gbhrps

I can walk you through it if you want to tackle it. I've done 3 of them all on different cars. In fact, many Japanese manufacturers use the same parts suppliers so they are interchangeable. My 90 300ZX has a mast assembly from a mid 90's Camry in it. Reason...I live close to the Toyota dealer and far from the Nissan dealer. Fits and works like a charm.

Why buy something if yours is repairable? Do you hear the motor try to raise it when you turn on the radio? Have you cleaned the wiring harness contacts at the antenna to see if it will fire up? If the motor isn't seized, and works, but the antenna doesn't respond, you can replace just the mast assembly very cheaply. Its a DIYer, if you're handy. Failing that, grab the top mast assembly ball with pliers and pull the antenna into a full up position and just leave it up. Personally I"d take it out of the car, clean and lub it up, motor, gear box, mast assembly and whip, and put her back in. Two hour job for me, start to finish.

My 02 OBW has had water freeze inside the roof rack mounts. Its expanded and split the mounts on three of them. No damage otherwise, and I'm not getting them replaced under warranty since only I can see them and know they are there. Dealer says to replace them, the headliner must come down, and obviously to do that the A and B pillar interior mouldings must be pulled first. Hope you don't have a sunroof, for that may complicate matters more.

Hawksoob.....have I got a deal for you!. When I bought my 97 OBW LTD it didn't have the woodgrain centre bezels to match the ones in each of the doors, so I bought them, and stored the original ones all these years, because I'm cheap , they were brand new, and I couldn't see throwing them away. So.... if you need the two bezels (new, grey, and out of the same dash as a 97), the one with the centre air ducts and hazard switch, and the one for the radio and heating system switches, I'll give them to you for just a thank you and payment of the shipping from Southern Ontario, Canada, to Tennesse. Post your email address on this thread and I'll contact you by same. Cheers!

My 97 OBW had the same problems every so often in our colder times here in Southern Ontario. I used whatever was handy, lock deicer or WD40 or silicone lubricant. The trick is to douse all of the telescoping segments liberally and cycle the antenna up and down several times. When you get it up again, lub the daylights out of it at each segment. To get it all the way down you may have to help it down by forcing the last segment or so. Force it firmly, but don't overdo it if you feel a great deal of resistance. You might bend it if you go at it too strongly. Be sure to wipe off the excess lub that will run down the fender. Chances are that there is nothing wrong with your motor gears or the toothed nylon whip that pulls the mast down and pushes it up. Usually its just water that has gotten into the end of the mast segments. Even if all of this doesn't help your situation and the mast has been damaged, its not rocket science to pull the entire antenna assembly from the car and replace the mast and whip tail. Moderate difficulty DIY. Good luck.

Took my 02 OBW (58 000 km) in for coolant leak on Saturday and they found both banks leaking slightly. They are going to replace both head gaskets under warranty.

SubiGal you are right on timely. Wednesday my 02 OBW with 52 000 km started leaking coolant. Small amount to be sure, but at stoplights the heating system would suck the smell into the cabin. I cannot find the leak anywhere, but have isolated it to the driver's side. I have an appointment with the dealership for Saturday morning to track down the problem. Thanks so much for the well written explanation. Its been most helpful and reassuring. I'll go armed with a copy of your entry when I take the car in on Saturday. I'll keep you posted as to the outcome. Thanks again.

I saved the 15 inch steel wheels and Bridgestone Blizzaks from my 97 OBW to use on my 02 OBW. They won't fit on the front wheels, because Subaru increased the diameter of the front rotors on the new body style. Obviously this moved the caliper away from the wheel hub centre, and a 15 inch wheel hits the caliper and won't allow the wheel to mount on the studs. If they won't go on the front, don't waste time with the backs. I sold my set to a fellow forum user who put them on his 98 OBW. Warning!!! You need to go to a 16 inch aftermarket steel wheel (cheaper than Subaru).......................and get the NARROWEST winter tire that you can mounted on it. I made the mistake of using the same width as the 225 60 16's that came with my 02 OBW. They push too much snow and slush and aquaplane at speeds much lower than the 205 70 15's on my 97 OBW.

I'm assuming that the trim piece you're talking about is about 2 inches wide and goes from the bottom of the door sill to about half way up the dog leg, on the outside of the car, and is made of plastic. I no longer have an OBW of the generation (got an 02 OBW last year), so I have nothing to take a look at personally. But, if you can find no fasteners, such as screws or plastic buttons on the bottom or inside the door jamb, the only other way modern trim pieces are attached is with double sided sticky tape. My wife's 97 Lexus has similar plastic panels on the bottom of the doors and the dog leg. Her parking by the braille method scraped one of the panels a year or so ago. To remove it for painting required a heat gun to soften the adhesive of the tape. A putty knife that had been covered with plastic tape (to keep it from scratching the paint) was used to pry the panel from the metal part of the door. Once repainted, new strips of double sided tape were attached to the back of the panel, the metal door was wiped down with alcohol to remove any grease or wax, and the panel was pressed back into place.

I found that with the back plugs on my 97 OBW a 3 inch extention on the ratchet and the plug socket was too long as well. I used a universal adapter instead of the extention as I recall. It was shorter and gave me room to get the entire assembly in around the frame rail.

