keith3267

Stiff is what you want in a ball joint. Try some parts stores that have ball joints in stock, any ball joint will do and see how stiff it is.

Why do you think you need new ball joints? I have yet to see an OEM ball joint actually show any wear, even after 300k miles, but that is just my experience. The way to check them properly is to left the car just enough to get the front wheel just off the ground, then slip a shovel under the tire and use it to move the tire up and down. If you can see movement between the two halves of the ball joint, then it needs to be replaced. That wiggling the tire by grasping it from the bottom and the top is a bogus test. I have also never seen any bad suspension parts come from Moog, but I have heard the complaints. I use them. If you have OEM axles and they are not making any noise, the boot must have just split. It usually only takes a couple of weeks before the axles start clicking on turns once the boot splits. When one splits, the other will split usually with in two to three months, so I would do them all. The outers usually go way before the inners so you might get away with doing the outers, but you still have to remove the inners to get to the outers so I would do all four. Any time you can save an OEM axle, its worth doing as almost all remans are pure crap. I have never gotten a good one.

You don't find these because almost any radiator shop has the pipe bending and flaring equipment needed to make one to fit. These are usually made on site. Brake shops can make them also because that is how you get new hard lines for your brakes when they rot out. But it appears that there is a rubber section at each end of the hard line so you can go rubber all the way if you want.

If you have a local radiator shop in your area, they can make new steel lines for you, often cheaper than pre-made lines, and they are just as good. Most vehicles that I am familiar with have at least a rubber section to the transmission cooler lines because the transmission is mounted on rubber mounts and can move relative to the frame of the vehicle, where the radiator moves less with the frame as its rubber mounts are much smaller. Although with the transmission mounted much further away from the radiator than the typical FWD transverse mounted engines, the length of the steel lines may be sufficient to absorb any movement of the transmission.

I've been using Mobil One 75w-90 GL-5 synthetic in my 97 Nissan Pick Up's transmission and haven't had a problem yet. 194k miles.

Or you could have too much junk in the trunk.

The fluid level actually rises as the clutch plate wears out, or so I have been told.

2014 Legacy 2.5 CVT. The readout shows between 30 and 31.5 just before each fill up, but actual calculations result in 28.5 to 30. On a cross country of 4k miles, the range did not change, but I was driving between 75 and 90 and not practicing any gas saving techniques. 1895 miles in two days each way.

If you don't have a car cover, I'd suggest that you get one if you are parking the car out in the sun. At least cover the front and back windows with something on the outside, not the inside. Also make cardboard cut outs to cover the tires, or use old sheets. If you put the car up on jackstands, it is best if the jackstands are placed under the control arms in the front and either control arms (independent suspension) or axle tubes (solid axle) in the rear. Hanging the suspension from the struts could lead to damage. Or you could use jackstands under the frame but remove and store the tires in a shed or garage so there isn't as much weight hanging from the fully extended struts. If you have devices that you want to or need to have retain their memory, hook up a float charger to the battery. Do not use a trickle charger for long periods of time as they can damage a battery, but a .75 to 1.75 amp float charger will keep the battery up without damaging it. Otherwise remove the battery from the car, but still hook it up to a float charger or the plates can get sulfate coating on them.

I think it will cause more heat build up instead of less. You have a fan at the front, and at speed, airflow through the front grill into the engine compartment. If you have air pushing it at speed from the rear of the engine bay, then you basically have two fans aimed at each other and total air flow is reduced, not increased.

Only one dealer within 200 miles.

I bought a 2014 Legacy last year, it has the 215-50 17 Bridgestone Turanza El400-02 tires. Right from the start, the ride was a bit rough, but not too bad. I noticed though that on a washboard road, or a road with a lot of expansion strips, it starts to sound like something like a block of wood is hitting the underside of the car. It is not a metal on metal sound, more like wood (or hard rubber) on metal and it does not occur on large bumps or pot holes, only when the expansion strips are pretty evenly spaced so that it gets rhythmic. As the suspension is getting a little broken in, it does seem to be improving (16k miles). I have heard a lot of complaints about the ride and noise of all the new cars lately, especially with the lower profile tires being used so I don't know if the Subaru is any worse than others. The tires that come on it are among the lowest rated at tirerack.com, especially for noise and ride quality. When it was at the dealers for its free oil change, I asked if they would take it for a test drive to see if there might be a problem. I was told that there would be a $99 diagnostic charge for the test drive if I wanted it, I declined but I was pissed. Never had another dealer treat me like that. Does anyone else with a newer Subaru with the low profile tires experience the same thing? How about any newer car with the lower profile tires? Would new tires, maybe with a 55 profile help? Thinking about Michelin Premier or Pirelli P7. Edit: I have put the car up on jackstands and inspected the suspension and could not find anything loose. I cannot duplicate the sound by bouncing up and down on the bumpers.

You can get an evap code from overfilling the gas tank, but it is not usually this code. Always stop on the first click. You may need a new gas cap, but I'd suggest waiting until the CEL comes on again and see if you get the same code again.

Please go back to AutoZone if the CEL is still on and have them read the code and this time write down the code yourself or have them input the code into their computer and give you the cash register printout for the code. The code will be at the top of the printout. Right now, everyone in just guessing. If AutoZone erased the code and it has not come back, or if it went out on its own, then do not worry about it.

