Mitchy

Hi all! It's been a while since I posted here, I was lost in Vandom with a VW transporter for temporary removal, building work and camper duties. That has now passed on to the next owner, and I have been able to laser-focus on my new and Ultimate Subaru project: the Outback 3.0R from 2008. Flat 6, limited slip diff; vroomvroom. Glorious, and worth the wait. And yes, it needs the rh CV boot repair as always. It's finished in gleaming Obsidian Black with ivory leather, and has the sport mode and sport sharp, and boy does it fly. Steady now...

Been playing with a light painting technique. Hope you like it!

Nothing has happened recently, other than a broken collar bone from a mountain bike accident. Car is wonderful, the shocks top out every so often, and I must replace the clutch, but urgently!! Love those Yokohamas. Fantastic tire.

Been a long while since posting here, whilst getting on with some building and family projects. The green Forester is now up on all four KYB OB struts, new Forester springs, slightly wider wheels and the ever so slightly larger than standard Yokohamas. It sits plenty taller than before. It is really fine on the road, firm, stable and those M+S Yokos really stick the brick to the asphalt. The only slight problem is the apparent topping-out going over some abrupt bumps.

It really feels and looks like this is the correct size for these cars, with little change in the gearing due to the slightly larger diameter. The Forester still pulls uphill on rough ground in low ratio as it always has done. Tarmac feels smoother with the increase in wall height.

One might look at the possibility of using Forester springs on Legacy struts.. ? I believe there is compatibility but I am unsure as to al years.

Rear diff: up you go. Make sure you have a block of rubber/wood between jack and diff, and jack on the flat part! Do not forget axle stands if you are crawling underneath!!!!

We had that on one of our old Foresters. A cheap and easy fix if you are lucky.

The front sway bar bushings may be tired and causing some muffled clunky rattling.

I just fitted my new Yokohama G015 215/70R15 tires on the 48mmET 7jx15 rims that came off the silver forester (a dealer option). Very happy with the result: the tires are a published 14mm larger in diameter than the 205/70 they replace. Theoretically they are 2.2% larger in diameter, circumference, and speedo error. In actual fact they are a whole 26 mm larger. This is 4% difference in size, giving a speedo reading of 50 mph at an actual 52 mph. Negligible really. As a side note these Yokos run quieter and smoother than the General Grabbers they replaced, I have not yet tried them in the wet, but dry and loose surface A++. As a kitsch bonus they have white lettering which was unexpected. Physically they will just fit (clear) under our silver car’s standard Forester struts. This green car however has new KYB Forester SF springs on new Legacy Outback KYB Excel-G struts. More strut clearance and greater ride height in the rear. The front is getting small lift soon.

I bet that made a difference. I have a set of drift punches of various diameters. Their body is 10mm hexagonal bar which of course sits in a 10mm box wrench, which fits on the box wrench extension bar which gives 12” of reach. A gentle taptaptap with a soft hammer and out come those pins. You will find these pins fastening the driveshafts to the transaxle splines too.

Can anybody shed some light on front springs’ loaded and unloaded lengths? I am about to swap the tired old original struts and springs for new KYB Legacy Outback struts and KYB Forester SF springs. Being a non-standard set-up, I am taking measurement before disassembly; The original front springs under the weight of the car show an overall length of 18-20cm (~7.5”). The brand new new uncompressed spring measures 38cm (15”). Can I expect the new springs to compress to almost half their length??? This, combined with Outback struts which give an extra 0.5” spring perch height, would appear to give me some brutal lift. Obviously the strut will limit the length of the spring to some extent. I’m hoping for some lift at the soft front end, but perhaps this will be too much. PS the rears were done earlier using the same combination of new KYB springs and Legacy Outback struts, and gave me around 2” of clearance, tire-top to wheel arch, no lift spacers. Thanks for any theories or knowledge in this matter. New versus old. Both new and old springs have roughly four turns:

I would start again by checking all transmission/ motor/ subframe/ driveshaft/ half axle/ brake caliper bolts and bushes. If all of the rotating parts are known to be true and balanced, then it has to be their support which is loose. Are the wheel studs too long for the nuts and the wheels are not on tight, even though the nuts are tight? Do you have alloy wheels with no hubcentric ring fitted? or a crushed ring stuck on the wheel/hub. Or maybe the front differential is affecting the front wheels somehow, perhaps grabbing on each rotation of the half shafts?

