gbhrps

WisSubaru, You may get lucky and the bearing will last the life of the car, or it may get progressively worse, seize and blow the rod through the block. Its a shame its happened to you at such low mileage. It really comes down to how are the finances, when were you going to trade next, how much you can live without the car if it dies, how concerned you are about the issue, etc.? Myself, I'm just officially a senior citizen, have 5 other vehicles I can drive instead, and do all of my own mechanics. I'd be inclined to let it ride and find out if its going to be an issue. But I wouldn't be taking it on a cruise across the country far away from home. Good Luck!

ron2368, Your car is 24 years old, and if you haven't been flushing out the brake fluid every 4 years, as suggested in the maintenance schedule, I suspect that your caliper pistons are seizing in their bores. Its either time to replace the calipers, or to pop out the pistons and clean them and the caliper bores with fine steel wool (0000 is the fine equivalent) and fresh brake fluid. Water gets into the brake fluid over time and will lay in the lower part of the piston bore. It will corrode the bore and the piston, causing the sticking pistons that won't release. If the corrosion is removed, AND ... the pistons and the bores are not pitted .... you can flush them with fresh brake fluid, and reinstall the pistons, if the dirt seal and the piston seals are in good shape. There are numerous videos on YouTube on this procedure, and even a few that show how to use an air gun to blow the dust seal open and simply push the piston back into the caliper after the clean up job. If you have any doubts about doing it yourself, replace the calipers. That said, its also possible that your rubber flex hoses have collapsed, and will allow brake fluid into the calipers under pressure from the Master Cylinder, but won't allow fluid to release back out when you take your foot off the brake pedal, because its not under pressure. Check those rear flex hoses as well. You have some checking to do. Good Luck!

ST1100, You are on the right track. There should be enough OBW LTD's and LL Beans from that generation (2000 - 2004) for you to find a replacement seat that will be a direct bolt in, after connecting the seat heater, air bag and power seat wiring connectors. I wouldn't get into trying to fix yours if you've never done anything like it before. Myself (been wrenching on cars for 45 years), I'd tackle it. Even if you find a good seat, but its the incorrect colour, you can change your leather surfaces onto the new replacement, or have an auto upho;sterer do it for you. Trying to get specific parts to fix just that section of the power seat will be almost impossible, and extremely expensive even if you could. Find a replacement seat in decent shape, and if its the wrong colour, put your leather covers on it. There are YouTube videos on how to do the job if you tackle it yourself. Good Luck!

gator1, I've wrenched on my own vehicles for 45 years, and I'm on my 4th subie OBW LTD. I have never changed a rotor on any subie I've owned, but have had to replace brake pads on each, and have done brake system flushes every 4 years (some manufacturers want it done every two years). The stealership you described is just as you stated, a stealership. What a bunch of cr**. The master cylinder will most likely not fail in 15 years of driving. I've owned a pile of cars since 1967 and have only ever had one go bad, and that was 16 years ago. Its like going through a Tim Horton's drive through, where they try to upsell you on the breakfast sandwich when you just ordered a coffee. It was BS. As for a brake backup system, no, that backup only works when one of the brake lines springs a leak, or a brake hose. In that case you will still have two wheels that will brake. If the MC dies .... then you will only have the emergency brake on the two rear wheels.

Mary32, I agree.

Bryan413, That's the top leather skin layer peeling off, from a bad leather batch. Warranty issue on a less than 3 year old car.

gravitate, Had the exact same issue on a Toyota Cressida (1982?) years ago, and it turned out to be bad valve stem seals. They were allowing oil into the cylinders overnight, and it burned off immediately after startup for 10 seconds or so. That was a straight 6 back them. Not certain if a boxer would do the same?

Bryan413, First, no Subaru sold in North America has headlight washers, so a large part of the members of this forum will draw a blank stare to your problem. Headlight washers aren't a USA or Canadian option. That said, I would venture a guess that the high temperatures that you experience in the Philippines take a toll on the plastics that are exposed to the direct sunlight, as those nozzles probably were. The only other explanation would be substandard parts from the plastics supplier, and for that you'll need to take your concerns to Subaru's corporate offices in the Philippines. Sorry, but don't I don't think we can be of much help on this issue! BTW, its good to hear that Subaru and this forum have fans and followers in the Philippines!

