza Subaru a friend told me about as a solution to my 99 Outback currently with an EJ22 with a blown head gasket. Are these all compatible and what are reasonable prices for switching one into the other? The guy with the Impreza said his mechanic said the rust was too bad to salvage the vehicle, but the engine had a head gasket job not too long ago.

Asinine. There are no head gasket replacement options in this area less than $1000, and that is a shop about an hour north of here. And with the many requirements to do the job right yourself, with possible cracks in one or more heads, head gaskets would not resolve that. Blue Devil doesn't have clogging material in it like Bars Leaks and the low grade products. It is more for minor leaks, but results will never convince people one way or another because there have not been comprehensive scientific studies.

There are lots of reviews of products like Blue Devil on Amazon, 100+, some good some unhappy; mechanics hate it, because with all that pressure how could it possibly work? Hard to know. My engine may be too far gone. http://www.amazon.com/BlueDevil-Head-Gasket-Sealer-ounce/dp/B000NOO798

Other choices are available; run the vehicle now with 292K miles, constantly watch the temperature gauge, do everything possible to keep it from overheating. Some lessons here are catching overheating problems early, realizing any leak could spell disaster for the engine and the aluminum heads. If the leak happens when you are far from home, you will have few options because getting help on the spur of the moment is extremely unlikely and the auto parts place that I stopped at the two young guys just wanted to stay behind the counter in their comfort zone and say "head gasket blown" because it was a Subaru. If you don't care enough to take the problem seriously no one will and many mechanics do not do their due diligence like the one I relied on. You go to them for a specific job and they do not look for potential threats to the integrity of the vehicle.