dirty_mech

Not off RockAuto? I checked eBay but it doesn't seem very easy to sorth trough. I see RockAuto, where I got the struts, has the whole assembly for a few bucks more. codswallop. It's a little late now. Nothing is actually wrong with the rear suspension as far as I can tell; I just replaced the front for whatever reason and decided it made sense to replace the back ones too. What's the deal with old springs? Do they loose strength over time?

I've got a 2000 Subaru Legacy with some KYB Excel-G shock absorbers I'm trying to put on the rear axle. After replacing the front struts, I figured the rear shocks would be a piece of cake. WRONG. The nut on the big bolt going through the lower eye hole of the shocks is as solid as any bolt I've ever had to crack. A local shop will do it for $150 but it's a point of pride for me to do it myself. Plus I already shelled out $60 for the spring compressor tool. I have not yet used a rattle gun or breaker bar on it yet because I'm trying to avoid removing the rear caliper, rotor, and backing plate which would be necessary to gain full access. Instead I'm using a box wrench and a 5lb sledge to attack the nut. 100+ impacts and it will not budge. I've tried soaking it in PB B'laster for 24 hours, with some extra right before an attempt. I've also heated it up with a propane torch for a good 60 seconds. No effect. I see two options: 1) Bust out the oxy-acetyline torch and get it glowing red before making another try. The gas tank being nearby makes me a little nervous to try this, but I guess there's not much real risk involved if done right. 2) Give up and remove the rotor components to allow for rattle gun and breaker bar attacks. It's possible both approaches will be necessary. Does anyone with experience have any suggestion on how to proceed? Should I plan on having to replace the bolts? All advice is much appreciated.

Here is the latest alignment reading: Now clearly my rear right tire is out pretty bad. This is the tire that got t-boned by a mini van at low speed, pushing my car sideways a few feet. That impact must have bent the struts or a related component (probably the struts). So I am planning to replace the rear struts now too. I am wondering, though, if there is any way I can avoid another alignment job after I replace the rear struts? Would save me $60. Perhaps there's a chance that replacing the struts will fix the camber all by itself? Is there a home method I can use to check the camber? I am considering not buying the strut mounts for the rear, seeing as how they don't contain bearings. The bearings on the front mounts were a little rough compared to the replacement ones, so I'm glad I did those.

Well that explains how my tires wore so fast. That's my suspension lesson for the year. And yeah I do carry heavy loads often so maybe that is a reason I should get the rear shocks replaced. I will do that next time prior to getting the alignment done. Just no time for it now. This time, I will get the alignment done and upload the results, so we can see if replacing the front struts has made much of a difference.

forester2002s: Thanks for the info. That would have been nice to have known before getting into this job. Its not mentioned in my Chilton manual (since it's claimed to be "not serviceable" lmao. I looked online and saw a guy take one apart with a rattle gun. So I took my electric rattle gun and a pair of vise grips and a bath towel. I folded the bath towel over itself twice, pulled down the strut bellows, wrapped the towel around the strut piston, and clamped the vise grips over the towel and strut piston. Then I hit it with the rattle gun and it came apart like cake, and no visible damage to the strut piston. I've got one done on the driver's side; will do the other one tomorrow morning and bring it straight to an alignment shop, as I must go on a roadtrip soon. Total pain to do but I learned something. I also found out what screwed up my alignment after something occurred to me recently. I checked the alignment dates and my maintenance log, and saw I replaced the halfshafts in November. I remember that when I did this, rather than disconnecting the steering knuckle from the control arm (as Chilton instructs), for some reason I disconnected the steering knuckle from the strut tower. Everyone has told me I need to do the alignment when replacing the struts, so the struts-to-knuckles connection must mess with the alignment. So I may have done it to myself when I replaced the halfshafts that way, and burned out a set of tires. it certainly accounts for the messed up alignment. But it doesn't account for the alignment shop mechanic from May 2015, that told me my car had pull to one side because my Nexen tires were of poor quality and had begun to wear unevenly. So it may have been a combination of bad struts and messing up my alignment. Either way, I expect to be officially done with this problem by the end of the day tomorrow, provided disconnecting the control arms to replace my steering rack bellows next week doesn't screw up the alignment once more.

