jarl

Je je... I know, believe me. The thing is my brothers wanted to visit me (in MI), but want to drive along the Mississippi, and they invited me to go along. I just traveled a couple of days in advance to see if there was a car that would save us the rental. So, it's either buying something or pouring those $800 down the drain and investing some money on the '99 (it needs struts, a new windshield and other niceties). I love my OBW (and my wife likes it even more... she really wanted another OBW) but I know it's money that will never be recovered in any shape or form, so buying another soobie was very enticing. I guess I'll have to look into a Jetta wagon :-\ or something like that. I learned my lesson about Florida cars as a whole, and Florida "private dealers" as well (hint: there seems to be none, and most of the cars have a grim history behind them). Next time I'll convince my brothers to go to Oregon or Colorado

Thank for the prompt answer.... I agree it's overpriced. Still, the question is how much should I expect to pay for a car in similar conditions. It looks like finding a decent Subaru down here is impossible. Actually, finding *any* decent car down here (for a decent amount of money) is impossible. (Here's the carfax, btw) Right now my options are limited because of the short time I have before driving north, and if I don't buy something I'll have to give $800 to a car rental, and I'd rather put that money in a car instead of giving it to them. According to Edmunds that car (in "average" condition) should be $3200. Is that realistic? Including title and registration, maybe $3500? (Btw: I though the one of the codes was P0104, but I remember it was something to do with the front O2 sensor)

...for a 2001 Legacy GT? I'm in Ft Lauderdale, about to start a trip of some 2k miles (Thursday)... and I don't have a car yet. I'd like to avoid renting a car ($800 or so) and it would be a good opportunity to replace my '99 OBW, which needs some maintenance. But so far I have not seen a soobie worth of being bought. Enter a dark green '01 Legacy GT sedan Limited, automatic, with 145 k or so on the odometer. The thing is, the car is far from perfect, and I don't know if the pricing is fair. The carfax shows 3 crashes, but the title is clean and the only trace of a problem is a slight misalignment of the hood. There's just a tad of paint bubbling in the rear wheel well (the car was in CT until '09), an some cosmetic damage on the interior (glossy part of the wood trim peeling off because of the sun/heat). The real issues that worry me are: - there is torque bind - check engine light on, codes P0304 and P104 - leak at the last junction of the exhaust, behind the rear axle - the rear end of the sunroof doesn't close flush with the roof, but maybe a tad less than 1/4" lower. - the all too familiar smell if the engine oil evaporating on the exhaust was present The car is being sold by a Volvo dealer, which obviously don't have a clue about the car, and the list price was $5k. The last offer I heard today was $4.4k title in hand. I'm very tempted, and it would save me renting a car to drive home to MI. But how much is the car worth by itself? How much is it to fix the torque bind? The rest of the stuff is probably not critical, but a bargaining chip I would really appreciate some input. Thanks! Edit: I have the carfax for it, if it helps. The file is too big to put it here, though...

Don't! That's the self-destroy thingy!

Where those frontal impacts? Did you (or the shop that did the repairs) check the alignment, if only to make sure it wasn't out of whack? If the impact on the OP's baja was strong enough to bend the structure of the car then there should be an alignment report somewhere. If it wasn't strong enough, then it should not be a big deal at all. In any case, I would go and check the car. Maybe the impact was not as bad...

Well... I don't think I can't add a signature here, so I gave the important information on my picture '99 OBW w/ EJ22, except it's now closer to 167K miles. Transmission is automatic. The car tracks correctly and there isn't any torque bind. You can make tight U-turns all day without issue. The last alignment was probably in a previous reincarnation, though :/ CNY_*: I don't feel any play in the steering wheel, it's just the sensation of the rear of the car sliding somewhat when turning. Is the rear subframe mounted on bushings of some sort?

It may not be that bad (depending on how they fixed it). If they have all the paperwork -including an alignment report- you may use the car history to your advantage

Right front impact with another vehicle in May 2007, and the registration renewal for 2010 doesn't show up: it goes from 12/03/08, to 04/28/2009, to 12/29/2009 (???) to 04/21/2011. You may want to ask why.