I don't believe anyone can predict when this part or that part will go south and let you down. If you carefully maintain your vehicle within reason, you dramatically decrease your repair costs over the life of the vehicle. So my 2 cents worth is to budget $75 a month for car maintenance (tires, oil changes, alternator, belts, whatever) and put it in an account. What you don't use this year will add onto next year's and so on, and should keep you either ahead of the game or pretty close to it. All gloom and doom about this part or another one is just that. When the one rear wheel bearing on my 97 OBW went at 63 000 km, should I have replaced the other one? I think not. Its still going strong at 176 000 km, and may outlast me!

Note that his quotes don't show any labour costs. The 96 000 km (same as your 60 000 mi) service on my 97 OBW was very reasonable as I recall. I don't think that it cost $300 CDN parts and labour totalled, but that was back in 2001.

I have a cheap torque wrench that I just use for tightening the lug nuts on my 5 vehicles, and that's it. It cost about $20 CDN at on of those discount tool places and is certainly good enough for the applicaion that I use it for. Would I use it on head bolts on the motor? NO. Its not engineered well enough for that purpose. As well, years ago I had a Vette that the tire jerk over tightened and it warped the rotor. I recall that it was big bucks to repair that misadventure, and since then I either do the wheel nut torquing myself, or stand next to the technician insisting on the proper hand torqued values.

I appreciate the responses. I'll take it up with my dealership when the car gets its next physical. Many Thanks! A Happy New Year to everyone out there in Subaru Land!

Changed the spark plugs on my 02 OBW today and was concerned about finding oil in one of the spark plug holes at 54 000 km. What I mean is that when I pulled the spark plug wire, it was coated with engine oil, as was the spark plug. The inside surface of the spark plug hole through the valve cover had maybe 3 ml of oil in it. I'm guessing that since its only one spark plug, and only a small amount of oil, that I need not be concerned, and yes, I could make it a warranty issue if I wished to. Anyone think I need to be concerned?

I follow the Nissan 300ZX forum and a lot of drivers have complained about a grinding from 3rd to 4th. Every time a pile of answers come back to use Redline (I believe its MT90) in the gearbox...and everytime the original thread starter comes back to thank everyone and say it solved his problem or significantly reduced it. I haven't needed to try it myself on my own Z, but thought I'd let you know. Good Luck!

I traded my 97 OBW LTD to a 02 OBW LTD and as you say, the new car is quite an improvement. Did you do the right thing? Only you can answer that one, but from where I sit, I'd say yes!

I've had a bad experience at buying used wheels for my 300 ZX. They looked just fine, but 2 of them were bent. You couldn't see it until they were spun on the balancing machine, then the tire technician refused to mount the tires. Here in Canada you can get them remanufactured, where they heat them up and take out the bends to make them run true, reweld any curb damage and grind and polish it back to specs, and then paint or clear coat them, at about $125 a wheel. Does it make your used wheels a bargain?

I bought the factory trailer hitch and wiring harness assembly, and yes the directions say that the connector for the trailer hitch assembly is located on the driver's side. I tore that damn car totally apart, and it was right where they said it should be, BUT on the passenger side of the car! Go figure! And my wife wants to know why I have grey hair.

If it was like my 02 OBW, the wiring connector is part of the wiring harness that comes down the passenger side wheel well. Pull up the floor panel over the spare, pull the right side floor panel (in between the tail lights and the wheel well) and remove the wall panel between the tail lights and the wheel well. You should see the harness coming down the back of the wheel well, and the connector should be sitting there waiting in anticipation for you.

The gentleman in the last post has a very good point. My 97 OBW had 122 000 km when I traded it on an 02 OBW, and had no head gasket problem when traded. And why would you give creedance to a so called mechanic who couldn't get the spark plug wire off the spark plug, but is more than willing to give you a tale of gloom and doom! You need to take your car to someone who KNOWS Subarus inside and out before you get ready to shoot your ride.

My 97 OBW had the same thing ocurr on the driver's window. I believe that some winter salt and sand got between the glass and the outside rubber strip and was lodged on the pad that positions the window in its up and down travels. Its about 10 inches or so in from the front of the door, and about an inch and a half wide. As long as the grit stays on the pad the damage will continue to be done. There really isn't anything that can be done, short of removing your inner door panel and taking the glass out of the door to get at the pad. Since your window tint is put on the inside of the glass, the pad and its scratches can't affect the tint in any way.

My 97 OBW LTD did the same thing. The plastic insert in the hood scoop opening started to peel the paint off, about year 3. Before it managed to get too far advanced, I simply repainted the offending spots (at each end and about one half inch in diameter) using the factory touchup paint tubes that the dealer sells. It sealed the edges where the paint was lifting, and covered the problem nicely, unless you leaned over and looked very closely. It solved my problem up until I traded it on an 02 OBW LTD.

When you get your rotors off use antiseize compound on the backside of them before you put them back on. Either that, or just put it on the mounting yoke (the ring with the 5 studs sticking out of it that the rotor mounts to). Be certain not to get any on the rotor braking surfaces or the wheel studs. I guarantee that you won't need those 8M bolts to remove the rotors next time.

My 02 OBW has wiper warmers built into the front windshield. Its the first car I've ever seen with that option. I see no reason for your idea not to work. Good luck with it, and let us know how you make out.