1750rpm is EXACTLY where both of our Foresters’ exhaust manifold/collector heat shields arrived at optimum harmonic frequency; -in other words ‘rattled their loudest’. Remove them, wedge them or somehow fix them and all should be good.

Our silver Forester did all manner of peculiar wobbles, shakes and vibrations until I replaced the transmission mount.

As Bennie said, check the rack bushes if you have not. There is not much else up front to fix... Also, are you 100% certain that it is at the front of the car? Perhaps the driveshaft is wobbling, or there is a loose trans/diff/engine mount. Good luck

I did a little write up on plug seals and rocker gaskets on an EJ20 a few weeks ago. I hope it may be of use.... Cheers Mitchy

That sounds about right.

Thanks again. The car cranked over fine again this morning (05:45am, aargh!) got to work with heater and lights on. In a few hours I’ll be back in the driver’s seat after a 16 hour day, so ‘fingers crossed’. This problem appears perhaps to be cured, but unsolved....

Thanks guys. @1 Lucky Texan: I have no CD player. Therefore no stuck CD! Following internet advice on these common leaks, I diligently turned everything off and removed the key, doors closed etc. and did a few tests. One expects a small current (20-50mA I understand), for the immobilizer, clock etc, testing for current in the mA scale. My reading today was 20mA, and no fuses other than ‘Clock’, when removed, changed that. I made the same test on the other Forester and got the same results. seems to be normal then... Testing for AC in the mV scale across the battery whilst running the engine showed 3.2mV, apparently a sign that the alternator diode is faulty, as this reading should be zero. I tested the other Forester and got the same reading, 3mV. ? I have been starting and running the car today, and the battery voltage seems to be holding steady now at 12.35V. I have left the battery connected tonight, and in 8 hours I will know if this has just been ‘one of those things’ or if the problem persists. I hate vehicle electrics, but at leastI have learned some more about this. Thanks all for the input, and I will report back as to whether this was just due to a badly closed tailgate or some other gremlin.

After some research I see how I should progress- parasitic battery drain tests. Fascinating.

Hi all After a month or two of trouble-free driving, this morning I went to start the green Forester SF and it sounded like the battery was low. The car started, I ran it for 5 minutes, no warning lights etc, stopped the engine, cranked it over again and it started as it should. I left it parked until this evening, 7-8 hour's later, and it wouldn’t start, obviously with a drained battery. The battery has been reliable and strong, it is a two year old OPTIMA red-top battery. This evening I jumped it with the other Forester, and after one minute of running I could stop and start the engine on its battery as normal. I then pulled all of the fuses one by one with the ignition off and measured voltage. There was voltage drop only across the 10A ALT-S alternator fuse connectors in the engine bay fuse box. All other fuses showed no voltage. No lights left on, key out of the ignition, but voltage across the alternator, is that correct? Reading during a few minutes showed voltage dropping by 0.01V every ten seconds, I imagine until the battery is drained. I tested the voltage across the battery whilst running the engine and read a healthy charging current from the alternator. The only thing I have done to the car in the last days is try a cheapish OBDII reader to find an intermittent CEL , but this only showed error when connected; “can’t connect with vehicle”. Could a faulty code reader possibly set off a battery drain in the charging circuit? Impossible coincidence? Am I barking up the wrong tree, and does the alternator circuit always carry battery voltage? Stumped here, as auto electrics are not my cup of tea! Thanks in advance for any ideas or starting points. From the owner’s manual. The highlighted fuse showed voltage with the key out:

As an addendum to this post, as I eventually bought a ‘00 Forester, also with OBD 1, ej20 sohc What would required for a swap from ‘99 EJ20 to ‘97 EJ22? Both NA and SOHC, 5MT. Could I ‘simply’ physically fit the EJ22 long block, using the EJ20 inlet/exhaust manifolds, EJ22 engine loom and perhaps the EJ22 ECU...? This is merely theoretical at the moment as I have no urgent need to swap engines! Thanks for any ideas, I’d love to have a reason to keep hold of that 2.2!

I think he’s probably finished his camping trip by now.

Up-close the difference is considerable, I was quite surprised as I’m using apparently stock Forester springs, and the struts don’t appear to be longer. I’m not after a massive rock crawler lift, just the clearance necessary, so I’m happy. We’ll see if I need some spacers up front to level out the chassis. Tx