I ended up getting the strut mounts. The rubber on the old ones looks compressed and worn. HOWEVER, I am having a hell of a time unlocking the nut which holds on the strut mounts. I first managed to compress the spring to the point that its loose, but the whole damn top - strut mount and top half of the strut, freaking rotate as I try to ratchet the bolt off. On top of that, the Chilton manual for my car says these struts are "not serviceable". What!? I see there is a hole in the strut tower for an allen wrench key, but i don't see how you could have a grip on the nut and operate the allen wrench hole in the strut shank at the same time. What is the secret to solving this problem? I'm stuck until I figure it out.

Fairtax4me: It was towards the drivers side, although it was not a side collision. It may have been at a slight angle, but was closer to head-on than 90 degrees. DaveT: Thanks for the illuminating story. I also think there could be some hard-to-observe damage to the struts. Now I know how costly a front ender can be. So I went to a professional suspension and frame shop to get a second opinion, and sure enough I don't need to replace any of the bushings or the ball joints; it just needs a new set of struts and the alignment is WAY way off, according to the mechanic. He pointed his hands down and flicked them outwards to demonstrate the position of the tires. It sounds like the camber is way out. Maybe those aftermarket bolts stretched a lot? Not sure what the hell happened, but I am now in the market for some struts and an alignment job. The shop also said to replace the strut tower bearings, as they should always be replaced with the struts. I may just buy whole assemblies to save time, given that. I'm also about to go on a 500 mile road trip, and want to get the struts installed an alignment fixed before that, so am looking to do this within a few days. Update: I've ordered Munroe struts and strut mounts (the bearings are apparently integrated into the mounts) from my local Fast Undercar. At $75 each and $40 each respectively, the total is $230 total plus tax for the parts. I'll be picking them up today in a few hours at 3pm. I'm hoping to have time to change them out today and get the alignment done tomorrow morning at my tire shop. Tire shop quoted me $90 per strut to install, so I think I'll get the loaner tool and save myself that amount. SO! What do you guys think about the frame shop saying I should just go ahead and replace my strut bearings (including the mounts). Does that sound like a good idea or a waste of parts? Should I check my strut mounts first before paying to replace them? Given that the strut mount appears to be a ball bearing cartridge floating in rubber, and both are surely 15+ years old, it might not be such a bad idea. Also, I'm going to get a set of rack boots, either Mevotech or Moog, and am wondering if they will come with the fasteners/clamps/whatever I need to install them... Guess I will find out once they show up. PartsTrain actually beats out RockAuto's price for the Mevotech boots, $25 vs $28 OTD.

Fairtax4me: Done and done. I actually have FOUR alignment papers. Here is the Imgur link: http://imgur.com/a/7AdV1 The first is when I got my previous tires installed; that was when the mechanic noticed he couldn't get the alignment perfect, probably due to the front end collision, and recommended I get extended camber bolts installed. The second is after the camber bolts were installed. The third is after the car was driven around for a while and brought in for readjustment; this was recommended by the mechanic so the bolts could have an opportunity to "stretch" and be better adjusted. The fourth was after I noticed the car was dragging to the right. I thought it was due to a recent low-speed collision someone had with my rear axle, but it turned out to be due to the uneven tire wear. This was the shop that thought I had poor quality tires. My alignment and tire shop, the shop that did the first three adjustments, finally suggested it was due to damaged suspension components. Can you tell anything from these printouts? grossgary: Thank you for alerting me to the possibility that the control arms are damaged. I will focus my efforts on them and the struts, and avoid the Subaru specialists as you say. I will look for a shop that advertises its expertise in suspension and damage repair. Will still be trying to do this job myself once i've gotten a diagnosis, it shouldn't be hard. I'll see if having someone else do the spring compression is economical.

grossgary: Every single valve was bent, but I don't think they were all bent uniformly. Some were sticking out of their seats, while others were barely unseated at all, and the damage had to be revealed through the light leak test using a flashlight at the intake port. I inspected the valve seats for damage or warp as best I could. They seemed fine to the naked eye, but I did consider the possibility the seats became misaligned when the valves were bent. Given that almost all the valves were bent quite badly, I'm surprised that more of the valve seats did not give me trouble. I also noticed the cylinder closest to the driver's seat has had oil leaking through the compression rings, which explains why I have to add a bit of oil every thousand miles or so.

Because... I'm an idiot? Now that I'm looking online, I see them all over for about $100 a piece, listed as "cores" but probably just as good as mine were prior to the timing belt breaking. I had thought of getting them in a junk yard, but pulling heads is such a time suck and junk yard rats swarm on Subaru engines like piranhas around here, so I figured the best bet was to just use the old ones. Ahh lovely hindsight. Guess I will try it that way the next time it happens. =D As for machining, I considered having a shop do the heads, but it would have added an extra $600 to the job and this Subaru is just a work vehicle that's about two dents away from being a trashwagon anyway, so I figured I'd sacrifice perfection for savings.