ThosL, Check the master cylinder for CLEAR brake fluid. If its dark coloured it needs to be flushed out of the entire system. The old dark fluid will have water in it that can seize the pistons in the calipers. Use a turkey baster to remove the old fluid from the MC, fill with new DOT3 brake fluid and then see some YouTube videos on Brake Bleeding each caliper to remove the rest of the old fluid and flush in the new. Its not difficult at all. Good Luck!

Anthenium, Had an 04 that I pulled the entire sunroof assembly out of to replace the front lift mechanism. The job isn't hard, just takes time. The only non standard tool required is a Torx 55 bit for the top anchor bolts for the front seat belts (needs to come out in order to pull off the B pillar molding.) Everything on the headliner comes off, pull all of the ceiling plugs you find in the rear, pull the door weatherstripping down to about half way down the doors (no need to go any further than that) A, B, C and D pillars, moldings around the rear tailgate opening, and the moldings around each sunroof opening. Keep your hands clean! Any dirt that gets on the headliner knap will clean off, but will show the marks after its reinstalled. Remove all headrests. Pull the plastic covers off the two scissor lift mechanisms for the front sunroof, and remove the two nuts/bolts under each one. Push the front sunroof up at its rear and capture any shims you find at the scissor lift fasteners (they have to go back in the same locations later.) That front sunroof can just stay where it is, no need to remove it further. From the top of the roof, reach down into the metal structure between the front and rear sunroofs. There are 3 or 4 oblong/rectangular very flat plastic plugs that the center of can be pried up, and then the entire plug comes out. I seem to recall that on the top of the headliner in spots around the sunroof openings, there are patches of velcro that help hold the headliner in place. Obviously pry/pull those areas down at the very last, then the entire headliner goes out the back of the car. After disconnecting the sunroof switch and motor wiring connectors, there will be 6 drain tubes to disconnect from the sunroof drain channels, and 12 to 14 10 mm nuts to remove that hold the entire sunroof assembly to the roof structure, and then everything goes out the rear in one assembly. Fix your sunshade, and take the time to clean out all of your drain tubes. Upon reassembly be certain that the drain tubes are properly held on each drain channel spout. You might want to silicone them on, or use small alligator clamps. After your fix of the shade, you can use a separate 12 volt source to power the sunroof open and closed to test the shade before you do the reinstall. Good Luck!

Gentlemen, We can't assume that this issue was a fault of Subaru. A lot of the parts of Subies are manufactured in Japan and Mexico. It highly possible that the part in question was made by a parts supplier who screwed up, and not the parent company. No company that makes a product with 35 000 parts can have a 100% reliability all of the time, when the suppliers let you down. Take the recent air bag defects that Takata caused for Honda and other manufacturers. Consumer reports lists Subaru as one of the most reliable makes sold in North America, and has for several years. When Subaru falls from their list of best buys, then maybe its time to do some criticizing and jump ship. Then you could buy, say a Chrysler or a Jeep, who both happen to be the worst reliable vehicles on the road. Do a Google search for "The Best used cars to buy", and then for "The 25 Worst Used car Buys", and then try the same searches through Consumer Reports. Its eye opening to say the least.

foxgap, I've wrenched on a lot of cars in 55 years, taken apart a lot of doors, window glass and door handles, and I'll bet it'll take you longer to drill the door panel, enlargen it and rust proof the raw edges, than it will to remove and swing the glass out of the way and possibly move the window channel out of the way.

bosango, Its possible the the TPS failure is at a position on its arc of travel that doesn't allow sufficient fuel to be injected to enable a start. But before you buy a new TPS, I would get a good mechanic to diagnose whether this indeed is the issue, or just a bad connector or bad harness. There is no sense throwing money at an issue if that doesn't solve the problem. Good Luck!

OldSubaru1, Yes, one lit bulb will totally drain a car battery in a couple of days. You have a parasitic drain somewhere, most likely a door switch or an interior light. Get it fixed, charge the battery up, and you're good to go.

Crossover7, Welcome to the forum! I've been lurking here for several years, and you are the first, to my knowledge, that anyone from Japan has posted a message. So it shouldn't be a surprise that you aren't finding any action for the two models you listed, as I'm sure no one here has ever heard of them before, let alone seen one. The same could be said for the diesel powered OutBack that isn't sold in the North American market, but is in Australia and some parts of Europe I believe.

tbolt1003, I don't have the shop manual on your car so I can't verify whether there is an "O ring" at that location, but it makes sense that there is, based on many other cars that I've worked on. That said, pull out the dip stick and then see if you can move and remove the section of the tube you're referring to. If indeed there is an O ring there, just take the old one to any car parts supplier and get a replacement. They have boxes of O rings in all sizes for all kinds of applications, and can give you a replacement in a heart beat, where the dealership may take a day or two.

patsusedparts, There are many YouTube videos on changing the timing belt and related parts while the engine is in the car. Some of them are VERY well done and are a great guide. Personally I have changed out the spark plugs on my Subies in the past, and I see no reason why the valve covers can't be done as well while the engine is in the car. There is room. Two OBW's ago, the dealership put new headgaskets on my 2004 wagon while I waited in their service department. It took almost 5 hours, but they didn't pull the engine.

