ThosL

This is an old thread, I've been perusing it for ideas after my 2.2 overheated several times on Saturday though it had been running like a top with no issues and even passed the emissions inspection with check engine lights off. But now with 292K miles on it, and the likely head gasket issue, I will have to just use it for short trips monitoring the temperature gauge anxiously. I bought another bottle of the K & W Fiberlock, double your money back @ around $40, nothing to lose. The bubbles/steam came out the radiator top bleeder plastic screw, not the radiator cap end. No real option except to try and baby it as spending over $1000 on the head gasket repair is not sensible.

It happened to me once on the highway; tow truck city. Not an easy job; $300-$400?

I found the thin hose on top of the engine had the leak, very hard to get to unless you had super thin fingers to change it.

The other vehicles I had were V8 GM pick-ups, never had engine problems. As they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Most of the work I have had on the car they haven't done much in the way of preventative maintenance.

Thanks a lot for the probable causes. I will limp back to my parking space later and then see if I can find a mechanic to fix it then. I guess it doesn't take much to turn a great running vehicle into a cripple. 2.2 '96 engine in 99 Outback Legacy. So really few options as no one is going to help you fix something like this that makes the vehicle, undriveable, and I don't know any other vehicle that is as prone to engine threatening problems as the old generation Subarus. I just hope the head gasket is not blown. I either had to call AAA to have the vehicle towed, which would easily run into the hundreds or be at the mercy of one of their recommended mechanics and have to find my way back 70 miles away or take my chances with my own attempts to keep the engine in the safe range.

The water was hissing on to the engine, like the leak was hitting the engine, and I saw the dripping directly down from the back of the engine.

This was a shock to me, was driving on the highway, car was running smoothly then I noticed the temperature gauge was inching up toward danger zone. I could hear a hissing sound coming from the middle of the engine; I stopped at an auto parts place they were clueless. From what I have learned water leaks seem to be confined to the radiator and hoses going to and from the engine. Are there any smaller water lines around the engine? I am driving the vehicle back in 7 or so mile stretches as I was 70 miles away from residence when the problem occurred. No fun to have to continually pull over and re fill the radiator and have the steam coming out of the other side as I removed the rubber screw from the other top side of the radiator.

It looks like the fuel injector went bad, they replaced it as I indicated earlier they recommended it though delayed for a few weeks with a switch of two to see if that would help, it didn't. Since she only drives short distances like your grandmother, no real acid test likely for a while.

The check engine light came on again last week; this time she pushed the panic button and called AAA to tow the Subaru. I will try to speak with the last mechanic to check it out tomorrow and see what's next.

OK, thanks for your nice offer of help. The cop did look at the video but said he didn't see anything. But I was on my phone when they returned the car and someone got the keys out and may have grabbed the coin then? I was on the phone in back because it was too loud out front. I wrote out a description of the timeline, etc., they say I don't have any evidence or a case in small claims court.

I'm filing in small claims court, probably the evidence isn't strong enough for the judge to side with me, but too few citizens shrug their shoulders when their rights are violated. To have secure possessions is a very fundamental right.

It was dumb of me, but most service stations and basic service places you can trust the workers totally. In the police report the oil change guy listed his address as the homeless shelter in Norwalk and the intake woman listed her home as the car wash. My options at this point are waiting and hoping the valuable turns up, but pawn shops don't have to do photos of coins just jewelry and similar valuables with a hold period; option 2 is small claims court which is up to a $90 filing fee. NY is $10 or so for claims under $1000. Hopefully this will be a useful alarm for those who go to these places.

This is not really a mechanical question but is relevant to trusting the place you have work done on your car. In this case a "Splash" outfit in Norwalk, CT I paid to have my oil changed. I had bought a rare coin the day before, a high relief 1921 Peace dollar that was uncirculated that was missing a couple hours later when I checked the small group of coins in the tray, including some dingy looking Barber silver coins. So I filed a report with the town's police department, I waited an hour for the cop to be ready to take a report. To his credit, he said he was going up to the place before they closed tonight. What was suspicious, was a woman who handled the oil change cars as they get driven in, came up to me as soon as I went back reporting the missing coin, saying they did not do a vacuum of the car. I spoke to the manager, a nice Hispanic guy and then did the police report. When others get their oil changed do they keep all valuables in the trunk or in back?

So I had the local Hispanic amigos look at this issue today; the main guy is coming back from Columbia on Monday but he said he would do the job. So it was the leak between the cat converter and the pipe going back. Once he got the parts separated, the Napa donut gasket became obviously too big but he said he would try to sandwich it in with the split flange. It was relatively easy, price $60. We still have one of the Y pipe gaskets that is leaking he had no more time today for that.

She'll know in a couple days probably.

They did not charge her anything; one of the guys said he spent an hour on the car; actually they gave her a ride home this morning when she dropped the car off and drove the car to her apartment at end of day after they worked on it! So whatever they did in terms of work is unclear. But very impressive service.

