MR_Loyale

I am in the exact same boat. Those that have experience in this please chime in. Are you doing your HG too? HLA's?

That is a clever fix. I think i got that rattling too.

In 2006 at 117K, I pulled the motor and did the timing belt, camshaft seals, cover gaskets, rear main seal, new oil pump, new water pump. I did not do the cam tower. This time I will be at 160k and I will be removing the engine again because I want the timing covers gone. Also I want to redo the HLA's so that means the cam tower comes off. I have no problem doing all the top end gaskets and seals. I am thinking if I am at the end of this project in a few weeks, the engine is in and after a week of running it I find out i did need to do the HG, I won't be a happy camper. The puzzling thing to me is how the oil ends up on the passenger side cross member and puddles right over the exhaust.

What is the code you are getting under the taped over CEL?

Yes I am wondering if it would be best to get the FR-S over the BRZ. Consumer Reports, in their annual auto issue lists both the BRZ and FR-S as used cars to avoid.

This week I am pulling the engine to do a timing belt. While I have it out I am planning on going through and fixing all the oil leaks. Most annoying of the oil drips is when it hits the hot exhaust and a cloud of smoke billows out. There is a puddle on the passenger side cross-member that drips onto the exhaust below. I clean the puddle, a new one forms and so on. The thing is that the car drives fine, so that was why I didn't immediately park it and fix the leaks. They aren't at easy to get to places like the covers or I would have already fixed them by now. Of course I wish to have a better idea of just where the leaks are happening so I am darn sure to fix it right. I have done several UV leak tests. Bought the UV kit with the UV light, the glasses and the bottle of dye. I quickly found out that without even any dye, oil fluoresces green under UV light. This makes it extremely difficult to determine what is glowing green because it was from the dye mixed oil and not the regular oil from before the dye. So again I did the UV test this time degreasing prior to dumping the dye and still I was not able to definitively identify the leak(s). Still it wasn't so obvious to me exactly where every leak was coming from. Even tried it with three bottles of dye. Made it a brighter green but I still could not say with certainty where every leak was happening. I noticed that the seam where the head gasket is seemed "wet" horizontally. it possible that the head gasket leaks oil without leaking coolant? I always thought you had to be getting the milkshake oil before you could declare the head gasket bad. That is really my biggest question - do I have to do the head gaskets? Will I screw it up? The fact is all the rubber in this car is over 20 years old. To my knowledge they haven't made a rubber that lasts forever, so I am content with just replacing every seal and gasket on the top end. It isn't super expensive and will be easy once I pull the engine. What gnaws at me most is that without knowing for sure where the passenger side oil puddle comes from, I may miss it on the engine work, put the engine back in and get a puddle again. Any suggestions?

I would give them a try if i could find them anywhere. I had Bosch plugs in my Subaru before and it ran fine. NGK appear to be the best in my experience though. I would never put a Champion plug in anything I have.

Today it was finally hot enough to need the AC. I put the fuse back into the AC circuit. I had removed it during winter and it for an extra 2+ MPG. Well today was really hot so I figured it was time to see if the AC still works. I started the car and cranked it up. After 10 seconds of squeal the AC chilled up and keeps it icy cold. That was great. But then in the mailbox, something else finally arrived:

I took it on a trip up Hamma Hamma Rd in the Olympic National forest. I had never been there and always wanted to explore this area. Anyone looking west from Seattle can always see the gorgeous snow capped Olympic mountains. They become accessible in the spring. I had never been up that way and always wanted to do so. I was driving the 101 loop around Hood Canal so I figured I'd take a little detour up Hamma Hamma Rd into the Olympic National forest. It was a paved road, nice sunny day and the roads were nice and clear so what could possibly go wrong? It was a nice paved road for about 8 miles and then it went to gravel. Then it narrowed and the pot holes became more and more frequent. Heck there was even one pot hole where someone had put a pole with a big red flag on it to alert drivers how deep it was. Then the relatively flat gravel road gave way to a barely one lane wide narrow rocky road as it winded its way up the mountain. I should have turned around, but those steep gorgeous snow capped peaks were now visible right in front of my windshield and I was drawn like a moth to a streetlamp at night. The road was slightly wet but no snow on them. Finally I reached the end of the road as it terminates on the other side of a bridge that is about 100 feet above a snow fed river and falls below. In the pic below, you can see it looks like there is a guard shack and I was expecting a ranger to be there collecting fees. Turns out it was a toilet. As I crossed the other side, I saw two fellows in a large heavy duty truck with the most dumbstruck look as my little Subaru FWD sedan crawled into the parking area. "Kind of a bumpy ride wasn't it? " one of them said to me as I got out of the car. "Never thought I would be off roading" I replied. It started raining/sleeting so they left and shortly after I left as well. It was a fantastic little trip. I ended up at the Mildred Lakes Trailhead #822. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/olympic/recarea/?recid=48055 Here is a pic I took looking over the bridge The snow capped mountain looking from other side of the bridge:

As others have suggested, use the oem quality parts and "upgrade" your savings account balance instead. Or have a USMB party and buy us all a beer.

Does anyone have any information on the Subaru direct injection system? Not the Toyota DS-4 that is in the BRZ, but Subaru's own system . I think it is in the new WRX. I have not seen much technical information on this or I missed it (which is more likely). If anyone has any links, it would be appreciated.

And of course you are going to post the schematic and parts list for us nerds, right? Is that a micro-controller with some custom code?

