jonathan909

Well, let's not be silly. Not always a bad idea either. At 12V, in relatively low-current and low-impedance circuits like this one, you're at no risk of either shock or affecting the readings. In 12V circuits at high current, there's a burn risk. But here it's not going to matter.

You omitted the "you want to help" rate.

Fwiw... when I hit the self-serve yards I carry a big open-top tool satchel. Every nut, bolt, and other fastener that I remove in the course of getting to the part I want just habitually gets pitched into it - other small bits like fuses as well. They don't (try to) charge for that stuff - it wouldn't be worth their time grubbing around in a customer's tools over such little weight. Over time I've accumulated buckets of spare hardware exactly for occasions like this.

I see now that the spacer you're torching is metal - I thought that part up there was rubber.

That is, if the trick works. With my last order I couldn't avoid it being broken into three shipments, two from Rock and one shipped directly from Enginetech. Still, even with all that shipping factored in, it totaled a fraction of what I would have paid here. And don't dismiss the wreckers - you can get an awful lot of perfectly serviceable stuff for next to nothing that might be cost-prohibitive new. I'm partial to the self-serve yards, as we have three in the city, two of them pick+pull. They're based in CA, but it looks like you're a couple of hours from their nearest location (near Salinas).

RockAuto Customer Service <service@rockauto.com> But again, I challenge you to pose a question they're capable of answering. When you look at their prices you'll understand why they're a zero-service company - they exist to move product at volume at the lowest possible price, and that's all. I'm not dissing them at all - they're my first stop for most parts. There are exceptions, one being specific components (e.g. the timing parts often discussed here) where you need to be picky about manufacturer for reasons of quality; another being that there are cases (e.g. brake rotors) in which the weight causes shipping cost to negate the savings over local purchase. Otherwise, fill your boots.

Since nobody has put up their hand to say it does, I'd guess it doesn't. Obviously, having some empty tubing in there will reduce the volume of coolant it can hold/cool, but I doubt it's enough to matter. The only thing I'd be worried about (since I only own Legacy/Outback wagons) is whether the GT version is a different height, but it sounds like you're on it.

"RockAuto" and "tech support" are two combinations of letters that are not permitted to occur in the same sentence. They have taken unhelpfulness to previously undiscovered heights. If you don't see it on the screen in front of you, they don't have an answer either. How bad can they be? I was curious what they'd sell a crankshaft (reground by Enginetech) for - it's listed, but as there's no stock there's no price shown. I asked what the last price they sold them at was, just so I'd have a ballpark number, not a quote. It took about six increasingly-insistent emails to get past their probably-autoresponders, and when I finally got to a human, the answer was, "I am truly sorry but this is not information that we have available or are at liberty to provide."

Well, the SMU (Small Matter of Unbolting) is the whole point of this thread, no? I was hoping for some serious magic, but obviously none exists. This one's about judicious use of heat, less judicious use of penetrants, 3/4" drive breaker bars, and a healthy dose of...

Looking at the photos of the suspension frame (thank you, these are really helpful), it's clear why those bushings aren't listed as a separate part - they're moulded into the frame, with the inner sleeve moulded into the rubber. So it's all or nothing with this assembly - a bushing tears away inside or out and the whole thing's getting replaced. With the big washer between the bolt head and the underside of the bushing, it's a Chinese puzzle. Can't grab the sleeve to try to hold it still while turning out the bolt because the washer's in the way. Can't remove the washer because...

Once again, the wrecker is my first stop - if I get a leaky one, they warranty it. But that's a matter of proximity and convenience - YMMV. On the left/right thing: My argument would be for adopting "port" and "starboard" - terms that exist to eliminate the which-way-are-you-facing problem.

It's certainly seized into the bushing sleeve - that's the characteristic failure mode. So the bolt is turning - with a great deal of manual effort, a few degrees at a time. But anything more aggressive (like the impact gun) just makes a lot of noise, thanks to the rubber. Those pictures illustrate the problem. Main thing is that I'm trying to do a nondestructive removal in order to get to the tank, then bolt the suspension back up again, so the torch just turns one problem into another one. Also, as can be seen in the torchy photo, the bolt passes through a big washer before going up into the bushing, so there's no access for getting penetrant into the bottom. It's a little better on top now that I've unscrewed the bolt and opened a ~1mm gap above, but no change yet.