I would try shoving the axle back in place first. If it goes in real easy, that is a problem. If it won't go in, that is also a problem, but a different problem. Why you don't hear a grinding sound when it uncouples, there is a circlip on the end of the axle that is preventing the splines from engaging, or at least making it difficult. You heard the grinding when you tried to put it into park because the differential and the transfer case allows some slippage between the wheels, so the internal spline that drives this axle is still spinning as is the output shaft from the transmission. What you heard is the same sound that you would hear if you put the transmission in park while still moving slightly. If you left it in neutral for a minute or so, it would not make any sound going into park. I have found when using reman axles, the circlips that come with them are slightly oversized, not sure why but they make it almost impossible too insert the axle. I have often reuse the old circlip. If the circlip is too small or too worn, the axle could pop out under certain circumstances. If your lucky, it is very possible that all you need is a new circlip that is the right size and all will be well. You need to get this from a dealer though and not aftermarket. BTW, I haven't had this problem with new aftermarket axles, even the Chinese ones, but I have only used EMPI aftermarket axles and now I hear they have gone out of business.

Zmax can damage your catalytic converter. It uses ZDDP (Pennzoil used to call it Z-7) and it has been removed from regular oil for this reason. Almost all additives can cause problems in one way or another to a good modern engine, but if the engine is on its last legs due to high miles, poor maintenance or both, then one of them might give you a few more miles. Otherwise stick to a high quality oil of the recommended viscosity and follow the maintenance schedule and you will be fine.

Get a manual and do it the right way, as suggested above, but FYI, the most accurate way to find TDC for #1 is to pull out all the spark plugs and as #1 approaches TDC as determined by thumb pressure or wood pencil inserted in the #1 spark plug hole, then start checking the two cylinders where the pistons are about half way up, one ascending and one descending with the wood pencil. When both of these pistons are at identical depths, the #1 piston is at TDC. The reason this works is that if you are looking only at the piston that is TDC, moving the crank 10 degrees to either side barely moves the piston. Five degrees to either side and you can't even perceive any piston movement at all. But the pistons that are mid stroke are moving the most for every degree of crankshaft movement. When they are matched in depth, the #1 is at TDC, dead on.

Is it the P0402 or O0420, big difference here. Also a 95 with OBDII?

The blades on a fuse can loose contact with the sockets and reseating them fixes the problem.

They both look the same to me, except one pin is missing on the MAF in your car. So, have you looked in the connector to see if the missing pin broke off and is stuck in the socket? This could be why your MAF isn't working in the first place. It is also possible that the pin got bent over and broken and fell out onto the ground somewhere, but if you have five clean sockets, I'd say plug it in and see if it works. Little tip here, disconnect the battery for a few minutes before restarting the car. This is a case where the computer really needs to relearn the fuel trim as the new MAF probably won't be an exact match for the resistance profile of the old MAF. It's faster if the CPU doesn't have to figure out that the old profile is bad before it starts learning the new one.

I don't think I would hot tank an aluminum head, I have done that on cast iron heads and one time, it cracked even the cast iron. I would only clean it mechanically. Thats scraping, brushing and Calgon detergent.

If it is the area under the valve covers, then it is possible that it won't be in the rest of the engine. The main area of concern would be the oil drain back passages. This is where the oil drains from the heads back into the pan. If this gets blocked up, and it will if the sludge problem gets too bad, then the oil will get trapped in the top of the head. When that happens, some will get sucked into the combustion chamber through the valve guides, even if the valve seals are good. You could also suffer oil starvation when the pan goes empty. The sludge builds up when you shut down a hot engine. Oil stops flowing so the oil that is trapped has to absorb all the heat from the engine. The trapped oil gets much hotter than normal and begins to cook. That makes it thicker. Most of the time, when the engine is restarted, this thicker oil gets flushed away, but it mixes with the rest of the oil and so it causes all the oil to become a little thicker. Over time, the bulk of the oil in the pan has become thicker and then during subsequent shutdowns, the remaining trapped oil starts out already thicker, becomes a goo we call sludge. It is generally confined to the tops of the heads where most of the residual heat is dissipated. It will build up in the oil drain back system too. When I see this, it is usually because the oil was not changed as often as it should have been or an oil with too much viscosity improver (VI) was used, i.e. 10w40 or additives like STP or Lucas were used on a regular basis. Synthetic oils do not sludge as easily as conventional, but they will if the oil change interval is stretched too far. Group III synthetics can go for 7.5 to 10k, Group IV can go for 15k or more. 6K is about the limit for conventional oil, but 5k would be better.

Just curious as I am new to Subaru's but do they use studs instead of head bolts? And if they are studs, has anyone ever used Belvil washers under the nuts? Belvil washers act like springs to keep a more consistent clamping pressure on the heads as they expand and contract.

When hubby changed the plugs, did he notice if the plug tips were unusually clean, almost like new but with a satin like finish? If they were, that would indicate that a small amount of coolant is getting into the combustion chamber and steam cleaning the plugs. It would seem to me to be unusual for this to happen on one cylinder on each head, this usually happens on adjacent cylinders. If coolant goes through the intake manifold, then the intake manifold gasket could be leaking and that would account for it happening to cylinders 3&4. Since he changed the wires, it might be a good idea to double check the firing order and also look into a new distributor cap (unless this is a lost spark system)

Some vinyl conditioners like Armorall can do this, but usually it is worse in summer. I would check the coolant level, but if that is good, then I would expect the problem to be with the AC. It is hard to tell in the winter because the AC doesn't actually operate if the evaporator is below 35°F. That is to keep the coils from icing up. If your AC stops working, and you should be able to tell once the interior of the car warms up, then that could be the source of the oil. It would be PAG oil from the freon.