I have noticed the price of the BRZ is well below MSRP even with dealers who tried to add the greedy "market adjustment" (MSRP + $5K) when they originally came out. Subaru is now offering deals on a car that was previously praised in the press and apparently such a great seller that there was no need to discount . That appears to have changed. Now it appears that after several uncorrected complaints (noisy fuel pump, condensation in taillights, uneven idling and direct injector failure) people are shying away from the BRZ and the FRS. Consumer Reports rates the BRZ/FRS as unreliable. Cars.com reports they had trouble selling their test BRZ. http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013/12/selling-our-2013-subaru-brz-wasnt-easy.html I know that the BRZ is still a new platform, but from what I can tell based on what users are reporting on sites such as ft86club is that the Toyota/Scion dealerships are much more responsive in dealing with and fixing warranty issues than are the Subaru dealers. Apparently the Subaru dealers are more likely to deny warranty service. This does not inspire confidence. Perhaps this is a conditioning that Subaru dealers have because of their history of dealing with WRX owners who abuse their cars and then want it fixed under warranty. Of course the original press on the car was over the top. This may just be a natural settling down period.

I have the exact same problem. Let us know what works. For me it is just the driver side.

When you say "fixed her up" did you replace any seals or gaskets in the engine? Rubber bits don't last forever. If you haven't already taken the engine out, torn it down and replaced seals and such then it is probably time. An engine that sits for years doesn't get lubrication on the seals and they dry up and become brittle and they leak. The boxer engines tend to have more sealing surfaces than other types of engines. Some of those seals are probably the originals and unless you know for certain they have been replaced, I would assume they are original in need of replacement. In fact any rubber hoses and such should be on the schedule for replacement as there is no miracle rubber and all those hoses will give you fits with vacuum leaks and such. The small hoses are relatively cheap. Grab your son and "GO FOR IT, buy these parts and get after it." Not only is this a great learning experience for your son, it is also a great bonding experience for you both. Plus you got the best group of Subaru enthusiasts right here to help you out. Go ahead and start yourself a build thread so we can follow along (lots of picture documenting the journey). Good luck.

Yeah I know. You were the one that recommended them to me. Oh well they were cheap enough. They do seem rather dim though compared to the Sylvanias (regular, not SS) that I had on there. I did keep the previous bulbs so I can switch back. I have read that the Sylvania Silver Stars do not last as long as regular bulbs though.

Some folks pay a lot of money to make their cars sound like that. You got it for free.

If the ECU is reporting a sensor is bad and you have replaced the sensor, check the wiring harness for continuity between the sensor and the ECU. That is my suggestion.

I take it your doors did not have the master lock/unlock then? I only put one of those actuators in the driver side because it is a master. All the other doors are lock/unlocked by action of the driver side. As far as indicators, I just flash the lights n mine. I don't like the horn chirp so I left it off. Mine only flashes the lights when I use the remote to lock or unlock.

Very nice. Enjoy.

I still got 43K to go before I can get the 200K badge. But I will get a big chunk done this summer.

Hi Tom, I would be interested to learn what you did on the driver side door. When I installed my system I mounted an actuator inside the door to move the locking rod. I used a resistive rests at ground circuit to control it.

I put a compustar 1WAM-S unit in my Loyale last year. I love it. Think about winter when your key lock is frozen. Hitting a button on the key fob unlocks your car. Since mine is a sedan, I also wired a solenoid to pop the trunk (and turn on my LED light strip too). It does have remote start too but didn't get around to hooking it up yet.

Switched out my regular head lamps for the halogen 9004 units from Harbor Freight. In the daylight it is hard to even tell if your headlights are on. They are supposed to be best at night, so i will give it a drive this evening and report back.

SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. REPORTS BEST OUTPUT EVER April 1, 2014 Cherry Hill, N.J. - Continuing its long history of boxer engine innovation, Subaru of America, Inc. has reported a breakthrough in boxer engine technology. "I don't know why we never thought of it earlier" exclaimed Mr. Tomomi Nakamura, chairman and CEO of Subaru of America. The new piston design is more efficient and compliments our existing boxer engine designs. Beginning May of this year, all new F series boxer engines will receive larger boxer pistons, bringing an anticipated power increase of over 27% for each boxlinder, the new term Subaru has coined for the square volume in which the new box pistons travel. A typical four boxlyinder FB squared engine is expected to output four times the power and sixteen times the torque of the existing engines. In a boxlynder engine, the larger square pistons move up and down a square shaped tunnel or boxlynder, as opposed to the cylindrical shape of current engine designs. Chief Engineer Tanakapril Gatsafoolyamura explained it in simple terms. "A circle inscribed inside a square has only 78% of the potential volume of an equivalent boxlyinder." He illustrated with a drawing. Larger Volume Box The design stems from innovative research on the subject from the University of Tokyo's KATO and OOKA Laboratories. http://venus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/kato_ooka.html Fig. 1 Flowfield around boxlyinder model placed in wind tunnel (Flow visualized using Laser Light Sheet) By late 2014, Subaru intends to release a new automobile, dubbed the BOX (Box Only Xperience) based on the current BRZ platform. Giving in to critics complaints the sports car lacks power, the new BOX is expected to debut with a 600hp NA engine using the new FBX engine. Torque values are expected to top 800 ft lb on premium fuel. Expected sticker price is to be in the low 30K range according to sources inside the company.