Hello folks I have a problem with my car, but I don't even know how to describe it I have noticed that -even at low speeds- there's some "delay" between a movement of the steering wheel and the "reaction" of the back of the car. (the front seems to react immediately, like it should). It's like the car rear tires are flat -which are not-, or like a car with a rear live axle that is not well supported, or with a broken Panhard bar... which this car doesn't have. If I -for example- move the steering wheel abruptly to the left, I would expect the car to turn almost immediately. Instead, there seems to be a slight delay before the rear of the car "follows". Is it possible/common for *something* to get worn in the rear of the car that may produce this movement? The other alternative is something worn in the steering system, but it would have to be something that involves both tires -I think-. Ideas?

Most probably the new firmware doesn't overwrite a memory area, or some parameters are stored outside whatever IC they flash. It would be extremely fun to do some reverse engineering

Get the money, buy a door and some stocks in a good company. Then drive the car to the ground.

Français? Pas de problème Even if the pulley driving the accessories is wobbly, it doesn't mean the timing pulley is wobbly as well. If they argued to have fixed the problem -and charged you doing so- they should at least try to diagnose it. They have the means to measure all the parameters being fed to the ECU, if that's what they say is the problem. Can you borrow an igniter from someone/somewhere to see if that cures the problem?

I'm sorry if I'm misreading something. You are saying you paid these people $1600, and they returned the car essentially in the same shape as before? For that kind of money you could almost buy a remanufactured engine with a warranty... What do the receipt says they did?

The EJ22 I bought for my OBW sat somewhere for 6 years. Letting it run for a while quieted the valves completely. Don't get me wrong... I would have preferred to service the HLAs and purge them before closing everything up, but letting it run like that didn't have ill effects that I can tell.

Point taken. Both of them

If you really want info about those specific cars you may want to check nasioc. That being said, the idea of buying a pre-abused WRX/STi is kind of scary, unless you get it for a very good price and you understand you'll be fixing all the previous owner's screwups...

Well... it's only a problem if you can't fix it If you are seeing exhaust bubbles on the expansion tank, then there's a good chance your HG are already shot. There are some test strips you can use to confirm what's going on with your coolant. Until you find out be extremely careful... these engines (EJ25D) don't take too well being overheated.

As mentioned before, but maybe not stressed enough: make sure the PERIMETER of your tires are all within 1/4"

The miss may be a red herring... specially if the OP was running aftermarket wires. In any case, it's a cheap intervention that *may* fix the main issue (poor performance)

How come nobody has mentioned the knock sensor? Even if there are no codes, a bad knock sensor can make your car run like crap. AFAIK, one of the symptoms is the engine has no stamina below 2500 RPM. It's worth checking. PD: when you decide to junk it, let me know. I'll give you $50 more than the junkyard

Which year is your car? That filler tube doesn't look like the ones I have seen...

(bump) One more point to the statistics: '99 OBW running a '95 EJ22 out of an Impreza with no codes related to the knock sensor, but running like crap. SERIOUSLY underpowered at low RPMS (bad enough you may consider turning off the A/C if you need to join the interstate). After 2500 RPM the car has somewhat decent acceleration. The knock sensor looked fine but after removing it I found it had a crack on it's side (see picture). It may be a placebo effect, but it *looks* like I may have gained a few HP after replacing the knock sensor with a Beck Arnley unit

Presslab: interesting reading... goes straight to my tech doc "library" There is a very good chance, however, that the resonant points/etc. were not the main issues when the position of the knock sensor was determined (what happens if the optimal position ends up being right under the intake manifold, as it probably is?). Replacing some components (i.e. gaskets), the tension on the bolts, etc. have some impact in the resonant frequencies of the engine block, and as such there's got to be some flexibility in the whole design, including the location of the sensor. It would be very nice to see an oscilloscope reading of pinging as seen from a sensor placed on either position, but I think whatever damping there might be between the two locations is probably not enough to reduce the amplitude in a meaningful way (i.e. compared to an old sensor mounted with a corroded bolt). The short of it: if you can put the sensor back where it should go, by all means do it. If you can't, don't sweat it too much

Isn't the knock sensor supposed to detect detonation on ANY cylinder? If so, the distance to the cylinders is not that critical (two of the cylinders are relatively far from the sensor), and using the alternate mounting hole should not be a biggie.

Oh my... Let's buy some stock on Dremel...