Clarification: The stuff in question is Subaru's "Cooling System Conditioner" - it comes in a little blue jug for a few bucks, as mentioned. It's highly regarded around here (within reasonable limits, of course), won't do any harm, and may well seal up a very small leak like this one. Absolutely worth trying.

Sure, the "snoop" thing should work. But what's wrong with just refilling it, running it up to temperature, and looking for the spray?

This is what's so maddening about this problem: Impact wrench does nothing. The impact energy gets absorbed and returned by the rubber, so you can hold the gun on there for an hour and it just gets a nice massage out of it. For penetrant I use "Yield" (now "Free") - another of GD's recommendations. Expensive and a real hassle to get, but it's good stuff.

Ah, okay, thanks. At the moment the focus is a little tight, though.

Well, I don't actually know what the construction of the bushing is, since I haven't gotten one out (yet), so I'm not at all certain there's a sleeve in there, or just the bolt.

Yeah, I was thinking about something like a silicone lube, but when it's a big bolt passing through a big bushing, it's almost certain that there's also a big cap or other piece of metal at both ends, making it hard to get it in where it's needed.

Huh? Not a plumbing issue - damage (discussed in another thread) that requires replacing the tank. It's loose, but I just don't have the clearance to slide it out.

This has to be one of the most consistent problems I've experienced working on these old(er) cars. (Unsurprisingly,) the manual is right and the rear suspension has to be dropped in order to change the tank in this '01 OBW. It looked a lot like there would be clearance to slide it forward and down to clear the floor pan without doing so, but the tank wedges on something above. So I'm proceeding conservatively - loosen/lower/unbolt without entirely removing suspension, diff, etc., if possible. The big bolts passing through rubber bushings up into the body are the problem. The threads are loose and they're unscrewing, but dragging the bushing around with it, adding a lot of effort. Is there a trick, something in a can, or other magic that helps with this - anything short of destroying the bushing?

Btw, all those exchanges about upside-down gaskets were a bit close to home. With my first EJ25D rebuild a couple of years ago I actually managed to put a head on upside-down. Had a towel on top of it so crap wouldn't fall into the ports, cleverly hiding the exhaust ports from myself - also, the timing sprockets weren't on yet. The giveaway should have been that a couple of the bolts were rubbing the holes in the gasket rather than being centered - the gaskets aren't perfectly symmetrical. Fortunately, I caught it before torquing. Not the dumbest thing I've done with a car, but up there.

That one deviated a lot into discussion of bolt re-use. But there was one guy in there who'd recycled a head gasket and won. Two data points.

The answer to that question is actually very complicated. If I'm billing it out, a lot. At the other end of the scale, there are thing I'll do for friends for free that I would refuse to accept as paying work because it's too tedious and unpleasant and/or I know the client would be a PITA. And I've done a lot of volunteer work, notably for a Bay Area performance art group, for which I not only wasn't paid, but I had to cover my own expenses, including travel. In other words, if I find something incredible enough to work on, I'll pay to do it. I do R+D and startups, so I'm wired to accept varying likelihoods of success - or failure. I don't as a rule undertake something that has a high probability of failure, but again, there can be mitigating factors that make it acceptably attractive, like the people I get to work with and what we might learn along the way. This is sort of in that group. I know the odds of "success" are poor, but as we seem to have learned so far in this conversation, there may well be zero extant data points, and the idea of gathering the first is kind of attractive to me. I get that many here, and you in particular, may find this a bu!!sh!t argument - I understand completely. And (esp. now that it's almost summer) I've got a lot of important stuff on my plate, so I'm not in a big rush to do this. Just keeping it in mind should the the opportunity, inclination, and a little extra time coincide.

Again, not the question.

Thanks, that's where I used to hang out before immigrating here. Appears to be a good price, but still a little dear for this rustbucket. I'll keep it in mind as the job progresses.