Daskuppler

Hello Everyone, This is not on a Subaru. I have a friend who drives a 2007 Suzuki SX4. While driving, he noticed a loud noise, flashing CEL, etc. I went over and took a look at it and found the coil pack blown apart, the terminal was blown out of the spark plug and sitting in the spark plug tube along with some coil pieces, the spark plug was loose and no longer threaded into the head, and the ground was cracked and smashed into the electrode. Once all of the pieces were removed from the spark plug tube, I removed the spark plug and saw that only the first couple threads were damaged (looked like maybe it was cross threaded and only turned a couple times). I saw no scarring on the piston head and no real sign of impact on the spark plug ground except for the fact that it was bent. There was also no thread material from the head on the spark plug and the threads on the head looked to be in good shape. I didn't have a tap with me to verify. There is no metallic sound when the car is running and the CEL was cylinder misfire 2, engine lean, and catalyst efficiency BS. All associated to the missing spark plug. My assumption is that the previous owner was an idiot and cross threaded the spark plug and it eventually gave up and was damaged from bouncing around. Could something else be going on? Or is this a simple fix of new plugs, boots and a coil pack?

If you have questions, let me know. It was.all.pretty straightforward. I was no able to get it out without discharging the AC system. Make sure.you have something handy to hold the steering column up, you don't want to pull the firewall grommet out. Also, the airbag module has to be removed and is a toex head. I'm not sure what size it is, I just used vice grips in the head since I didn't have the right size. The bolts aren't in super tight. If you don't have trim/panel tools, get some.

Is the radiator cap new and OEM? Maybe it's not quite holding pressure, gets hot, seals and cools back down? I had a similar issue with a bad water pump gasket though my issue impacted my cabin heat more than anything. Engine temp did fluctuate a little bit. Best I could tell is system was sealed when everything was expanded and then would suck air in when it cooled down. I didn't really have much of a coolant leak so I never had to add coolant.

It won't hurt anything by adding it but could have catastrophic impacts if the gas goes bad. I keep it in my motorcycle, old truck, and all my other small engines just in case. Shelf life of gasoline is generally 3-6 months. I use Seafoam. It's cheap and has worked fine. My truck sat for almost a year and started right up and ran just fine.

Hello everyone, If you have seen my threads lately, you know I'm hard on plastic. I've been trying to track down a clock bezel.for a 2002 Impreza. OEM was $105 without the clock which was discontinued. Ebay was about $90 for dirty and stained looking items, but they had a clock...then there was shipping. I hit up Google and found a delightful place by the name of Subie Recycler Inc. These guys had one in stock, in like new condition with a working clock for $25. They are local (for me) in Wheat Ridge, Colorado so I was able to pick it up. They had a surprisingly large warehouse with nothing but Subaru parts and great prices. Don't ask them for a '14 Forester seat though. They have almost nothing from that generation. Good people. Good prices. And they ship most parts nationwide. Inventory is available online or you can call/text. I have no affiliation with these guys, just a happy customer who is rarely happy with the service I receive these days.

That would be the piece. I don't know how you could ever remove it without breaking it or the dash around it

Thank you, it's not actually part of the gauge cluster, but I sent a PM anyway.

I finally got around to replacing the heater box. 7 hours later, everything seems fine. My heat is hotter than it was before and the AC is nice and cold. I did end up breaking the trim piece that holds the clock...Anyone know where I could pick one up? Ebay has them for about $90 including the clock (my clock doesn't work so that may not be a bad option). Anyone on here have a parts vehicle to sell from? I have a black dash.

The strut controls camber and this is really the only alignment spec you would be messing with. As long as you put both bolts in, the car is still drive able to the shop for an alignment. Good luck getting it all taken care of. A quality wheel bearing should last a long time so it shouldn't have to be done again. Make sure you do them in pairs unless there was an incident that caused an isolated failure.

On my 2002.impreza I just pull the knuckle and use a harbor freight bearing tool. I hit it with a sledge a few times after heating the knuckle and it pops out. Freeze the new bearing and it falls right in. Still a pain in the rump roast though.