Subywyo, Possibly, since they have to take part of the console apart to remove the tranny shift mechanism when they removed the tranny, they most likely messed up the wiring for the seat heater switch, or the switch has broken in the on position. Take it back to whoever did the tranny and explain the situation. It should be an easy fix taking less than an hour to do. Good Luck!

bluesoob, The auto restoration shop where I work from occasionally does this several times a year, with a lot of success, but you must be careful, and take your time. After trim removal, push the guitar string through the sealant from the inside and pull out the other for about a foot. Then wrap the string around a wooden dowel or similar several times and knot it.Do the same on the inside of the car at the other end of the wire. With someone on outside of the car and you on the inside, saw the sealant apart to free the glass. Apply a flat hand to the glass as you go with light pressure. Good Luck!

dimka3186, Your problem is the water pump. It resides behind the timing belt cover and has a small drain hole designed into its bottom casting for just this purpose. If the bearing or seals of the water pump go bad, they first start to leak out of this hole as a warning its replacement time. Don't mess around with it. Get it replaced, and maybe do the timing belt and tensioner at the same time? Its a wise move if you plan on keeping the car for some time. When it really goes bad you will be stranded and may do catastrophic damage to the engine. Changing the water pump and timing belt and tensioner on a Subie is a moderate job for the DIYer with the proper tools (usually only need a good torque wrench above what you already have in your tool box) and there are lots of YouTube vids on Subie timing belts to show step by step procedures. Good Luck!

mbsail42671, Whatever grabs your fancy is the way to go. Its a personal taste matter. That said, the wheel moldings are mounted by plastic pins on the back of the moldings, that push through holes in the fenders and lock into place. The holes in the fenders are properly finished at the factory and pose no rust issues normally. They have not been an issue since Subaru started using them. A plus is that stones flung back by the tires will not chip the paint on the wheel arches causing a rust issue, because they will hit the plastic instead. It really comes down to "I like the look or not". Congrats on the new ride! I'm jealous!

ironmike, Remove the inner door panel. Inside the door handle is a small rectangular cover about a half inch square. Pop it out and undo the screw underneath. In the arm rest recess there is another such creature to deal with. Then slip a flat screw driver under the bottom of the inner door panel and pry the panel straight away from the door. There are clips across the bottom to pop out as well as up both sides of the panel. Then lift the panel straight up about 2 inches and once free of the door, reach in behind and unclip the wiring harness to the power window switch. Pull the panel 6 inches from the door and unclip the two cables to the door handle assembly for the door handle and the door lock. The window sash comes off next. Its the black channel that the door glass slides up and down in and separates the movable window glass from the stationary piece you want to replace. On the top of the door, right above the sash, is a screw to remove. And at the bottom of that sash is a nut/bolt to remove to remove the sash itself. Beyond that, it would appear that that quarter glass is just wiggled out of the door frame, as the FSM makes no other references to it at all. Good Luck!

thosl, The answer is no, unless the work for both owners was done at the same Subie dealership, as they would have records under the VIN number. Other than that you are at the mercy of very careful inspections, looking for nuts and bolts that show a wrench has been on them, or for parts that have obviously been changed because they show very little corrosion compared to the rest of the surrounding parts.

naturgeon, I would suspect that its true, first because the dealership told you not to use RainX. Second, from my experience with using RainX, that it must leave some sort of film on the glass to make the rain lose its surface tension and bead up and run off just with gravity, which slowly declines over a month's time or so. Basically if I had a car equipped with Eye Sight, I wouldn't use RainX on its front windshield after being told not to by the dealership. Why mess with a good thing?

mgaman, OEM crossbars are guaranteed to fit and do the job. My advice is to not to use anything else. The damage to your car, to whatever you are going to put up there, and even more to the guy behind you who runs off the road and gets killed, trying to avoid whatever you were carrying, isn't worth it. By the way, which year is your MGA?