MR_Loyale

Which is the best? Uno grabs at the bottom while Ash is way a the top. Needless to say when I go from Ash to Uno I end up popping the clutch a few times.

Stores like Autozone and O'reilly's will put your alternator on their bench and test it for free.

I prefer something that doesn't require hole drilling. But I also want a sturdy one where I can mount lights and carry the spare tire on the roof. Some pics would be great.

Heck I was just still bitter about how they messed up the CV axle replacement in UNO. That is when I took them off my list. The sad thing is that back in the day, they used to be a really great go to place. Then Les Schwab (founder) dies, and as the original franchisee owners died off the places became "employee owned" and that is (for me anyway) when they went to hell. I still remember "Free Beef" days at Les Scwab.

That would be a great writeup and cool pics too. just sayin.

Sorry to hear that.

I think our cars are twins. Did you have to drill holes? Also where did you get the trunk rack.

Where does one get these? I am looking for one to fit my Loyale Sedan. Can anyone tell me about which are best and which ones to avoid?

Did it start right up and purr like a kitten before you did anything to it? Or was this a pre-existing condition? Look around at all the cables that are near the one you replaced. You may have bumped a connector loose.

He has to list out every spring and bearing he has to shell money out for and when you look at the list it seems quite long. However if he is machining the flywheel, that tells me he is doing a thorough job to ensure a long life to the repair. Probably a new pressure plate, throwout bearing (also called the clutch release bearing) and probably a pilot bearing too. Am I right? Only an extra $25 is peanuts.

I love the auto seatbelts. I have been knocked in the head by them too on occasion though.

Sent you a PM.

Mine had a similar issue and it was a bad relay. Glad you found it was just a bulb.

Were those taken with Travis's camera?

Just a note, car parts places like Autozone (which I believe you have in Ontario) will scan your car for free. They will not reset codes but will plug their scanner in so you can know what they are. Not sure if they are in Honduras or not but Jeszek may want to look into hat option as well.

Jeszek, First off I am very sorry to hear you lost your job. You have been a great resource here on USMB and I thank you for that. I will just offer my experience with ODBII and what I discovered that in many situations you do not need the reader. What follows is a bit long winded, sorry. Earlier this year I took my 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 out off-roading with JJ421 (who took his Loyal wagon). We had a great time banging around the mountains. About two days after I got back, my Doge Ram 1500 instrument cluster stopped working. No tach, no speedo the lights were on all the time until you turned off the key. This is what is known as a canbus system. All major engine systems have their own ECU unlike our simple OBDI 1 Loyales which have a single ECU to run the engine. Think of the newer cars as a computer network, which really they are. Each network node controls something specific. In my case, the Dodge Ram Truck would start and the engine ran just fine, the automatic transmission shifted fine. I just had no instrument cluster functionality and the overhead trip computer was reading wrong as well. I felt a big hit coming into my wallet as research online showed the dealer repair costs to start at $800 if they are cracker jack good and honest and perhaps $3000 if they were incompetent and dishonest. In my experience over the year, most types of car issue are not unique random occurrences. What I mean is that if you have experience an issue, most likely so has someone else. A good example is how the screw can fall off the rotor in the Loyale and make the car seem totally dead. Using this theory I googled and searched the Dodge forums for answers about my Dodge Ram 1500. What I learned was very informative. In the OBDII canbus systems, each function is a node on the network. Just like we network together our computers on the internet, modern cars network the ECU's that control the major functions, I learned that in the Dodge, there is an ECU for the automatic transmission, the engine, the fender (light and electrical) and even the trip computer. You need to keep this in mind when working on newer OBDII cars. The design reason for this is that it supposedly reduces wiring. One other thing I learned too is that each computer (in general) has a way to trigger on-board diagnostics WITHOUT AN OBDII SCANNER! Yes, for basic trouble shooing, you do not always need an OBDII scanner. You need to know that there are different levels of diagnostics. For extremely data rich intensive brand specific troubleshooting, each brand has their king of the hill proprietary factory scanner that costs thousands of dollars. But if you apply some good logic, in many cases you can get by with the on-board diagnostics. Since I do not have an OBDII Subaru, I cannot tell you what the trigger sequence is so I will tell of my Dodge Ram1500 experience. In my Dodge Ram 1500, I learned that you trigger the general diagnostics by putting the key in and cycling to the ign (without starting ) and back three times. One, two three. It displays the errors in the odometer lcd readout. Also the Dodge has an instrument cluster test (remember it too is an ECU). To trigger that test, you hold down the trip reset stick and turn the key to on while holding and the instrument cluster diagnostic will begin. It sweeps the tach and speedo needles as well as performs checks of the instrument cluster itself. I told this to my neighbor, who owns a Dodge Durango of the same year. He researched an found his OBDII Toyota Camry also has this capability. Here is a video showing this for a Dodge: Long story short, my instrument cluster diagnostic reported all sorts of error codes, one of which said the network was down. Applying some logic I reasoned that the network could not all be down as the engine ran and the transmission worked and you could drive the truck so there was obviously communication between the engine and transmission. Turns out the transmission knows the speed (it is an automatic and has to know this for the shift points). The instrument cluster simple makes a network request to the transmission for the value of the speed and points the needle accordingly. So I reasoned that if the instrument cluster thought the network was bad, perhaps its network driver circuits were the bad thing and the cluster needed replacing. I found out later that the reason the lights were always on when you started the truck was the "FAIL MODE" of the vehicle. The fender module (modules = computer and that is why they are so expensive) was not able to communicate with the cluster (to which the on/off switch for the lights is connected) so it went into the fail mode which kept the lights on. It makes sense because if it was at night and you needed lights, you would have at least something. I found a nearby junkyard advertising the exact same cluster for $80. It was 8 screws to pull the cluster and it fixed the issue. New cars keep the odometer reading in the cluster so my Dodge Ram 1500 went from 38,000 miles on the ODO to 203K. Luckily I had it to the dealer before the problem so I had proof of the original ODO reading and I can send it to the only place in the US that can legally reprogram the ODO reading (Advance Auto Electronics). My main point is that there are many helpful on-board diagnostics that do not require an OBDII scanner. I would always start with those first. There is a sequence for triggering them (a key jiggle, trip reset stick etc). They can be helpful in diagnosing the problems without a scanner. You may want to get just an inexpensive generic scanner a first because each manufacturer has a brand specific tool that is prohibitively expensive. Hope this helps my friend.