Wow guys... I was expecting anything between crickets and a couple replies, but this place is a vertiable clubhouse. Thank you for all the responses and advice. Here are replies to everyone: Keith3267: Now that's some valuable advice. I think you might be right. This shop was a back alley pop and son outfit I heard about from my tire store. They were professional for what they were, but this seems like a problem complex enough to ask a Subaru-specific technician to diagnose. I'm going to go to a technician like that with the other guy's diagnosis, the old alignment printouts, and explain the issue with the inner tracks of the front tires wearing too soon. That should be enough to be certain of what is going on. Imdew: Thanks for answering my alignment question, and the junkyard idea! There are a couple Pick N Pulls nearby; I will see about those places. I'm somewhat hesitant about installing used struts that could be a decade-plus old, but it's always possible I could come across a car that had them replaced. I presume that's what you mean. Bushwick: I think I have to do it myself. This car is worth only about 3,000. It's not economical to pay 1400 on parts and labor to fix it. Noted on Munroe and Rockauto. I will seek parts there when I am 100% sure what is up with my car. I've got ball joint pullers and breaker bars, just need the spring compressor. I will try doing the steering boots myself, unless my alignment guy at the tire shop wants to do them for cheap. Fairtax4me: Yes, twice! I have two sets of alignment printouts from two different shops, each with the before and after readings. I'm going to take these to the Subaru technician I ask for a second opinion so he can look at them along with the other guy's diagnosis. This problem destroyed the tires that came with this car when I bought it used, plus a replacement set I bought a year ago. I don't want it to destroy my latest set. Rooster2: The technician recommended struts but didn't say anything about the control arms, although that's certainly possible. I'm hoping a pro Subaru guy will know for sure. Noted on the ball joints and front end alignment. I will ask the technician to double check that diagnosis. whynot: Agreed on all points, although this shop seemed to be listing the same prices that Subaru lists on their website, so I give them credit for that. Definitely want to avoid doing this job again, as well as burning though another set of tires in 10,000 miles!

This thread is a continuation of a problem stemming from a front-end collision I previously wrote about here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/147562-replacing-the-camber-bolts-during-an-alignment-after-a-frontal-collision-necessary/?hl=%2Balignment+%2Baftermarket+%2Bbolts So it turns out you guys were right; my suspension parts are damaged. I learned this after a screw got stuck in the corner edge of one of my tires, causing a slow air leak. It was outside the area of the steel belts, which rendered it unrepairable. This also led to me noticing heavy tread wear on the inside track of my two front tires, even though they have only 10k miles on them. The previous alignment shop suggested I had a poor quality tire brand. This led me to replace the old tires with some high end ones. I described the issue to the tire shop, and explained the prior front end collision. The tire shop thought my previous tires were of reasonable quality, ans said that damaged suspension parts could be the culprit. So I took it to a shop and they found suspension parts which are likely bad, including the struts as previously mentioned by a poster. Here is the work estimate with parts they gave me: This car is worth about $3000, so a $1,400 repair job is too rich for my blood. So I am considering doing the job myself with aftermarket parts from Autozone and/or Parts Train: Both Struts ($325 from Subaru) Partstrain - $175 (Monroe OESpectrum) Autozone - $275 (Sachs or KYB) or $205 (Gabriel Ultra) or $105 (SenSen) 2x Ball Joints:($90 from Subaru) PartsTrain - $65 (Moog) or $50 (Beck Arnley) or $20 ("Replacement" Brand) Autozone - $45 (Valucraft) 2x Inner Transverse Link Bushings ($115 from Subaru) PartsTrain - $45 (OES Genuine) 2x TLBs with Mounting Brackets ($235 from Subaru) Partstrain - $110 (Whiteline) Steering Rack Boots ($80 from Subaru) Partstrain - $20 (Mevotech) or $45 (AC Delco) My three (3) questions are these: 1) Is there any particular part I should definitely get OEM from Subaru, or may I proceed with all aftermarket parts? Brand or merchant suggestions are appreciated. 2) Is there any reason I should not attempt to replace these parts myself? I see the repair manual indicates I will need two special tools: a. A strut spring compressor. I plan to use Autozone tool # 27036 for this. b. A two-jaw puller and/or pickle fork for the ball joint. I have both these tools. 3) Do I need to have my alignment re-done after the new parts are installed? The mechanic checked my car up in the air with a broomstick-sized caliper, apparently checking the squareness of the suspension parts at certain points across the chassis and at the control arms. Perhaps this was to test part of the suspension's alignment. So it seems like I might need to have the alignment re-done by a shop if new suspension parts are installed.