OEM for most things, after market parts just suck anymore. Clutch you can run Exedy from the supplier of your choice. Have your flywheel resurfaced or just replace it. I doubt the engine has to come out to do this job, I didn't have to on my 2002. I'm not familiar with the 97 though. I would also suggest flushing the clutch fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and radiator. Did the car sit with gas in it? Was it stabilized? If not, drain the tank and flush the lines before starting the car. Fluids and such you can buy at an auto parts store or Wal-Mart. If you're in a state that Rock Auto will ship to they are usually a reliable source, just pay attention to the grade you are buying. Post questions when you know what parts you actually need.

Fair enough. Just have to check haha

What brand and style gasket did you use for the rebuild?

Plus one for the timing at this point. One cam doesn't quite line up, maybe half a tooth. It's very obvious if you push the cam the other way though. The driver side cam is under compression when set properly and can easily shift a little while you are getting the belt on and set.

Sounds like spark to me. Do you have spark on all 4 plugs? Is the ignition coil good? Wires? Etc I'm guessing timing is dead on, but I supposed being off a tooth might cause problems without destroying the engine again.

That's a valid point.

From my research, it seems.like a drain and fill is the recommended procedure and even what the dealership frequently does. It sounds like a special machine is required to flush the CVT and the wrong one will ruin it. Most failures seem to be the valve body, but who knows if that's a design thing or fluid related. I doubt it's fluid related as failures are all over the board mileage wise and it doesn't seem to be tied to poor maintenance. But again, there's not much official documentation. These things seem to run pretty clean since there's not many clutches, but they do still need a change and Subaru recommends every 30k for severe duty, which is pretty much daily driving if you live in a city. They don't specify if that's a drain and fill it flush though. Logic would say that draining 4.5 qts out of 13 and putting 4.5qts of fresh fluid back in leaves you with 13 qts of slightly less dirty fluid, but still dirty. Seems like you would have to do 4 or 5 drain and fills to have decent fluid again, which is a waste of fluid and time if it could just be flushed. I find these cars very frustrating with the lack of information. It seems like everything was just out together with the hopes that they were right, but the engineers don't really know how it works or why it fails...which is just ludicrous. Maybe this is all because they don't want people working in them at home...

Is it worth having the CVTs flushed periodically? Or is an annual drain and fill enough? 120k on my car and I've done a drain and fill annually for the last 4 years. Is a flush every 4 years better?

Thank you everyone for your input. I am think I'll just stick with new OEM axles. Doesn't seem like it's worth the headache to rebuild them and wait and see if I got everything right only to do in it again in the near future.

What grease do you use?

Yeah, it's a non turbo. I picked up new axles from the dealership today, they informed me they have stopped working with CVJ axles due to quality issues. I know they used to be highly recommended, but they seem to be having some problems.

Yeah, I noticed that buying for my bugeye. I was able to get some remanufactured ones from Subaru but they were still quite expensive. Are the rears prone to failure as well, or do they hold up pretty well since there's less travel and no steering knuckle movement? I can't say I have ever seen a rear CV axle replaced unless it was in a crash.

It's from both sides. Passenger side sounds like it's both litter and inner CV joints, driver side seems to be only the inner. Of course it is hard to hear exactly where it is when you're driving and it sounds just like traction control which is frequently going off given the snow and ice these days. I'll check car-part and see what they offer. I looked into RCV axles and the general consensus was you really don't want stronger axle because failure pushes from the axle to the hub or differential. I don't think strength is the issue here since nothing is really breaking. It seems to be a design issue, or maybe low quality grease/materials. RCV is also 4 times the price and doesn't make anything for Subaru. Oh how I long for the days of a reliable vehicle that was affordable to fix. This thing is just full of $1,000 bills.

The batteries are usually only good for 10 years, sometimes less. I had the same thing happen with a different vehicle. The tire shop never mentioned replacing them and the batteries started going right after I got new tires. It sucks have to pay for the remount and balance plus sensor cost when you just paid for it. The tire shop can check the battery for you and give you an idea before they do any work.

I have a 2002 Bugeye with 138k on it. It runs very well and we take care of it. We try to take care of the 2014 but it is getting rather expensive to keep it running and working properly. I know the automotive parts store CV axles aren't worth buying and obviously rebuilding isn't a good deal either. Are there aftermarket CV axles that ARE worth buying that are better than OEM? Maybe something from the rally world? Is this a side effect from taking the vehicle lightly off-road? I wouldn't think that some very low speed driving on uneven terrain would destroy a CV axle at stock height, but maybe they really can't handle any sort of wheel spin with the suspension flexed.