Do I have to take the dash all apart? Or just a few screws for the control unit?

The HVAC control cluster on my Loyale Sedan Ash doesn't seem to be able to select the heating to the windshield with any regularity. I can turn on the blower full speed and the hit the top button for the windshield and it doesn't change from blowing through the front vent outlets. I have seen this happen before where the vacuum line from the engine to the storage tank becomes unhooked. But it is connected and the lines look good. I even tried replacing the vacuum tank with one from the junkyard but that didn't make it any better. If I press the heat button and fiddle with the blower speed from low to high a few times, the mechanism starts to divert the air to the floor at which point I "fake it out" and quickly switch to to windshield button and then air comes out on top as it should. I was doing a lot of that during the xmas tree run while trying to drive in the snow. I would like to make this so it doesn't require any fiddling. I am pretty sure it is either a vacuum leak in the hosing system or a lubrication issue. My hunch is that there is a mechanism that is in need of lubrication. I only say this because the car is 22 yrs old, spent most of its life in Eastern Washington and all the other fixes (master window switch, power door locks and window roller channels) all involved cleaning and lubrication. Has anyone else dealt with this issue?

I am sorry to hear that. I would love a thread on rebooting the axles.

I had a blast. It was the first snow event with my sedan Ash and with the winter tires on it performed well. I took EZPAR's advice so I wouldn't be the one always getting stuck. I got some pics. On the way up the mountain We found our spot I know all the humans had a great time, but there was one four legged fellow that I am sure everyone there would agree was enjoying the snow the most After the group trying to get a fire going, wishing we had all that dry wood Skylar was going to bring, JJ421 and I headed out in our cars to explore the other fork in the road. At one point Ash took the lead up the mountain until the going got really slow because his diff would drag. The tires would plow but we needed to turn around as gas was getting low. Here is Ash dressed in his Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 50th anniversary outfit. On the way back down JJ slid into a ditch. Ash got his first pull in the snow:

Hell yes. I will be there. I know at least one other that will be as well. Bring all yer wood.

I have had Rock Auto send me the wrong stuff before too.

Bring it to the xmas tree run this weekend. I would really love to see it in person. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/149535-hatch-patrols-xmas-tree-run-saturday-december-6/

Got the radio working tonight. Now it is all ready for the run this Saturday.

A writeup on this procedure would be super duper awesome. I promise to "like".