It's been a while but I wanted to give a conclusion to this story. I tried some different lapping compound with coarse and fine grades; it didn't seem to improve the valve-seat seals by much. However, I put the engine back together and it seems to be a working fine. The audible pitch of the engine is a bit lower on startup, likely due to uneven cylinder compression at low RPMs. However this goes away once the engine is warmed up, and doesn't occur at all at high RPMs. There is no noticeable difference in engine performance now than compared to before the timing belt snapped and bent the old valves. So all in all, it was a successful fix! I have been back on the road for six months and am doing fine. These engines can be resurrected after valves get bent.

The seals were replaced, but I could see the guides getting pressure applied and tweaked in the bend. The direction of the bend should be predictably towards the vertical line of the length of the cylinder head based on how the valves would all contact the piston crowns. 1. Any way to detect? I tried looking for wobble on the valve face while rotating. At first they looked wobbly, but then I noticed the valve faces are not perfectly even either, so that made it difficult to say. All new valves went into the guides smoothly during installation, appeared square with the seats, and passed the light leak test in full dark with flashlight at ports. So it doesnt seem like these stems were bent by a very substantial angle. 2. Any way to fix? Earlier I considered valve stem bend and tried compensating for the potential of micro-bent stems by marking a point on the valve face radius and tried lapping it within an 180-degree twist. Obviously that didn't work. Is there any possibility of knocking them back into place with a rubber mallet and rod, or some other method? They look built into the block so not sure if replaceable.

This is a continuation of my timing belt saga from this post: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/154617-2000-legacy-ej25-timing-belt-broke-on-highway-seeking-opinions/ I followed the advice of the posters and tried installing a fresh timing belt kit, which revealed that the threads for one of the idler pulleys were toasts. After a successful thread repair job with a Time-Sert kit, I did a compression test which revealed zero compression in all cylinders. As it turned out, nearly every valve in the engine was bent, but there was no other visible damage beyond the bent valves, broken timing belt, and the busted idler pulley threads. After fixing the idler pulley threads, I removed, disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the cylinder heads with new valves. I lapped all the valves with Permatex valve grinding compound and some lapping sticks. I am in theory ready to reinstall them into the car. However, I'm having trouble getting all the new valves to seal. It's not entirely suprising since I did not have the cylinder heads machined and opted to do the work myself. However the engine had no problems prior to the timing belt failure and I figured the valve seats were not damaged with the valves, so why bother paying $300 a head for machining when there's no major damage to the heads beyond the valves? All valves passed the light test, so I went to the passive water pressure test to ensure the valves were completely sealed. I set the cylinder heads so that the intake / exhaust manifold ports on the heads face up, and then pouring water into the ports and waiting to see if any leaks through. I was able to eliminate some leaks I found by doing extra lapping to the valves. Currently, about 8 valves are completely watertight, 6 leak a drop of water about every 30 second to 1 minute, and 2 of the valves leak a drop of water about every 10 seconds. It's these two valves that I'm particularly worried about. I know valves don't have to be perfect to make the engine work, but I don't want to have issues with rough idling or backfiring, and possibly have to pull the heads off again after this whole ordeal. Is this fear merited? Should I worry about that amount of leakage? No matter how much I lap these valves, the leaking did not stop. All valve seats and seating surfaces have smooth, even surfaces. On this basis, the valves appear to be making full and even contact with the seats. So I don't know what is the problem. Perhaps the seats are no good and need to be ground? Perhaps the aftermarket valves have micro-bends in the stem and are not perfectly square? The cause is unclear. So I'm here looking for advice on what I should do to make the valve seal better. Here are some ideas that come to mind, but I'm not sure if they would help: - Try a different lapping compound? Most lapping kits have coarse and fine lapping compound, but this Permatex stuff is a one size fits all. Comments by Youtube mechanic Jafromobile suggest this might help me make a better seal: - Lapping Technique. What is the best way to rotate the lapping stick? Should I use multiple rotations, or keep my rotation within an 180-degree area? I don't see much guidance on this issue in the forums or online; Jafro's video suggests you should spin the stick between your flat hands as if you were trying to start a fire. Beyond that I'm not sure if there is much that can be done. - Additional Measures. Not sure what could be done beyond either additional lapping, or taking it to a machine shop. Perhaps someone has some ideas or experience that would be useful on this point. - Install As-Is. Perhaps the amount of leakage is not enough to warrant concern? I don't need this car for racing, just daily utility. Any advice is much appreciated!