The mechanic said he was going to switch two fuel injectors. The car when starting has a flashing check engine light about 10 minutes after starting sometimes, with some power loss. But it goes away in extended distances. Tune up was done not long ago. She doesn't drive the car much. She used Techtron, no change.

96 Station wagon; 2.2 engine.

My sister went down to Auto Zone to get a mechanic recommendation; so they sent her to East Ave. Automotive in Norwalk, CT. They charged her $40 for the diagnosis, due to the fact she has been having check engine notifications when she starts up the car sometimes, with temporary power loss issues. Usually after a few minutes, the vehicle runs OK. But she is completely dumb when it comes to cars, so is totally dependent on the advice of "experts". So the place she went to today said due to the PO301 misfire code they need to remove and replace the fuel injector; estimate is $259. Is this reasonable or does she need to get a second opinion?

Seasonally, mpg improves, like now. But still thinking I may not be getting optimal mpg with the knock sensor code, etc..

http://ericpetersautos.com/2015/05/09/know-your-tire/ Personally I probably wear out tires too quickly to worry about dry rot or other defects. Some good thoughts in this article. As usual high speeds make potential problems significantly worse.

I don't have the answers to those technical questions, but my mpg is back up to 25 or better.

I paid $900 for a used unit from F and S in Waterbury and around $500 for installation by J and J in New Milford. It has been running fine since, some slippage buy Lucas helped a lot.

I’ve had it happen more than once: A consumer came in to see me after being ripped off. Not just by buying a defective car but also by paying an attorney for an initial consultation. In my field (Lemon Law) and several others, the only attorneys who charge money for initial consultations are the ones who don’t know what they are doing. One client came in to my office the first time with a pile of paperwork six inches thick. When she had asked what to bring to her initial consultation, I told her “Bring everything.” I go through so many documents on a daily basis that I can sort through them faster than the clients can. Repair orders, leases, receipts, purchase agreements and so on. I see them when I close my eyes. As I sifted through her papers I noticed a lawyer’s letterhead. It was a retainer agreement. Had she already retained an attorney to handle this case? No, she had hired the attorney for an initial consultation. She paid the attorney $1,000 to review her paperwork. I was stunned. The attorney had reviewed her papers and then told her she had no case. But he kept the $1,000. I did not recognize the attorney’s name so I looked him up. Based on his license number with the state bar I could tell he had been out of law school for only a couple of years. According to his website, he handled all manner of legal cases but made no mention of lemon law. Why had she gone to him? He was a friend of a friend. From my review of her paperwork it was painfully obvious she had a great case. I asked her what the other attorney had told her about why her case wasn’t worth pursuing. She told me that he had just said he spent a few hours looking through the papers and there was “nothing there.” He had advised her to sell her car and move on. This is not the only time I have heard of this but it was the most egregious. The lemon law in Michigan – and most other states – allows for a successful litigant to recover their attorney fees and court costs from the Defendant. So every attorney I know in this field – and I know many – will consult with a potential client for free. And, this is true in many other fields of law as well, including the ones which are routinely done on a contingency basis. Auto negligence, personal injury and so on. And yet, there are some attorneys out there who still get potential clients to pay just for the honor of sitting in an office and getting bad advice. I have even recently gotten comments from attorneys in response to my pieces here who tell me that they always charge for initial consultations. Some of them do what the attorney in the first paragraph did – practice outside their area of knowledge and make money by telling clients they have no case or to go speak to someone else. Um. Thanks? With the internet, this should no longer happen. All a potential client has to do is look at several websites for attorneys to discover that many do not charge for initial consultations. When you see an attorney who does not state that openly on their website, keep looking. If EVERY attorney you find charges for an initial consultation, then you must be in a legal field where that is the norm. And there are some fields of law where there is no easy way to recover your attorney’s fees and attorneys in those fields might not offer too much free legal advice. Criminal law, divorce, business contract law and so on. But many attorneys will still consult with you for a bit to see if you have a case and to give you some idea of what they can do for you and what it will cost. Strangely, I have people offer me money from time to time as the first thing they say to me: “Whatever you charge for an initial consultation, I’ll pay it.” I guess it’s a mindset. But I always tell them it’s not necessary. But to charge you money to tell you that you have no case? Money out the window for my client above. I eventually got her car bought back by the manufacturer and I got my attorney fees and court costs paid. The $1,000 she gave the prior attorney? Gone for good. And no, you can’t sue the attorney to get the money back. Not surprisingly, the laws don’t work that way. http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/how-not-to-get-ripped-off-by-the-first-attorney-you-mee-1689942744/+whitsongordon#

It came with a wire and plug in. Unfortunately the old wire plug in was hard to remove so the wire got pulled out of the connector, I put it back in as best I could with the new unit.