I've got a 2000 Legacy L Wagon with about 155k miles on it. The previous owner supposedly replaced the engine at 140k with a 17k motor, so in theory the motor should have had barely over 30k on it. The auto shop receipt and general exterior appearance of the engine supported this description, so I took it at face value and assumed things like the timing belt and clutch were either replaced during the swap or in reasonable enough condiiton to keep running them until a later maintenance date. Bad idea. Should have not trusted the description of the previous owner, and I should have removed the right-hand timing belt cover and taken a look at its condition. It snapped on the freeway while in the care of a friend and now I've got a big project on my hands when I get back home. Let this be a warning to anyone who might be as careless as I was... interference engines with rubber timing belts are nothing to take for granted. I've searched the forum and found related and somewhat useful information in these threads: A. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/148674-ej25-timing-belt-broke-need-some-options/ B. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/142036-2003-baja-snapped-a-timing-belt/ Right now I am looking for any useful information or advice for my upcoming project. I've previously had the luck of resurrecting one of the infamous Dodge Intrepid 2.7L engines that merely bent several of its valves and superficailly scored the piston heads after its chain tensioner failed under similar conditions. The project was a nightmare but the engine was saved. I'm hoping I can do the same thing with this engine. My questions: 1. Is it realistic to try and save the engine by removing the heads and replacing the presumably bent valves? Or... is it likely that substantial damage occurred to the heads when the belt broke at freeway speed, and I should plan to replace the heads or the whole engine? 2. If the answer to Q#1 is favorable, I am presuming that I will need most or all engine valves, a head gasket kit, new water pump, idler pulley, timing belt, and belt covers for this project. Does anyone recommend any additional parts, or have any other opinion on these parts? 3. Any recommendations on where to buy parts for this project? I've got online sites, Autozone, O'Reilly, Napa, Pep Boys, etc. available as potential sources here on the West Coast. Thanks in advance for all input. I will update this thread, including with photos, once I start tearing into the project.

Hey all. 2000 legacy 150k M/T here. It was in a front collision and the camber got screwed up badly, resulting in the destruction of both front tires. So I got new tires and brought them to a wheel shop. They did the alignment and installed the tires for $50 and $30 respectively. However, the mechanic on deck informed me that they couldn't quite get the camber into the right range (probably due to the impact) and he recommended replacing the camber bolts with some aftermarket ones. So today I got 2 on the quick for about $45 OTD at O'Reilly's (brand: Moog) and paid the wheel shop another $40 to install the camber bolts and correct the camber. However, the mechanic on deck told me that the bolts had not quite solved the problem, and that the car should be driven around for a couple days and brought back for further adjustment (at no charge). So here's my question to the forum: Was this the proper course of action or no? What (if anything) could be causing my camber to be difficult to adjust? Edit: To clarify, the first time the alignment was done at the wheel shop, the mechanic told me that the camber was close, but not in parameters. The consensus seemed to be that I should check the tires for uneven wear after a week or so. I did this, and found that the new-tire nubs on both sides were more worn on the inner track of the tread, rather than even (as I assume they should be?). Cheers

I've got a 2000 Legacy, 150k M/T, and the air recirculation motor was making a loud click-click-click sound recently, so I tore into the car trying to find it. RIght now the glove box, blower motor, and center console cover are out. I see the flap actuator, but it's on the blower motor housing, pushed up against the passenger-side area near the fender. I can't really get to it very well, and the housing seems to be fused to the heater core. My Haynes manual says that I must drain the coolant, remove the dash, the instrument panel, and the support bar under the dash before I can remove the heater core / blower motor housing. It's a hell of a job, and now the bloody actuator isn't even making the click sound anymore (no blown fuse, not in defrost mode). I presume that, at this point, I need to change out the actuator. My question: Do I really need to do all this to fix this problem? I've found people reporting similar issues with the recirculation flap/actuator, though I can't find that particular post now. Does anyone have experience with this issue?